The Essential Tools for an Easter Digital Giving Strategy

The following is an excerpt from my new playbook, Say Yes to Easter Giving. You can obtain a copy at https://acts17generosity.com/shop/say-yes-to-easter-giving.

With Easter only weeks away, it’s time to start planning your Easter offering!

Easter is the church’s best-attended day of the year, and now it will be your most viewed day. You might not know that Easter is typically a strong offering day. At least Easter used to be a strong offering day when every chair or pew was filled with warm bodies. However, in the pews or on the couch, you will have people engaging in your Easter service, allowing opportunities to connect with them like no other time of the year.

Covid has forever changed church attendance habits, meaning having a digital giving strategy has become imperative. My task is to help get you ready by answering…

What systems should you have in place?

1. Dynamic website. Your website is the first place most people visit BEFORE they darken your doors. Make yours a good one! Use your website’s URL to drive people to your online giving page. Your giving page’s URL can direct people to your site.
2. Robust online giving platform, including app and text giving. You should be working towards the majority of your giving coming in some digital means. At OnlineGiving.org, we offer every major online platform, including crypto-currency.  https://www.onlinegiving.org/
3. Social Media platform and presence. Like it or not, many people spend much of their time on social media. If you are not there, you miss an opportunity to connect with your people and those in your community.
4. Postage-paid envelopes. I know this sounds old school, but this can be a great tool if used properly.
5. Extensive database of your donors. A given is to have all your member’s email addresses. Yet you need also to have the ability to break this list down by various subgroups like first-time givers, consistency, etc.
6. A mass email platform, such as Constant Contact or MailChimp. There are many platforms to help you send emails in multiple batches; some offer free services for a limited number of sends and most cost only a few dollars a month. Find the tool that suits your church database best.
7. Offering talks. On-campus or live streaming, it is essential that each offering time has a talk connecting your vision to giving. I’ll share more on this later.

With the above tools, you can build an Easter Digital Giving strategy that will help you see the kinds of Easter offerings you had before the pandemic. With Easter only weeks away, now is the time to prepare for your best Easter offering!