Jump the Fiscal Cliff - Increase Collections - Get Online Giving in Place Now!

Recent data from Barna and from Pew Research show that we continue to donate regardless of the economic "terrain".  Make it easy for parishioners and visitors to support your parish efforts for the holidays and beyond.

Our calendar helps us to step back and be grateful for the abundant blessings we have.  As we wind down the year, many of us step up our gifts and contributions to worthy causes.  If your parish has Online Giving in place,  this is a time to remind people to update their gift amounts or to add that special gift for flowers or a special remembrance.

If you do not have Online Giving in place then now is the time.  You can have everything set up in a few hours, and parishioners and visitors can give online.  Make sure you spend some time at Mass and through other announcements and newsletters to remind people to give both online and through envelope contributions.  Your parish may have a special outreach program or gift program for Christmas.  Provide people the option to give a financial gift online to support the purchase of goods for families. 

See the stories about parish experiences at our web site .  Online Giving has proven to streamline and stabilize cash flow,  support income through weather incidents, and increase gift amounts from parishioners. 

Go Irish! Great Football and a Successful Foundation

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Irish return to their (in my humble opinion) deserved position in college football rankings.  As a "double - Domer" I guess I'm twice as happy!  The good news for Notre Dame is that I consider the football entertainment as a sideline to the true value of the university and its programs. And successful operations.  Notre Dame has created a strong base of contributions and donations that have helped to build new and exciting programs that advance education and also outreach.
 
This reminds me of some of the points made in a book by J. Clif Christopher titled, "Not Your Parent's Offering Plate". In the book Christopher challenges church leaders to assess what they are doing in their church and the evidence of the results. He asks why people give to universities like Harvard. The answer:  because they believe in the leadership of the organization and they support the "product" the organization delivers. There are lives changed by the experience at Harvard (or of course I would say Notre Dame), and lives should be changed through our church experience.

Our pastors and staff do so many good works that go unheralded. Its important that we relate some of the information about how we serve parishioners and the impact our parishioners, pastors and staff have on the community. Because these acts of service and kindness are meaningful evidence of our stewardship and our Christianity.

So you ask what does this have to do with Online Giving? In the past months of blog history there are a number of examples confirming the increase in contributions that parishes have seen from Online Giving. But if your parish has responded to the need that we all have to give, and informs you about the use of funds and talents and associated results of the use of funds, then you likely see a far greater sustained increase.

Use Online Giving to provide a convenient tool for parishioners and visitors to contribute financially to the parish. Your focus on the direction of the parish, the good deeds of the parish, and the use of the finances help to inform and support the purpose of those financial contributions.

So, I'm watching the Irish play football. But I'm contributing to programs that form young men and women. And I'm contributing to my parish as we provide services to students and to those in need in our town in South Carolina.

What is your experience?  Have you tried Online Giving?

Change In Season is Ideal Time to Introduce Parishioners to New Methods of Giving

by: Zak Bernath
Across the country leaves are falling, colors are changing, temperatures are dropping, and parish life is entering a vibrant season of reflection. For many parishes, it is a time for spiritual and stewardship renewal. Our Sunday Visitor is fortunate to share this season with thousands of parishes by offering services to help foster this atmosphere of spiritual vibrancy. As an offertory solutions provider, Our Sunday Visitor recognizes the parish need for communication and engagement services.

As a printer and mail house, we offer numerous products and services aimed at communicating biblical principles of stewardship. These services range from stewardship envelope programs, to newsletters, to state of the parish reports, and more. As a company that is helping usher parishes into the 21st century, we also offer web-based services such as Online Giving and content-managed websites. But did you know that printing services and web-based services are not mutually exclusive? When it comes to engaging parishioners, they are very significantly fused together.

Let’s explore this idea by using Online Giving as an example. Online Giving is a way for parishioners to establish recurring gifts to the parish through a secure website.

There is no more raw an act of first fruits giving than having ones gift come automatically from a bank or credit card account. And the benefit to the parish finances is quite obvious: the parish no longer relies on mass attendance to sustain the offertory. This is especially important given the fact that only 31% of self-identified Catholics attend mass on any given Sunday.1 But the question many parishes face is, “How do we educate parishioners and communicate the idea of technology replacing traditional methods of giving?” Ironically, the answer is through printed communications.

