Online giving software for churches has many benefits—it allows your members to easily tithe, set up recurring giving, and make special donations with just a few clicks. Whether your members choose to give via text or online through the giving portal, the whole giving process becomes seamless!

But outside of the ease it provides, there are some real, more intangible, benefits that come when you utilize an eGiving software in your church. Online giving can strengthen the stewardship of your members, but it can also increase your congregational engagement across the board.
Encouraging your members to set up recurring giving in your online-giving tool can strengthen both your members’ stewardship and their engagement with your congregation. Read on to discover exactly how.

Strengthen Stewardship

Stewardship is an important spiritual discipline to instill in your congregation, and there are many good reasons to meaningfully teach about stewardship! Use online giving as an opportunity to provide education and resources on stewardship.

Education

When you first begin encouraging your members to participate in online giving, it’s important to provide a lot of education about the benefits of online giving in relation to stewardship. Setting up recurring giving in your eGiving platform can be a great opportunity to educate on the importance of stewardship in your members’ personal lives.

But, this is also an opportunity to talk about how online giving can strengthen the stewardship of your congregation! Your pastors, elders, and boards all seek to use your church’s funds to support your ministries in the best way possible, stewarding your members’ tithes well. The more your leadership can reliably predict giving, the better they can steward!

Spiritual Discipline

Tithing is a spiritual discipline that many Christians do in order to support the ministry of their church, increase their reliance on God, and grow in their faith. Placing your offering envelope in the plate each week can be a tangible reminder of this spiritual discipline.

With online-giving software for churches, your members gain the benefit of flexing that giving muscle automatically each week—you can’t forget to bring your offering when it’s recurring! Encourage your members that by utilizing online giving, they can still prayerfully and sacrificially give.

Investment in Ministry

Lastly, online giving can strengthen stewardship by increasing your members’ personal investment in the ministry of your church.

Of course, financial giving is not the only way to be invested in ministry, but as many people choose to tithe a portion of their income, it’s certainly a popular way to support your church outside of using your time and talents to serve.

When you regularly give, whether online or in-person, you can see how your giving is impacting the mission and ministry of your church. Understanding where your money is going and how it’s being stewarded by leadership is invaluable to many people!

Strengthen Congregational Engagement

Online-giving software for churches can also help strengthen your congregational engagement—meaning that there is a deeper understanding from everyone in your church on the financial impact giving has on ministry. Whether you’re in a position of leadership or a faithful member, you can become more engaged with this aspect of ministry.

Pastoral Communication

First, online giving tools can improve pastoral communication surrounding giving in your church. Tithing and finances are topics that many pastors dread, as it can be a sensitive topic. However, online giving can actually help in this regard.

With online giving, your pastor can confidently and transparently share about the impact it has on your church’s mission and ministry, giving detailed reports about how recurring giving has allowed your church to increase outreach efforts, make necessary building repairs, or help a family in need.

Transparent Reporting

When your church utilizes an online-giving software, your financial team can easily export and report on not only the giving in your church, but how that giving is being stewarded by leadership.
This transparency also provides a layer of accountability in your church leadership, which is incredibly important. Your members can see the full picture of your church’s financial health, ask questions, and understand how ministry functions—all thanks to online-giving software for churches!

More Accurate Budgeting

Lastly, one of the primary benefits of having your members set up recurring online giving is that your church finance team can more accurately budget and forecast for the year ahead. Knowing that you’ll have a specific amount of money guaranteed to come in each month is huge for churches, and can allow you to financially plan for the future of your ministry.

As mentioned previously, this clarity can also aid in transparent reporting from your leadership team during congregational meetings. With more accurate budgeting and transparency, your members can feel confident in their giving.

With Vanco—our online-giving platform—you can securely accept donations from anywhere and sync them seamlessly with your church management software. Get started today!