Church360° Members offers the option of renumbering all offering envelopes at one time rather than individually. This mass update can be implemented immediately or scheduled for a later time. With some recent updates, the process has become easier than ever before.
Each church manages its offering envelope numbers differently. Some churches give all members offering envelopes; others only give envelopes to those who ask for them. Some churches allow members to keep the same offering envelope number; other churches change everyone’s numbers every year.
Regardless of how your church manages offering envelopes, the simple three-part process below can make preparing 2019 envelope numbers easy and efficient.
Part 1: Determine Who Receives Envelopes
While there is no one way to determine who should receive offering envelopes, here are some factors to consider:
- Must a person be a member to receive offering envelopes?
- Has the person given an offering in the last year?
- Does the person give electronically?
- Has the person picked up last year’s envelopes?
- Does the person even want offering envelopes?
Once you know the answers to these questions, we recommend creating a smart group or a tag in Church360° Members that compiles all eligible recipients of offering envelopes together.
Part 2: Assign New Envelope Numbers
Like with any process, proper planning makes this step easier. Once you know exactly who should receive offering envelopes, this second part is a lot easier than it looks.
- Click on the Settings cog in the top right corner, then select Envelopes.
- In the top right area of the screen, use the drop-down to set the Smart Group to Everyone.
- In the bottom left area of the screen, click the Clear All button.
- In the top right area of the screen, use the same drop-down to set the Smart Group to the one you created in Part 1 above.
- In the bottom left corner of the screen, next to “Automatically renumber envelopes starting with”, type in the number you want the new envelopes to start with.
- Click Renumber.
- In the bottom right corner of the screen, click Schedule.
- Choose an appropriate date. We recommend the day before your first worship service in the new year, rather than January 1.
- Click Save.
Once your renumbering is scheduled, you can still make changes to offering envelopes—the changes just can’t conflict with the scheduled renumbering.
Part 3: Distribute the Envelopes
Once you’ve scheduled envelopes to be renumbered, you don’t need to wait to distribute them to your members. The most common way to distribute new offering envelopes is to print mailing labels with the new envelope numbers listed. Here’s how to do that:
- Click on the People tab in the navigation, and use the drop-down in the top left to change the view to Givers.
- In the top right, set the Smart Group to the one you created in Part 1 above.
- In the chart next to the Giver Name header, click the check box to select everyone.
- In the top right, click Download, then select Mailing Labels.
- Select the appropriate template. If you are mailing the envelopes, use the check boxes to print addresses or barcodes.
- Use the drop-down next to Envelope Numbers to select Print next numbers.
- Click Generate, and select the file format you want to download the labels in.
- Print the labels, apply them to the envelope boxes, and distribute the boxes to your members.
While envelope renumbering is a simple process, it may take time to identify the people who should receive envelopes or to handle any special requests. So be sure to leave yourself enough time to get it all done before the new year.
If you have any questions about this new feature, please contact our software support team at support@cts.cph.org or (800) 346-6120.
