Start Strong in 2019 With Pushpay for Church Giving and Engagement

Churches run on the charitable giving of their members. The constant fluctuations of attendees and income make church budgets a challenge to predict and stabilize. And if you don’t regularly address the topics of generosity and engagement, giving will start to drop.

A digital tool like Pushpay can increase your giving, but you still need to have a plan for keeping people engaged and for encouraging new people to adopt mobile giving. You should have a strategy to remind people to give and get them excited about living out their faith through charitable generosity.

Here are a few suggestions for reintroducing mobile giving to your congregation and increasing engagement in the new year.

1. Reintroduce Pushpay and train people to use it

Obviously, you have an initial rollout when you begin using a tool like Pushpay. You’ve already introduced it to your congregation, demonstrated how to use it, and made an effort to make sure people know about it.

But remember: Not everyone initially jumped on board with you, and they might be ready to now. A soft reintroduction every now and again can be an effective way to invite those stragglers to get involved—not to mention the new people who have started attending since you initially introduced mobile giving.

Set some time aside during weekend services to show people how easy mobile giving is. Walk them step-by-step through the process and position some volunteers in the foyer. Make sure they are well-trained on your giving platform and can provide one-on-one guidance to answer any questions folks might have.

2. Suggest recurring giving

Getting people to embrace mobile giving is an essential first step in moving your church away from a reliance on cash and check offerings, but it still demands that church members remember to log in and give regularly. This is why the ultimate goal should be to introduce recurring giving.

We understand just how vital recurring giving is. That’s why Pushpay makes it extremely simple to set up recurring giving. In fact, you can even turn on our Default to Recurring feature which requires church members to opt out to make a one-time gift. Churches using this feature have seen a six percent increase in recurring giving.

Pushpay also has a Recurring Suggestion feature that prompts committed givers to set up a recurring gift based on their past donation patterns. Both Recurring Suggestion and Default to Recurring make it simple for givers to create habits of committed generosity that works well for their schedules and budgets.

On average, recurring givers donate 42 percent more than donors who give periodically. You’ll also find that the getting through the summer slump and other low-attendance seasons is a lot easier when giving happens automatically. Pushpay’s intuitive features not only boost recurring donations but also make it easier for churches to grow predictable giving without having to talk about it every weekend.

3.  Do a digital-only drive

One fantastic way to jump-start your engagement is by holding digital-only drives to raise money for a local cause everyone is passionate about. Find a ministry or charity in your area that’s doing amazing work in a much-needed area and focus on them. Maybe you have a soup kitchen or food pantry that needs to upgrade their facilities or a mission organization providing medical care. Invite this organization to come and share about the work they’re doing.

Continue finding community or internal ministry projects your church can raise money for. It might be repairs to a community center, beds for an underfunded children’s home, or medical care for a member in need. The more specific it is, the easier it is to get people to rally around it.

Once you’ve decided what people are giving toward, promote it as a digital-only giving opportunity. Set up a specific fund they can give to through the app or online, and make it clear that this is the designated place for people to give toward this cause. This is often the encouragement that people need to more fully adopt digital giving. Once they see how easy it is, they’re happy to keep giving that way.

Keep your church engaged

Mobile giving is an incredible tool for increasing your church budget, but you can’t think of it as a set-it-and-forget-it solution. To get the most out of it, you need to find ways to re-engage your congregation every year. This way you’ll encourage new people to embrace digital giving while holding on to the ones that are already onboard. Talk to an expert today to learn how else Pushpay can serve your church in 2019 and beyond by driving participaiton and generosity!