Mobile Giving Done Right

41 PAGES
8 Second Attention Span
A Research Kit for Churches
a publication of &
MOBILE GIVING
4
BARRIERS
TO CHURCH
GIVING
PITFALLS TO AVOID3
8 QUESTIONS TO ASK
4Things to
Expect
13,909+ CHARACTERS
2,907+ WORDS
????????
Done Right
3 MUST-HAVES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHY DO CHURCHES NEED MOBILE GIVING? 2
What if your church could count on consistent monetary
increases above the national average every month? 3
How the church feels about giving 4-5
Christians agree they should give, but do they actually? 6-7
Mobile giving helps people express generosity 8-9
What’s the difference between online and mobile giving 10-11
FOUR COMMON BARRIERS TO CHURCH GIVING 12
We have busier lifestyles 13
Cash checks are never on hand 14
Cultural values have shifted 15
Church attendance is declining 16-17
THREE MOBILE GIVING PITFALLS TO AVOID 18
Systems that can’t compete with today’s standards 19
Using too many vendors 20
Forgetting to research merchant processing 21
BEYOND THE SOFTWARE 22
The ability to grow with your church 23
Excellent customer service 24
Shared values 25
EIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK AS YOU GET STARTED 26
What giving methods are offered? 27
Do they integrate with my church database? 28
Is my provider going to scale with me? 29
How does the platform show results? 30
Should I get a custom plan? 31
What kind of support is available? 32
Will the provider help engage the church? 33
How does this fit with my current giving strategy? 34
FOUR REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS 35
New, younger givers 36
Increased giving overall 37
A generous generation 38
Maturity in your church 39
CONCLUSION 40
Who are eChurchGiving and Pushpay? 41

2
WHY CHURCHES
NEED MOBILE
GIVING?

3
WHAT IF YOUR CHURCH
COULD COUNT ON
CONSISTENT MONETARY
INCREASES ABOVE THE
NATIONAL AVERAGE
EVERY MONTH?
Perhaps you’d use it to pay down debt,
build up a savings, or grow your staff and
building infrastructure? Either way, you
can be sure that it represents participation
growth and an increase in ministry
opportunities for your church.
WHY CHURCHES NEED MOBILE GIVING?
$
PAY
DOWN DEBT
BUILD UP
SAVINGS
INVEST IN
INFRASTRUCTURE
GROW
PARTICIPATION
INCREASE
MINISTRY OPPS

4
HOW THE CHURCH FEELS
ABOUT GIVING
“The purpose of God’s blessing is to enable
you to be a great channel of blessing to
others. If you have nothing, there is nothing
you can do for anyone else; if you have a
little, you can only help a little; but if you
have plenty, there is a whole lot you can do.
When you are blessed, you have a mighty
foundation from which to impact others.
You are blessed to be a blessing.”
—Brian Houston, Senior Pastor of
Hillsong Church

5
HOW THE CHURCH FEELS ABOUT
GIVING (continued)
We know Christians don’t agree on
everything. We’ve all heard stories of
churches splitting over disagreements
ranging from the meaning of baptism to
carpet color. But almost every Christian,
regardless of denomination or theological
stance, agrees that giving to the church
is important.
But almost every Christian,
regardless of denomination or
theological stance, agrees that
giving to the church is important.
As Houston notes, we have been blessed
to bless others. We first hear this language
in Genesis, when God tells Abraham that
He will bless him and his descendents to
be a blessing (Gn 12:2). Jesus spoke on
the importance of giving, too; His apostles
quote Him in the book of Acts, saying, “It is
better to give than to receive.” (Ac 20:35)
And that’s far from all; the church draws
from many other Bible verses that teach the
importance of giving.

6
CHRISTIANS AGREE THEY
SHOULD GIVE, BUT DO
THEY ACTUALLY?
Christians know they should be generous,
but according to a recent survey, only 20%
of churchgoers give regularly. That’s only
one out of every five attendees! Another
survey revealed that 80% of Americans
give just 2% of their income.
20% of churchgoers give regularly.
In fact, more than one in four church goers
give $0 to their church each year. Not even
a token $5.
If Christians agree on the importance of
generosity, why do the staggering numbers
seem to show such a huge lack of it?

7
CHRISTIANS AGREE THEY SHOULD
GIVE, BUT DO THEY ACTUALLY
(continued)
Greed, distrust, and fear of the future—these
issues might immediately come to mind to
explain a lack of giving. But what if there
was more to the story?
We believe that there are other issues
preventing generosity in the church today,
and not all are born out of unwillingness to
give. Instead, we see a disparity between how
the church tends to accept donations and
how many people make transactions today.

