While businesses are increasingly switching to electronic payment processing systems to keep up with consumer demands for more payment options and flexibility—and taking advantage of dramatic time and cost-savings—churches and nonprofit organizations seem to be falling behind the curve. Although nonprofits generally benefit from the many advantages of electronic processing as much or more than any for-profit business, many have been reluctant to change their methods of collecting donations and contributions.

For businesses, electronic payment services are saving them up to 90 percent in invoicing costs, 50 percent in processing costs, and cutting the time to collect in half.

What does this mean for churches and nonprofits? In addition to the reduced hard costs of paper and postage, as well as administrative time and expense, the advantages and flexibility of a robust electronic giving solution are paramount. The bottom line is that members of these organizations are carrying less cash and beginning to leave their checkbooks at home. If a church relies heavily on collecting donations with a collection plate, it risks limiting the flexibility for its members to give in our changing world. 

Here is an example of the electronic giving options one church recently implemented and the vast benefits it has reaped as a result.

Origins Church of New York is a young church community comprised of professionals, young families, students, and emerging artists committed to seeking a renewed approach to Christian spirituality and the teachings of Jesus. The two-year-old community is growing very quickly and now attracts regular attendance levels of 450 to 500 people for weekend services. 

Members were looking for flexible and convenient ways to contribute regularly, even if they missed a week of services. And, as a nonprofit organization, Origins Church depends on the donations of congregants. Sue Erickson, executive assistant and vision implementation of Origins Church of New York, decided to do some research to investigate alternative ways to make it easier for people to give to the church.

Electronic Giving
Electronic giving, or e-giving, is a term coined recently to describe the action of a church or nonprofit accepting donations via electronic payment (i.e., e-check or credit card). It provides churches with an easy solution that not only gives members more flexible giving options, but also cuts down on the staff's administrative work and creates a more steady flow of income. As a result, the church staff can focus more on ministry efforts, and the congregation will appreciate the convenience and flexibility of giving in a way that best suits their individual lifestyles.

Electronic giving was the natural answer for Origins Church. Because the Origins Church Web site was a central place for congregants to learn more about its services, events, and mission efforts, Erickson was particularly excited about implementing an online giving component. 

"Since our Web site is where many of our members get their information when they are not at the church, it made sense to allow them to donate via the Web site as well," Erickson said.

The flexibility of a comprehensive electronic giving solution also enables churches like Origins Church to utilize capabilities that best suit their needs. It's important to note that even if a church does not have a Web site, they still can implement electronic giving. Several types of e-giving programs are available.

Recurring Giving
Recurring giving enables churches to set up automatic schedules that debit congregation members' checking accounts or credit cards on a set schedule that they specify. Once the schedule is set, they don't have to worry about having cash on hand or missing out on the collection plate if they miss a service. The funds are automatically debited from the member's bank account or card and deposited into the church's account.

Enabling church members to give automatically provides the church with a steady, predictable flow of incoming funds, which enables better planning and budgeting. Church members can set up recurring giving schedules in person or even by completing a form hosted on the church's Web site.

Online Giving
An online giving program provides church members with the opportunity to make donations 24 hours a day via direct debit from a checking account or credit/debit card. Using an online form, members can make one-time donations or, as previously noted, set up a recurring donation plan. Many payment processing services will even host the secure donation page, and all the church needs is a link from their Web site. In fact, some services will host the entire program, enabling the church to offer online giving, even without its own Web site. With the ease and simplicity of an online giving program, giving back to the church can be just as routine as paying the monthly electric bill.

Check Conversion
No matter how well the electronic giving program is promoted, some members of the congregation will continue to send paper checks. Thus, when selecting an electronic giving system, it is important to look for a check conversion feature that enables the electronic processing of paper checks received in the mail or in the collection plate.  Rather than spending time sorting checks and driving to the bank to deposit them, the entire process can be automated. From the convenience of an office computer, administrators can deposit checks into the church's account, easily track any rejected checks, and keep detailed member giving profiles.

Electronic Giving Solution
Following a referral from another church, Origins decided to deploy the PaySimple solution and implemented all of the above giving options. 

"We were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get started with PaySimple; it was much faster than we had expected," Erickson said. 

Because the PaySimple solution is a Software as a Service (Saas) technology platform, and is securely hosted by PaySimple, Origins Church did not have to add any additional IT resources to implement the program. The staff found that it did not take much training to become knowledgeable and efficient at setting up online payments for the donors and running reports on the transactions. Within two weeks of signing up, Origins Church started accepting donations by credit card and electronic check on their Web site.

Benefits to the Church
In the year that Origins Church has been working with PaySimple, their weekly contributions have quadrupled and have become more predictable as well. Erickson has also found that the Origins Church staff saves a great deal of time now that they are using PaySimple, as they spend less time manually counting money or going to the bank to make deposits. In addition, the staff has realized that there is less opportunity for human error in the accounting process for incoming donations than with those they accept electronically.  

Electronic giving is a win-win situation for the church and its congregation. So, the real question a church must ask is, "How soon can we make giving to the church easier for our members?"

PaySimple provides an on-demand Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that enables churches and nonprofits to bill, collect, and manage their donations under one user-friendly system, www.paysimple.com.