Merry Christmas! As we are contemplating the coming of our Savior and the celebration of His birth, we also want to be part of the communal celebration. So many folks who may not be regular attendees choose this time of year to go to Mass and to reconnect with their parish. What a wonderful time to welcome people to the parish community.
Here are 3 simple ideas for "last minute tactics" to help welcome everyone to church and provide them an opportunity to make a contribution:
1. Update Electronic Communications : Welcome everyone with a message of Hope and Love
Make sure you have updated the parish website and calendars with Mass times. Use your headline feature in your Faith in Action website to add the notification to all pages on the site. Send an e-newsletter encouraging parishioners to bring friends and family to Mass. More importantly, make sure you also are updating content to welcome everyone whether or not they have been to Mass recently. Also make Online Giving available from every page.
2. Remind people about the option to give online:
Update Online Giving with special collections and even consider a special cause for the community as a separate collection. This is also a time to remind people in bulletins and also through announcements at Mass that they can give online. It's a convenient option for everyone.
3. Add special collection envelopes to pews or at church entrances:
Make it convenient for anyone to pick up an envelope and make a donation to the church. You can also invite people to make prayer requests or special intentions by writing them on the envelope or placing a note in the envelope rather than money. Be creative. Give people a chance to participate.
Wishing everyone a blessed holiday. Merry Christmas
Online Giving and electronic service news, trends, and research from Our Sunday Visitor Offertory Solutions
Showing posts with label parish websites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parish websites. Show all posts
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Websites and Online Giving Tips for a Great Combination - Like Peanut Butter and Chocolate
This is an updated version of an earlier blog topic
As we continue to learn from our work with the Archdiocese of Boston, and across the country, your website is your "virtual front door" to your parish. One of the key components of a great parish website is easy access to Online Giving. This past week we talked with several parishes who are very interested in pursuing Online Giving. The website is a significant impediment to their progress rather than a useful tool to enable access to web-based giving. OSV "Faith In Action" websites are designed to make this easy for you.
Set a Communication Plan
As you prepare to offer web-based giving, you should create the initial communication plan and get the system set up so parishioners can immediately access the application. So one of the steps is to update your website to include information about Online Giving, plus a link that connects to Online Giving. Once you announce that the service is available, you want parishioners to be able to get to Online Giving easily so they can get started right away.
Incorporate Website Best Practices
Your website must be organized well and easy to navigate. A great parish website can help you improve the acceptance of Online Giving by making it obvious how to get started, easy to access, and by providing useful information about the importance of Online Giving. If your website provides other compelling information about the Faith, then as parishioners access the site for Online Giving, they may also be able to spend time learning more about being a good Catholic!
Here are a few tips:
The parishes I referenced earlier were embarrassed and frustrated by their web sites. The web sites were not compelling and not up to date. The person who is setting up Online Giving did not have the ability to do updates. In a couple cases, the person who updated the website worked part time and was the only person who had access to update the site.
The parish website is the best place to access your online giving application. And we should all be implementing Online Giving at our parishes so that our parishioners have this additional convenient option to contribute to the parish. So we need both. Parish Website and Online Giving. When the website is good and you have your Online Giving link prominently displayed, they work together. That's why the web site and Online Giving are like peanut butter and chocolate, which is one of my personal favorite combinations!
How about your experience with your parish website and Online Giving?
By the way thousands of new parishioners per month are signing up to use OSV's Online Giving at parishes across the country. The average parishioner use for parish is now at 13 to 14% of parishioners, up to a high of more than 50%.
As we continue to learn from our work with the Archdiocese of Boston, and across the country, your website is your "virtual front door" to your parish. One of the key components of a great parish website is easy access to Online Giving. This past week we talked with several parishes who are very interested in pursuing Online Giving. The website is a significant impediment to their progress rather than a useful tool to enable access to web-based giving. OSV "Faith In Action" websites are designed to make this easy for you.
Set a Communication Plan
As you prepare to offer web-based giving, you should create the initial communication plan and get the system set up so parishioners can immediately access the application. So one of the steps is to update your website to include information about Online Giving, plus a link that connects to Online Giving. Once you announce that the service is available, you want parishioners to be able to get to Online Giving easily so they can get started right away.
Incorporate Website Best Practices
Your website must be organized well and easy to navigate. A great parish website can help you improve the acceptance of Online Giving by making it obvious how to get started, easy to access, and by providing useful information about the importance of Online Giving. If your website provides other compelling information about the Faith, then as parishioners access the site for Online Giving, they may also be able to spend time learning more about being a good Catholic!
Here are a few tips:
- Display your parish name, city and address and contact information prominently
- Feature a map to your parish
- Add information about the Faith
- Add a section to welcome newcomers
- Add dynamic information
- Offer people the opportunity to give a gift!
The parishes I referenced earlier were embarrassed and frustrated by their web sites. The web sites were not compelling and not up to date. The person who is setting up Online Giving did not have the ability to do updates. In a couple cases, the person who updated the website worked part time and was the only person who had access to update the site.
The parish website is the best place to access your online giving application. And we should all be implementing Online Giving at our parishes so that our parishioners have this additional convenient option to contribute to the parish. So we need both. Parish Website and Online Giving. When the website is good and you have your Online Giving link prominently displayed, they work together. That's why the web site and Online Giving are like peanut butter and chocolate, which is one of my personal favorite combinations!
How about your experience with your parish website and Online Giving?
By the way thousands of new parishioners per month are signing up to use OSV's Online Giving at parishes across the country. The average parishioner use for parish is now at 13 to 14% of parishioners, up to a high of more than 50%.
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