8
MOBILE GIVING HELPS
PEOPLE EXPRESS
GENEROSITY
More than ever, our world is driven by
technology. Most churches haven’t stayed
up-to-date with the tech their members use
in their daily lives—especially when it comes
to monetary transactions.
Many churches simply need to make
the donation process easier for their
congregants in order to see a
huge increase in giving.
People (especially young people) have
become accustomed to paying for things
digitally with little to no hassle, and many
churches use archaic or even clunky
donation processes.
GIVE

9
MOBILE GIVING HELPS PEOPLE
EXPRESS GENEROSITY (continued)
Many churches simply need to make the
donation process easier for their congregants
in order to see a huge increase in giving.
This doesn’t mean it’s time to throw away
your offering plates and stop accepting
paper checks. But it is important to start
looking at the big changes people have
made in how they do life, especially in
regards to how they allocate their money.
We’ve made this ebook to give you
an overview of the church’s need for
mobile giving and to equip you with
the information you need to get
your own church started.
We’ve made this ebook to give you an
overview of the church’s need for mobile
giving and to equip you with the information
you need to get your own church started.
Adopting mobile giving might be just
what your church needs to revive a
culture of generosity.

1010
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ONLINE AND
MOBILE GIVING
While online giving happens from a personal
computer at a specific location, mobile
giving can be done from a phone or tablet
anywhere with cell service. About 42% of
churches now offer online giving, while only
20% offer mobile giving.
Mobile giving options are important
because they allow a donation method
during church with the currency your
congregants have on hand.

11
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
ONLINE AND MOBILE GIVING
(continued)
Mobile giving options are important because
they allow a donation method during church
with the currency your congregants have
on hand. According to Pew Research, 91%
of the US population has a cell phone. In the
United States, 56% of cellphone users have a
smartphone—and this number’s even higher
for Americans younger than 34. Providing
a true mobile giving solution remains one
of the greatest opportunities for many
churches today.
Providing a true mobile
giving solution remains one of
the greatest opportunities for
many churches today.

12
FOUR COMMON
BARRIERS TO
CHURCH GIVING
Churches face the challenge of dealing with
a rapidly changing culture. However with the
right tools and information, church leaders like
you can keep up with these changes.
We’ve identified four common barriers to
church giving that have arisen with cultural
change that you’ll face as a church.

13
1. WE HAVE BUSIER
LIFESTYLES
Our culture is arguably busier than ever
before. Work, family, friends, hobbies—these
things have been around for a while, but
today’s technology pushes them along at
a more frenetic pace. There is an endless
list of things vying for our attention, and
giving doesn’t often happen in a format
that naturally fits our lifestyles. If people are
going to give, they need to direct time and
attention specifically towards that purpose…
and that’s unlikely to happen with how
thinly we spread our selves. Did you know?
Studies show the average attention span in
2013 was just 8-seconds.
Studies show the average attention
span in 2013 was just 8-seconds.
FOUR COMMON BARRIERS TO CHURCH GIVING

14
2. CASH CHECKS ARE
NEVER ON HAND
Paper money is on the decline. Fewer
people carry cash or checks, and in some
churches, these are the only formats they
can use to give. When the offering basket
gets passed around, many people can’t
give even if they want to.

15
3. CULTURAL VALUES
HAVE SHIFTED
For better or worse, 20 somethings and 30
somethings don’t think of giving the way
churchgoers once did. For many young
people, giving to a church is just not part of
how they do life. Often they will give funds
to other more sensational charities, like
donating to help build a well in a third-world
country, for example. It might never cross
their minds that somehow their pastor needs
enough money for his salary.
It might never cross their minds
that somehow their pastor needs
enough money for his salary.

16
4. CHURCH ATTENDANCE
IS DECLINING
Fewer and fewer people are regularly
attending church. According to recent
research, even those with a church home
only attend 1.7 times a month. The trouble
this presents for giving is quite obvious: the
less often people attend church, the less
opportunity they have to give to their church.
The less often people attend church,
the less opportunity they have
to give to their church.

17
CHURCH ATTENDANCE IS DECLINING
(continued)
These are tough challenges, but hope is
not lost for churches in need of increased
generosity among their members. You can
employ many tactics to help overcome
these barriers, one of which is finding a
mobile giving solution. This will help you
address the first three of these four barriers
mentioned above.
One of which is finding
a mobile giving solution.

THREE MOBILE
GIVING PITFALLS
TO AVOID
You’ll want to find a mobile giving solution that
fits your church. Every church is unique, and
trying to find the option that’s right for you can
seem daunting. To get you started on the right
foot, here are three scenarios you’ll want to
steer clear of right off the bat.

