inspector.
Jaxheimer said he understands the convenience of elec- tronic giving for the church organist and ministry assistants who are busy during the service, as well as shift workers, people who must travel for work and even his snowbird mother who spends winters in Florida. “I just want to spend time on Saturday evening or on Sunday morning figur- ing out the extra blessings I have had during the week and thinking about what I am giving back to God,” he said. Gaylon Barker, a pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran in Ridgefield, Conn., said after about a year of offering direct giving, about 10 percent of the 350-member congregation has adopted it. “We have noted a more consistent giv- ing pattern,” said Barker, who is focused on growing the congregation.
The church just completed a $1 million capital cam- paign to build a sanctuary, so the direct-giving program has not taken precedence.
But Barker is confident that the congregation, filled with corporate executives, IBM professionals and highly educated leaders, will pick up on electronic giving quickly. “It is more convenient as people increasingly move to the Internet and electronic communications” for their day-to- day activities, he said.
Simple giving
Thrivent Financial Bank’s Simply Giving Program (www.
thrivent.com/banking/simplygiving) provides four types of automatic tithing. These include electronic funds trans- fer in which a congregant has a certain amount deducted from his or her checking account each month; a Merchant Services Solution that enables churches to process credit and debit cards; a By Web Solution, in which churches enable a “donate now” button on their websites; and “Mobile Donations,” in which members may text their contributions.
More than 5,000 churches, both ELCA and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, participate in the Simply Giv- ing Program, with the majority being ELCA, said Casey O’Keefe, vice president of marketing for Simply Giving’s administrator, Vanco Services LLC of Minnetonka, Minn., one of the country’s largest providers of electronic giving services to churches.
“In any given month, we have 100,000-plus members using the Simply Giving Program to make either one-time or recurring donations,” O’Keefe said.
The Simply Giving Program collected $350 million for Lutheran organizations in 2010, a 12.5 percent increase from 2009. The participation rate in Simply Giving grew by 7.5 percent from 2009. The newest form of electronic giving—texting—
started in November 2010 and was requested primar- ily by church leaders who wanted to give members the flexibility of sending a donation immediately to a cause being celebrated during the service, such as an appeal for missionaries, O’Keefe said. Fewer than 50 organizations were using texting as of mid-February.
Most of the automatic giving is still being done from congregants’ checking accounts, rather than by debit or credit card, he said. Why? Churches that have only offered EFT for several years have been slow to embrace new methods of electronic giving. Today, however, the typical Lutheran church immediately signs up for multiple giving methods, and the long-term trend indicates that payment cards will overtake EFT as the preferred method of elec- tronic giving, O’Keefe said.
The symbolic act of giving can be an important part of stewardship, especially in congregations that have only recently introduced electronic giving. So some churches encourage electronic donors to place preprinted cards with the Simply Giving logo in the collection plate to avoid looking as if they are neglecting their giving obligations. But for St. Luke’s Gray, most people get over any embarrassment. “We are a small community,” he said. “No one really cares too much or [everyone] is courteous enough to not worry about it too much.”
Stephen Rose, director of marketing for Vanco Services, said electronic giving is most successful in congregations where programs enjoy top-down support from pastors and lay leaders, and receive ongoing mention in the weekly bulletin and other church communications. The automatic giving programs have proven successful in reducing seasonal donation slumps, Rose added. “Using data from Vanco’s check-scanning service, we know the weekly number of donations by check declines by about 45 percent between Easter and midsummer, before rebounding sharply with holiday and year-end giv- ing,” he said. “Consistent automated giving, by even a small number of donors, will reduce the impact of the sum- mer donation slump and help keep members on track with pledges.”
Financial advisers note that people should always take care to check with their bank that the requested amount is being withdrawn or charged, and not just put their financial accounting on autopilot.
“The more people who have your account or credit or debit-card information, the more careful you must be regarding identity theft and unauthorized withdrawals or charges,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America. “Just exercise caution and stay abreast of your financial details.” M
May 2011 15
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