SecureGive friend Mark Brooks (The Charis Group) covers the benefits of digital giving

Is online giving really important for a church?  Matt Branaugh is the Director of Editorial for the Church Management Team at Christianity Today.  He recently wrote a blog on “Five Online Giving Lessons For Churches.”  You can find the link of that post listed at the end of my article.  It is a good post and raises questions that we in the church world need to consider.  Matt is a good writer and I say that not because he often reposts my stuff but because it is true.  While I will let you read the post and arrive at your own conclusions I do want to weigh in with some observations.

If you read the post you will find at the bottom that I added a comment.  Matt and I are on the same page for the most part though I think I view the importance of online giving a bit differently.  Matt in his post called online giving a sliver.  While I agree that online giving is small at present it is growing and will at some point be larger than what a church takes in weekly through the offering.  In my comment I stated that several of my clients, churches, see 30% of what they receive come electronically, either through kiosks, online giving or automatic withdrawals.  My fear is that too many not only do not see the potential of online giving but miss the fact that how Americans do commerce has changed and will continue to change.  More and more we are depending on cash and checks less.  There are countless studies that show this.

My position, one that has drastically changed in the last year, is that the typical church goer arrives at church without their check book or much cash.  So when the offering plate is passed they have little or nothing to contribute.  This is true not only for Millennials, Gen-Xers, but for old dudes like me.  Only your disciplined church attendees come ready to give.  To increase giving and to reach the other half of your attendees you have make giving easy.  Thus my push for electric and online giving.

Having said that let me say that some of the questions Matt raises are good for continued thought.  Here is my list from not only his original post, his reply to my reply of his post and our Twitter conversation of yesterday....

Read the rest of the article on Mark's blog by clicking here!

How to make a QR Code Online/Mobile Giving

One way to get the word out about your Online/Mobile giving sites is with QR codes! They are those funny little black/white squares you see on a lot of print ads these days. If you scan them with your mobile phone camera, it'll redirect you to the website associated with the QR code. Here is what a normal one looks like:

QR codes are actually pretty easy to make! My favorite website for making them is http://keremerkan.net/qr-code-and-2d-code-generator/ . Just put in your Online/Mobile URL that you want the QR code to go to and choose your file format and colors! A typical QR code is white background with black foreground like you see above. Whatever colors you choose, they just need to have high contrast so it's an easy QR code to read!

To do the custom one like the one shown above requires some graphic skill/knowledge. Just change the file format to EPS and check Transparent so that you can open the file in Illustrator and it'll only have the black layer, not the white background. Then an easy trick to do is Effect>Stylize>RoundCorners while selected on the black QR code. This will let you put a SLIGHT curve on all the edges and then you and your design can go from there! Just be aware, the more tweaking you do on the QR code, the less likely it is to be read by all types of QR scanners. So design wisely!

                                                                                                    -Michael Haywood

                                                                                                         Marketing & Business Solutions

Extreme Makeover : Kiosk Edition

SecureGive is always doing our best to hear our customers needs and to continue to offer the best complete digital solution on the market. We are proud to announce that we are now releasing a completely new software build for our kiosk customers as well as other changes for our Online & Mobile customers! One sneak peak feature this new release has is an entirely new Connections Module that can now even accept payments for events! This is just one of the many new features built into our kiosk and online systems to make SecureGive a more versatile system so that we can meet your organizations needs. Want to know more about the new features and how SecureGive can increase giving at your organization? Give us a call at 706-228-3210 and ask for Stu! Just mention you saw the blog and wanted some more info! Like the photo below?? That's a sneak peek shot of our new software! Let SecureGive help maximize your ministry!

New Integration with Church Community Builder!

SecureGive is pleased to announce our new API with Church Community Builder!  As of today, you can now set up your SecureGive reports to automatically upload each day to CCB!  Also, when a member uses the kiosk and/or online giving, the system will now search the SecureGive database for the member information and if the member is not in the SecureGive database, it will search CCB for the member data and import this information into SecureGive.  The member will no longer have to type in all of their personal information!

To get started, you will need to follow the instructions to activate the API with CCB and then SecureGive.  Once this is complete, you will need to match the fund categories within SecureGive using the API and then make sure that each member has an assigned CCB member ID.  This can also be done using the API by clicking on the member name in the transaction report, and use the drop down to search CCB for the correct member ID.  You can then Connect the member and update the file.  Once this is complete, the donation will automatically upload into CCB each evening and the CCB Transfer column will change from Pending to Uploaded in the far right corner of the report. 

The upload will begin as of today, March 12, but if you need us to go back and pull the previous week or month, please send us a start date and we will adjust your account!  Please call our office if you have any questions. 706-228-3210

Are you an organization that uses CCB and are interested in getting started with an Online, Mobile, and/or Kiosk digital giving solution? Give us a call at 706-228-3210 and get started with SecureGive today!