19
1. SYSTEMS THAT CAN’T
COMPETE WITH TODAY’S
STANDARDS
A recent survey of the 50 fastest-growing
churches showed that online giving took over
three minutes. Three minutes doesn’t sound
like a whole lot of time, but compared to
what people expect out of a payment process
today, that’s very slow. To give you an idea:
people expect a mobile transaction to take an
average of 10 seconds, and a web transaction
an average of 30 seconds. If a transaction
takes longer than 30 seconds on mobile,
85% of people cancel the transaction!
If a transaction takes longer than 30
seconds on mobile, 85% of people
cancel the transaction!
THREE MOBILE GIVING PITFALLS TO AVOID

20
2. USING TOO MANY
VENDORS
When you implement new technology,
it’s very easy to end up with a number of
different solutions that might not work hand
in hand. To help your church staff avoid that
mess, try to find a comprehensive solution.
Work with a payment processing company
that either integrates smoothly with what
you already have set up, or that gives you
the whole package in one go.

21
3. FORGETTING TO
RESEARCH MERCHANT
PROCESSING
Merchant processing and card fees make up
a big part of online and mobile giving—so
don’t forget to do your research on how
they work! Up to 70% of your transaction
costs are going to be dictated by credit card
companies. There’s no “one-size-fits-all”
solution for merchant processing, so study
up! You want to be sure your solution allows
people options to give in the way that is
least expensive for you.

22
BEYOND THE
SOFTWARE
We’ve talked about three scenarios that
wouldn’t be good for your church’s transition
into using a mobile giving service. Now that
you know what to avoid, let’s talk about what
to look for.

23
1. THE ABILITY TO GROW
WITH YOUR CHURCH
Your church may not always look the way
it does today. What if in two years your
congregation doubles? What if in four years
you want to start a new satellite campus?
What if in six years you decide to plant
another church?
You can’t predict the future, so it’s important
to choose a mobile giving solution that can
adapt with your church over the years.
BEYOND THE SOFTWARE

24
2. EXCELLENT CUSTOMER
SERVICE
Don’t forget to look into quality and
availability of customer service when you
choose your provider. If you’re able to
contact customer service reps around the
clock, that’s ideal. Do your research on their
reputation with their other customers. Are
they friendly? Do they have an automated
support system, or are there real people
on the phone? Make sure the provider you
choose has great customer service. Your
team will be grateful later!
BEYOND THE SOFTWARE

25
3. SHARED VALUES
As a church, you know that church giving isn’t
just about the bottom line. You want to foster
a culture of generosity and build a community
that cares for each other. If you can find a
mobile giving service offered by a company
with aligned values, you’ll get much more than
functionality out of the relationship.
You’ll get service that’s better suited
to your church’s needs.
You’ll be working with people who relate to
your desires, and as a result, you’ll get service
that’s better suited to your church’s needs.
BEYOND THE SOFTWARE

26
EIGHT QUESTIONS
TO ASK AS YOU
GET STARTED
You now have a basic foundation of what to
look for and what to avoid in a mobile giving
solution. As you narrow down to your final
choice, here are eight questions to ask to help
you choose a platform and a service package.

27
1. WHAT GIVING METHODS
ARE OFFERED?
We recommend finding a solution that offers
a complete suite of donation processing
channels: online, kiosk, ACH text and mobile.
Remember when we talked about trying to
avoid too many vendors? This question is, in
part, a failsafe to keep that from happening.
According to MIT Technology Review,
“Smartphones are spreading faster than any
technology in human history.” Mobile giving is
likely to continue increasing in relevance and
convenience to your church attendees.
EIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK AS YOU GET STARTED

28
2. DO THEY INTEGRATE
WITH MY CHURCH
DATABASE?
Take some time to look at what database
system your church uses. If you’re a smaller
church, you might not have one.
If you do, you’ll save yourself lots of trouble
later by checking first if the giving platform
you’re looking at integrates with your church
database. This will allow you to more easily
keep track of funds, manage donor records,
and do year end tax reporting.

29
3. IS MY PROVIDER GOING
TO SCALE WITH ME?
We talked a little about finding a solution
that will adapt with your church, but how
specifically do you check for that? We
have two tips that will help. First, check
the service’s development cycle. If they’re
frequently releasing updates, it’s a good
sign that the solution will scale. Another tip:
try to stick with a provider who won’t make
you sign a long contract—we encourage
month-to-month.

30
4. HOW DOES THE
PLATFORM SHOW
RESULTS?
This is a good question to ask on the phone
with a representative for the service you’re
looking at. Request testimonials and case
studies. See if you can find success stories
from churches similar to yours. Even check to
see if the company can provide a guarantee
for increased congregational giving.
The more real-life information you can get
about the mobile giving solution in action,
the more confident you can be about
implementing it in your church.
1st

31
5. SHOULD I GET A
CUSTOM PLAN?
In most cases, we recommend avoiding a
one-size-fits-all plan that some companies
offer. With a plan like that, you might miss
out on helpful features specifically for
churches like yours, or you might even pay
for features you don’t need. Instead, we
recommend looking for a provider with
plans tailored to your exact church size.
Talk through the different options with a
representative after you’ve done some
research on merchant processing.

