Increase Fundraising Success By Pledging Through Pushpay

Pledging has been a cornerstone of non-profit fundraising for decades. Donors can commit to giving that works for their schedule and their wallets, making it popular among generous people.

But pledging doesn’t work as well as it did in the past. In fact, now more than ever, pledging envelopes are getting lost, forgotten, or stared at with a bit of confusion among younger donors. And fundraising campaigns can quickly grind to a halt when that happens. But it hasn’t gone away forever—pledging has seen a shift recently as online and mobile giving opportunities are slowly gaining popularity. People want to donate to causes they care about—and if they can easily give to a fundraising campaign through an app, they will.

That’s why Pushpay created a campaign and pledging feature designed to drive donations and help churches hit their fundraising goals faster. Here’s why campaigns and pledging can help your church crush its next fundraising goal.

Pledging with Pushpay makes generosity easier

With Pushpay’s new pledging feature, donors can easily commit gifts to important church missions. With a fund automatically created for every campaign, donors can use their Pushpay account to quickly find the fund they’d like to donate to. So when a staff member announces that a specific campaign is ending but $120 is still needed, a giver can open their app, find that specific campaign and donate. Or they can set up a recurring gift to close that gap. No more tracking down a staff member to give or worrying about not having cash on hand.

Campaigns are a breeze for church admin

On the church admin end of things, our research shows that intuitive visual reporting and streamlining collections are necessary for increasing donations during a campaign. Campaigns can be created quickly and easily within the Pushpay admin portal and allow staff to define a financial goal and date range for a fundraising initiative. Staff can even choose which listings are tax deductible and use campaign reports to track progress toward the goal. This real-time information is vital for updating the church community on how close they are to the goal and motivating people to donate before the campaign ends.

Personalized reminders

People dislike receiving canned messages when they’re asked to do something, and they especially dislike impersonal messages about giving. That’s why the campaign and pledging feature also allows churches to manage givers’ progress and proactively reach out to them with personalized messages. These notes can help motivate givers and promote individual campaigns—which is a big deal.

For givers who are close to missing the fundraising deadline, a personalized note from a church member can be a powerful motivator for the person to give. If the donor needs more time, a personalized message helps them feel seen and more comfortable approaching a staff member to request additional time. Plus, a thank you note from the pastor helps keep the campaign top of mind among donors and makes them feel more connected to the campaign’s overall success.

Easy to remind givers about their pledges

Finally, not only is Pushpay’s pledging feature a great tool for churches to increase donations for fundraising campaigns, but Pushpay’s other features make it easier than ever to promote your campaign and remind donors about their commitments. You can use push notifications to remind people about the campaign and take donors right to the giving page to donate. On the church app, admin can also make use of the Dynamic Homescreen to make pledging and campaign information more visible to app users. This way, app users can receive regular, organic reminders about the campaign without having to hear it announced during every worship service.

At the end of the day…givers love pledging

Most churches offer their donors at least one digital giving option—which is great. Digital giving allows donors to express their generosity at any time and place, whether during a worship service, on payday, or whenever they remember to donate. Pledging using Pushpay takes it one step further by giving them the ability to promise a gift in the moment and give when they’re able to do so.

For people who want to give but can’t do so when the campaign is initially announced, the Pushpay pledging feature allows them to commit to a gift and work it into their budget at their convenience. Maybe an eager giver can’t donate $100 on the spot, but they can pledge to $10 a month. Pledging using Pushpay empowers people to be more generous and encourages ownership over the success of fundraising campaigns.

Pledging for church fundraising

When enabled by excellent mobile giving technology, pledging helps ministries raise money for important projects faster and simpler. Want to explore Pushpay giving and the other ways it empowers church communities to be more generous? Talk to an expert today.