Navigating text-to-give giving for churches can be difficult. But you can’t ignore the impact of digital fundraising and the role it can play in boosting your church’s income.
Smartphones are incredibly popular, and they’re not going away anytime soon. Currently, there are 6.84 billion smartphones globally. Instead of getting frustrated, why not accept that smartphones will be a part of church services – and use them to bring in more support for your church?
That’s where text-to-give comes in. In this article, we’ll highlight everything you need to know about text giving for churches, including the best way to leverage it, how to choose the right software, and some examples of successful church text giving campaigns.
Let’s get started!
What is Text-to-Give?
Text-to-give or text giving refers to individuals giving to churches, nonprofits, or other organizations using SMS or text messaging. Some churches also refer to text giving as “text-to-tithe.”
Text giving includes both giving directly through text and using text to receive a link to complete a donation online.
Benefits of Text-to-Give for Churches
As mentioned above, almost everyone who steps through your church doors will have a smartphone in their pocket. This means that one of the big benefits of text-to-give for churches is simply meeting your congregants where they are and making it as easy as possible to give.
But there are some other key benefits we want to mention here:
- Security
There’s always a risk associated with tithes and offerings that are given as cash or checks. With cash, you risk your donations getting stolen or misplaced. With checks, you must be responsible for your donors’ sensitive banking information.
Since text giving occurs online, your donors can rest assured that their tithes and offerings are safe.
Pro tip: You’ll want to choose a donation platform that meets strict security standards to ensure your donors’ information – and your donations – are safe. Below, we’ll share more tips for choosing the best text-to-give platform!
- More ways to give
While almost all of your congregants will have their smartphones with them, something is missing from their purses and pockets – cash. 41% of Americans are comfortable leaving the house with no cash.
Text giving, then, provides an alternative way for your churchgoers to stay on top of their tithing. Choose a text-to-give platform that allows your donors to give with a card or digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Easy repeat giving
Tithing is all about a steady, philanthropic relationship with your church. Repeat giving, or recurring giving, is an easy way for your church supporters to tithe regularly and faithfully.
Text giving often makes it easy for church donors to repeat their gifts with just a text. They should also easily be able to set up a recurring giving plan that allows them to give a set amount at their preferred donation interval.
- A simple way to share
Most people know how to text these days. Therefore text-to-give provides an easy way to share your church’s donation information!
Include your text-to-give information at the end of each Sunday service for a simple, non-intrusive call to make an offering.
3 Examples of Successful Church Text-to-Give Campaigns
- The Gathering Church
This church has an ongoing text-to-give campaign to collect tithes and offerings before and after their church services. The funds they raise through text-to-give powers their crucial missionary work.
Based in North Carolina, The Gathering Church has raised $19,387 using Donorbox’s text-to-give feature – and that number is growing.
They outline the three easy steps to donate using text-to-give right on their website!
- Harvest Childcare Ministries
Harvest Childcare Ministries provides services to neglected and abused children in Virginia. They raised $13,965 for their Giving Tuesday campaign using text-to-give.
They used Donorbox’s short code plan to make it even easier for their supporters to visit their Donorbox-hosted donation page.
- Church of God World Missions
This church launched a 365 Challenge Campaign to fund its mission to create disciples of Christ all over the world. They requested gifts of $365 to support their powerful missionary work.
With the help of text-to-give, they raised $4,863. Their donors could simply text a keyword to a short code phone number to receive a link to their Donorbox-hosted donation page. They enabled UltraSwift™ Pay, allowing their donors to use giving methods like Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo.
How to Use Text Giving for Churches
Now that we’ve reviewed the basics of text giving and checked out some examples, let’s look at how your church can leverage it.
- Tithing
Tithing is an important act of worship for your congregants. Text-to-give can make tithing easier by providing an updated, streamlined way to give with a smartphone.
Plus, if your text-to-give donation form has recurring giving, your text-givers can set up a plan with a donation interval that works for them. This option allows them to set up automatic payments to stay on top of their tithing.
- Offerings
In addition to tithing, your congregants may feel moved to make offerings before or after your Sunday service. Text giving is a great way to collect offerings without interrupting the flow of your service. Simply share the text-to-give code and number with your audience and remind them that Jesus loves a cheerful giver.
Tip: To increase trust in your church, show your parishioners what your church accomplishes in terms of service and mission work. This will help them understand how you use their hard-earned funds to honor the Lord. Check out this blog for more tips to build stronger relationships with your congregants.