According to a 2011 study done by Dunham+Company, a strategic fundraising consulting organization, more than three times as many individuals made online donations based on direct mail letters than email appeals.2 This seems ironic, but we know that people still respond by having something directly placed in front of them, something they can hang on to and don’t immediately send to the “recycle bin”. Direct mail not only takes on significance physically, but psychologically. Taking the effort to mail a letter shows parishioners that the parish is prioritizing its message. And that message is far too important to confuse with spam.

In addition to the above findings, another 2011 survey by Dunham+Company reveals even more to shatter some of our assumptions about Online Giving. 51% of donors over the age of 60 reported making an online donation at some point in time.3 This tells us that while Online Giving may initially be attractive to engage the younger population, middle age and elderly are not only the core of your offertory giving but also more than willing to go online to give. Now we just need to educate them about this great service!
As the fall renewal season enters full swing, be considering how you can continue to engage your parish community through both new technology and traditional methods. Let’s create an atmosphere of gratitude for the gifts we all have been given.

1 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
2 Business Mailer Review – September 17, 2012
3 Business Mailer Review – September 17, 2012

Survey Says: Gifts Increase when Parishioners use Online Giving

We created Online Giving to be a simple solution that provides stability and an increase in contributions for collections. Our Sunday Visitor recently polled 144 donors from a single parish who switched from using envelopes to Online Giving for their offertory. The results were promising and illustrate the clear benefits to using this electronic service.

Within this six-month span, the average giver increased their gift by 49%.

Over half of the donors at the parish chose a credit card, and their donations increased by 62% over their envelope gifts. The credit card option is often the most enticing to donors and the parish as it allows for more flexibility in giving and there are no additional costs. Cards also allow the donor to accrue card benefits like miles, points, or other rewards. 

Data shows that credit card users consistently give more than those who use their bank accounts to give electronically.

45% of parish donors used ACH and their donations increased by 32% over their envelope gifts. Considering both credit card and ACH contributions combined, this amounted to an overall increase of around $60,000. That’s an average increase of $415 per donor.

How has Online Giving impacted your parish?

3 Ways to Increase Giving for Your Parish - Fantastic Results

This week we had the opportunity to talk with parish representatives from across the country while we were at the International Catholic Stewardship Conference.  In addition to increasing our depth of understanding on our journey of Faith,  we wanted to make sure we understood the experience our customers have with our products and services.

We heard some useful techniques to maintain parishioner engagement and increase contributions for parishes who are using Online Giving from OSV:

1.  Send an email to announce special collections

Each month you have a new special collection planned,  pull your email list from Online Giving and send parishioners information about the purpose of the collection.  As part of the note let them know they can log in and select the gift as an option.

2.  Send a mid-year and year-end reminder

A couple times each year send a gentle reminder email to your Online Giving contributors.  Thank them for their contributions and remind them to review their gift commitments to the parish.  This gentle nudge encourages people to take the time to log in to review their commitments.

3.  Make Online Giving a Standard Part of Your Stewardship of Treasure program

If you do a more formal annual or periodic process to review and pray about financial commitments to the parish,  you can make it easy for parishioners by including the link to Online Giving in all your materials.  This is also a great way to sustain the the commitment through automatic recurring contributions.

Parishes who are offering Online Giving reported fantastic results:

One parish in Indiana credits Online Giving with "stabilizing their cash flow".  They had a tremendous reduction in monthly offertory during summer months when parishioners left for vacations at lake cottages.  By offering a simple way for parishioners to set up recurring contributions,  this parish eliminated a 30% loss of revenue for 3 to 4 summer months.  In addition the parish has seen an overall increase in contributions of 23% or more.

Two parishes we talked with compared contributions for the group of parishioners using Online Giving.  They looked at the 12 months before the group started using the application and compared it to the 12 months after they started using the application.  One parish in the northeast has seen an astounding 62% increase from credit card gifts,  and a 49% increase overall.   Another parish measured 42% increase.

In general we are observing at least 30% increase for individual parishioners who move to Online Giving.  This is due to a combination of the regularly scheduled gift and conscious decision on the part of the parishioner.  We also have found that coordinating Online Giving as part of a broader plan which keeps parishioners informed and engaged in the direction of the parish generates a more sustained increase over time.

Keep track of what we are doing through our news and events page: http://www.osvoffertory.com/NewsEvents.aspx






And let us know your experience at your parish!