Online Giving Milestone; Part of Offertory Planning

During the month of March Online Giving exceeded 1 million transactions! This significant milestone and the continued growth in users demonstrates that electronic contribution systems have become accepted as a tool for parishes and dioceses.

At the same time parishes continue to focus on the importance of offertory as part of liturgy and as an example for children in a family. So parishes are introducing Online Giving as a tool while also emphasizing liturgy and the use of offering envelopes as a means to participate in liturgy.

During March we also saw that the average percentage of parishioners using Online Giving increased to over 14%. There are a number of parishes with 30% or more of their parishioners using the Online Giving application. See our indicator at: www.osvoffertory.com.

We recently heard a great example about how to introduce parishioners to Online Giving from a parish near Los Angeles. The business manager sets up a table monthly with her PC and invites parishioners to sign up after Mass. She has mugs with the parish logo and the Online Giving logo on the mugs as giveaways for people who sign up. This makes it easy for the parishioner to get started and its a fun way to introduce Online Giving!

How is your parish using Online Giving as part of your offertory plan?

Security and risk management: PCI Compliance cannot be outsourced

As we have increased our use of Online Giving and other electronic giving systems at our dioceses and parishes, we have become more conscious of the controls and the risks associated with payment processing. In some cases there is a great deal of anxiety around this subject. This is a good thing because we have become aware of the risks; however, we have a large number of activities that require our attention for both PCI compliance and risk management.

Does your parish or diocese hold a conference? How about an auction or a parish dinner? Do you have a parish gift store? If you are like many parishes, you have these events and activities and you may allow people to pay by credit card or even direct deposit. Do you use any type of commitment card or envelope that provides the option for a parishioner to include a credit card or bank account number on the form? Your parish may very well need to be fully PCI Compliant.

There also has been some discussion of "Merchant of Record" associated with electronic giving applications for parishes and dioceses. This concept has been raised as if it is the critical factor when implementing an electronic giving solution. The credit card associations base the requirement for PCI compliance on the ACTIVITY performed at the parish. This is regardless of formal or informal agreements defining the organization as a merchant. The parish and diocese cannot outsource the risk or the compliance to another organization.

The two most important factors parishes and dioceses should consider when they are assessing the risk associated with electronic contributions are:

1. The flow of the donation dollars. Make sure that the parishioner contribution moves from the parishioner account to the parish or diocese bank account directly. Avoid deposits into holding accounts or escrow.
   
   Organizations that serve as a merchant on behalf of other organizations are considered aggregators by the credit card associations and are also considered to be higher risk because they hold accounts with donor funds in the accounts.
   
   
2. No parish access to account information. The application should prevent the parish staff from any access to donor credit card or bank account information. Make sure any function that allows the parish access to account information is turned off. 

Beyond that consider the integrity and financial strength of the organization providing the solution.

Our parish leadership and diocesan staff must consider all activities related to donations and finances and we must educate ourselves on the latest requirements for compliance and risk management. We have a good start on the new systems, but don't forget some of the many activities we have done for years!

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?

Online Giving acceptance growing rapidly

We just updated the OLG indicator on our web site: www.osvoffertory.com. Over the past month the average percentage of parishioners who are using Online Giving at their parishes has increased to over 13%. The range is fairly wide, from single digit percentages up to almost 50% of parishioners, depending on the size and demographics of the parish. Over the past two years we have seen the average move from 6-7% to the current 13%.

Parishes that have developed a communication plan and engaged lay personnel as champions for Online Giving have had greater acceptance from parishioners. But usage has generally grown across all parishes that have implemented Online Giving. Parishioners have found that Online Giving is a convenient way to make contributions to the parish, so they can concentrate on their participation at Mass.

Its also interesting to note the frequency of gifts. OSV Online Giving provides flexibility for gift frequencies and the system processes the gift on the day specified. Since 2009 almost 30% of the total dollar volume has been processed as WEEKLY donations. Those who give bi-weekly are contributing the largest annual totals, followed by weekly donors annual totals. Monthly gifts are about 40% of total dollar volume. On an annualized basis, monthly givers are contributing about 29% less than weekly and 50% less than bi-weekly givers. To summarize, there is good reason to offer parishioners options for when to contribute to the parish!

Make Online Giving part of your annual plan for Offertory. It is also important to provide offering envelopes so that everyone can present their gifts during Mass. These are tools for our use and we can create excitement about them at our parishes by using them effectively and reporting results.

Is your parish part of the Online Giving wave?

Who will you reach in 2012?

We just finished visiting a series of parishes and diocesan organizations in the south and east. I always am enriched by these visits; I'm enriched by the amazing people we have working in parish and diocesan organizations, by visits to beautiful chapels and sanctuaries, and by learning about the steps we are taking to advance our Faith.

As part of our conversations we talked about setting an annual plan for offertory and communications. Part of the discussion inevitably turns to online giving and also to web sites. These are two areas that deserve continued focus to increase our impact to our communities and ultimately the world.

Now is the time to set your plan for your offering envelopes and Online Giving. Make them work together to support your key themes for 2012. (As an aside, we learned recently that terminology is important. One of the dioceses we visited stated that they were emphasizing "direct deposit". It was not clear that OSVs Online Giving capability does include function for direct deposit and makes it easy for both the parishioner and the parish to manage.) You should definitely offer online giving. And keep the envelopes so people can use them at Mass. This is simple, cost effective and keeps change to a minimum.

Another staff person asked how we get younger people to participate. The first place our teens and young adults will look is on the web. They will look for information about the church, and about the faith including answers to questions about the faith. Is your website ready? Take a look at www.sacredheartquincy.org for a great example of a parish website. This site follows the best practices based on research from Villanova University and from the Archdiocese of Boston.

So in 2012, plan to make it easy for parishioners to give to your parish. While you are at it, make it easy for parishioners and others to find you. And step up your efforts to be where people are searching.

What are your plans? Let us know!