- Special campaigns
Your church will occasionally need to collect donations with a specific goal in mind, such as a capital campaign to expand your church or purchase a new building, or a fund to support a local family in need.
Text-to-give is great for these kinds of campaigns because it provides an easy way to share your donation form on campaign materials. You can point donors to text-to-give in person, online, and by mail.
- Events
If your church hosts events like a fall festival or Christmas play, text giving offers the perfect way to collect in-person donations easily. Simply post your text-to-give information around your event and encourage donations.
Tip: A donation kiosk is another great way to raise more during your next church event!
Choosing the Right Text-to-Tithe Software
There are many options out there when it comes to text-to-give software. To get the most out of text giving for your church, you’ll want to choose a platform with the following features:
- Digital wallets
As we mentioned above, you’ll want to look for a text-to-give platform that allows your donors to give using their preferred digital wallet, like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Digital wallets allow donors to skip inputting certain information, like their contact and payment info. This makes the checkout process much easier.
Digital wallets are a widely popular payment method, with over 50% of Americans using them regularly at checkout. To keep up with this demand, your text-to-give software should accept them.
- Recurring giving
Many churches rely on recurring giving to bring in a steady stream of donations – and to help well-meaning, forgetful parishioners stay on top of tithing.
Your text-to-tithe software should offer recurring giving with a variety of donation intervals. Some common intervals include:
- Daily
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Annual
Recurring donors give up to 42% more per year than one-time donors, simply because it’s easier to give a little regularly than it is to give one large sum.
- Security
If you accept donations from your congregation, it is your responsibility to ensure they will be handled securely. This means choosing text-to-tithe software with strict security protocols.
Look for platforms that offer encryption, don’t store sensitive card information, and conduct regular vulnerability testing.
- Easy text options
The most successful text-to-give campaigns involve an easy-to-remember, unique keyword.
Look for a text-to-give platform that lets you create a custom, memorable keyword to make giving to your church as smooth as possible. Plus, some software options allow you to select a short code instead of a full phone number, making giving even easier.
- Backend support
Lastly, look for a platform that offers premium customer service. You never know when you’ll need it! A good customer support program is crucial to ensure you get the most out of your text-to-tithe software.
Donorbox MinistryMomentum Helps You Raise More with Text-to-Give
Donorbox MinistryMomentum is a dedicated church-giving platform that offers a variety of functionality for churches looking to create a culture of giving. Their text-to-give offering has all of the features listed above, including:
- Donor-empowering options such as the Donor Portal that allows donors to change their recurring plan whenever they want.
- A shortcode (custom keyword + shorter phone number) and basic plan (numerical campaign ID + standard phone number) to fit your budget. The shortcode plan is $50/month while the basic plan is $19/month.
- Easy repeat donations with just one text – or just a couple of clicks through the Donor Portal.
- World-class customer support with lightning-fast response times.
- Industry-leading security that helps you keep your donors’ data – and your own – safe from harm.
- UltraSwift™ Pay, which utilizes digital wallets for a 4x faster checkout experience.
Plus, Donorbox MinistryMomentum bolsters churches with fundraising features like event ticketing, the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app, QuickDonate™, crowdfunding, memberships, and more.
Watch this short video to see all Donorbox MinistryMomentum has to offer!
Meet Donorbox MinistryMomentum – Helping Churches Increase Tithes and Offerings 🤝🏻
Learn more about Donorbox Text-to-Give here and sign up to start fundraising smarter.
Over to You
Smartphones may have been a nuisance in your pews in the past. And to be honest, they likely will remain so for quite some time. But being on a smartphone won’t distract your congregation from what’s most important – the feeling of worshipping together as a community.
Many churches are using the smartphone obsession to their advantage by sharing mobile-friendly content like blogs and podcasts, utilizing QR codes, and leveraging text-to-give to collect tithes, offerings, and more.
Whether your church has been fundraising for years or is just getting started, remember that your goal is to guide your congregants on their path to Heaven, and part of that path includes faithful and generous giving. Not just to your church – but to your community. Remind them that there are other ways to give back, too, and encourage them to join your next outreach ministry activity.
Learn more about Donorbox MinistryMomentum and all they have to offer, including powerful fundraising features and community-minded tools to help you grow your church and reach more souls.
