The success of your ministry relies heavily on the generosity of your congregation.
Your ability to meet the needs of your community and share the Gospel of Jesus with those around you can be drastically limited based on how much money you have in your bank account.
The Lord can absolutely work with a small amount and multiply it tenfold to further His Kingdom. His work is not limited by the total funds you have available.
But God’s plans can be impacted by our willingness to obey Him.
According to a 2022 study by Barna, only 21% of Christians give 10% or more of their annual income to the Church. Another 54% of congregants give less than the traditional tithe, which means 25% of the people in your pews don’t give anything to your ministry.
The Bible references tithing 40 times between the Old and New Testaments. While there is some debate about how much the modern tithe should be, we are instructed to give back to God what is rightfully His and to act as good stewards for everything He has entrusted to us.
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), both the servant who received 5 talents and the servant who received 2 talents were rewarded for being faithful with what they had been given. They weren’t rewarded because they had doubled their master’s money, but rather because they had obeyed the call to be good stewards.
God’s blessing starts with obedience. But how do you bring the full treasure into the storehouse if a significant percentage of your congregation is giving the bare minimum or isn’t giving at all?
Diversifying your giving methods is the best way to maximize your congregation’s generosity, increase your ministry’s capabilities, and urge your members toward obedience.
In-Person Giving
When you look at the Early Church, you see believers selling their possessions to financially support the Church so that “none had need” (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32-37).
For generations, the predominant way to give to the Church was through cash donations. People physically gave their money to the ministry and relied on the stewardship of the church leaders to use the funds appropriately.
With the invention of the printed check in 1762 and the push toward using them as the predominant payment method in the US in the 19th century, giving by check became one of the two most common ways to give.
But whether people use cash or checks, they’re physically handing their money to your church.
Online Giving
The ability to give online has completely altered the landscape of church finances. Churches that offer online giving average a 32% increase in total giving, and nearly half of all donations are now made with a credit or debit card.
Online giving isn’t limited to simply submitting a donation through a payment processor. Giving through a mobile app or using text-to-give has resonated significantly with congregants under 55.
Most churches have adopted online giving, but not all churches use giving solutions that make it simple for congregants to give and easy for financial staff to manage.
Evaluate your current giving solution often. Ensure you have intuitive giving forms (yes, multiple forms for multiple needs!) that you brand and promote to provide a consistent online experience for your donors. Look at the giving experience from a donor’s perspective, from making the actual online gift to tracking it and seeing it in their online giving history.
Also, speak with your financial staff and see where they struggle the most each week when processing tithes and offerings. Do they spend too much time importing and exporting contribution files to their accounting solution? Is it difficult for them to see the full picture of contributions (in-person, online, and non-cash) all in one place? Do they struggle when it comes to managing event payments using the same solution?
Using the most effective online giving solution can drastically increase your giving totals and give your congregants ways to financially support your ministry that fit within their lives.
Non-Cash Giving
The “Great Wealth Transfer” is underway.
Experts estimate that $68 trillion will pass from Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) to their children and grandchildren in the next 20 years.
But only 25% of that wealth is cash. The rest is in stocks, mutual funds, and closely held assets.
Stock giving isn’t a new concept, but it has grown significantly in recent years and is rising, with $21 billion given annually. These gifts are often 150x larger than cash donations, meaning they have the potential to multiply your ministry’s efforts exponentially.
These donations would be huge for supporting the finances of your ministry, but unless you’re able to process those gifts and follow all of the tax regulations associated with accepting them, you’re out of luck.
You’d never turn down a non-cash gift, but are you equipped to accept it? And maybe even more important, does your congregation know they can give non-cash assets to support your ministry?
Tools like Engiven are designed to process stock, crypto, and bequest giving so you can open new doors for your congregation to step out in faith and obey the call to give.
Offering the option to make non-cash gifts to your ministry and making sure your members know how to do it breaks through one of the biggest barriers limiting generosity. Having liquid assets would no longer be a requirement to obey the command to give.
Maximizing Generosity
Just as offering online giving opens doors for those who want to give but don’t have tangible funds, accepting non-cash gifts allows those who don’t have liquid assets to financially support your ministry.
With more than two-thirds of your congregation giving less than the traditional tithe, offering them new methods of giving may be the turning point that pulls them into obedience.
You want every member to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” so maximize your congregation’s generosity by removing the limits on what can be given.
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