"Oh that's right! I heard our parish is offering Online Giving..."

When I talk with members of my parish about Online Giving I often get a response such as..." Oh yes I did notice the letter and thought about it but we haven't done anything yet!" As in all communication programs, the information has to be repeated many times and in many different ways. We often do a good job announcing the introduction of Online Giving, but our efforts trail off and so do the new users for Online Giving.

In his book "Best Practices in Parish Stewardship", Chuck Zech summarizes the tactics that result in vibrant parish communities and the associated positive financial support from parishioners. He supports the idea of electronic contributions systems because they involve a conscious decision on the part of the donor and therefore can be considered a pledge. He also recommends lay witness talks.

Why not ask some of your Online Giving users to do a short talk at Mass to explain how they use the system and why they like it. This kind of talk would help form personal connections to the experience of the presenter and also would provide the opportunity for conversations after Mass.

We recently compared results for Online Giving customers who have used our introductory communications packages versus those who have not. The parishes that used the communications have on average 43% more users on their system than those who have not used the package. We'd like to trumpet this as a big success; however, it does not factor in parish size as a component, so we will say it indicates that communication about the system helps.

We do need to continue to invite people to use both envelopes and Online Giving. And the combination of a witness talk plus personal contact such as the example in the last blog have more direct results than a notice in the bulletin.

What has been your experience at your parish? how are you moving past "Oh that's right! I heard our parish is offering Online Giving!' to "Yes I am using Online Giving and it is convenient and easy to use!".

Tips from Parish Visits

This past week we talked with several parishes who are using Online Giving. One in particular just started in January 2012 and has 84 parishioners using Online Giving as of the third week of February. I heard a great idea from the business manager at this parish.

This parish had people participating in a jog-a-thon for the parish and added a donation category to support the jog-a-thon. They had sponsorship from both parishioners and other community members. The result was a tremendous success for the event and also greater awareness about the parish for the community as people visited the web site to donate. People can participate using the "QuickGive" feature in Online Giving.

At another parish nearby, the staff have included Online Giving information in their communications, in their bulletin and in their increased offertory and stewardship renewal materials. As a result of making giving online a standard option they have over 10% of their parishioners using the system.

We noticed at another parish that Online Giving was prominently displayed in one of the parish bulletins. The space allocated was as large as most of the significant advertisements so it was easy to spot. They made the invitation to Online Giving a bold announcement.

These techniques served these parishes well. They are excited about the acceptance of Online Giving and they are experiencing the improvements to cash flow as a result.

What is your parish doing to make it easy to give online?