32
6. WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT
IS AVAILABLE?
We talked about the need for good
customer support. In addition to checking
whether you’ll be able to get on the phone
with real people, make sure you have access
to help on Sunday mornings. You don’t
want to have no help available for issues
with your platform when you need it most!
A great provider will offer support for both
merchant processing and user giving.
Make sure you have access to
help on Sunday mornings.

33
7. WILL THE PROVIDER
HELP ENGAGE THE
CHURCH?
Not all mobile giving options offer a strategy
for implementation and engagement. Find
one that does! We recommend a provider
that gives specialized help from a customer
success team. This team won’t just walk you
through setting up your software—they’ll
also give you custom advice for teaching
your congregation to start using the new
platform to give generously. Resources are
helpful, but 24/7 access to an engagement
expert who knows your ministry is invaluable.

34
8. HOW DOES THIS FIT
WITH MY CURRENT
GIVING STRATEGY?
When implementing a mobile giving solution,
it’s easy to get so caught up in what’s new
that you forget about what you’re already
doing. Don’t let that happen! You’ll still have
church members who prefer the traditional
ways of giving. Keep your hand on the pulse
of your congregation and pay attention to
their preferences. Remember, you don’t need
to limit your methods of accepting funds
from your congregation. Use what works
for people, and be careful phasing out old
methods before their time.
If you’ve asked and found answers to all
these questions, you can be confident you’re
choosing a mobile giving solution that’s
going to help your church.

35
FOUR
REASONABLE
EXPECTATIONS
Once you’ve pulled the trigger on a church
giving solution, what should you expect?
Here are four things to look for once you’ve set
up mobile giving at your church.

36
1. NEW, YOUNGER GIVERS
Mobile giving will allow you to engage a
new group of people in your church. You’ll
experience some first-time givers, especially
among your members in their 20’s and 30’s.
They may be people who have wanted to
give in the past, but never take the first step
FOUR REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS

37
2. INCREASED GIVING
OVERALL
Not only should you start noticing church
funds coming from first-time and younger
members, but you can also expect to see an
increase in giving as a whole. Mobile giving
services can give people a way to donate
money without having to remember to bring
a check or cash to church—and the increase
might even come from folks who have been
around a long time.

38
3. A GENEROUS
GENERATION
The scope of mobile giving’s impact extends
beyond your local church. Fewer people
are giving regularly in the church than
ever before, but adopting cutting-edge
technologies like mobile giving can play a
part in revitalizing a culture of generosity in
your city, your state, and beyond.
Don’t be surprised to see this generosity
extend to areas like volunteering and small
group participation as well.
Aa Bb Cc

39
4. MATURITY IN YOUR
CHURCH
Fostering a culture of generosity has
implications beyond funding. You’ll see
growth in church attendees who begin to
give for the first time. As people connect
to the church through giving, your church
community will be strengthened. The act
of giving leads people to engage in deeper
relationships with each other and to become
more integral parts in the life of your church.
We hope you’ve found this guide helpful
in choosing a mobile giving platform that
meets your needs, builds your congregation.

40
CONCLUSION
We’d like to end with the same question
we started with, “What if your church could
count on consistent monetary increases
above the national average every month?”
This is the opportunity that a true mobile
giving strategy presents for many
churches today.
As church leaders, giving represents more
than just financial increase; it represents an
increase in ministry, both in our community
and in the people who call our church home.
For more information about how
Pushpay can come alongside your
church to ignite generosity, click the
button below. Learn more about how
Pushpay can help your church.
VISIT US
CONCLUSION

41
WHO ARE ECHURCHGIVING
AND PUSHPAY?
Recent studies are clear: churches in America
are facing declines in both financial tithing and
attendance. The media is quick to emphasize
the disconnect between the church and younger
generations, while pastors fear the disappearance
of a culture of generosity. And our past experiences
tell us that churches are typically slow to adopt new
technologies, especially in the area of contributions.
It was in the face of these problems that Pushpay
and eChurchGiving were created. Our premise:
how many of the above problems could be solved
by simply making 10-second giving available on a
smartphone, connected in real-time to the church’s
website and database?
This is the Pushpay and eChurchGiving model, and
it’s being used by hundreds of churches across the
country to help drive sustainable increases in first
time, young, and reoccurring givers.
If we were to come alongside your ministry, what
type of resource could we see unleashed?
It would be prolific!
Read more about the heart behind our model at:
echurchgiving.com/team
CONCLUSION

Mobile Giving Done Right

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