As technology makes it easier for nonprofits to receive and process donations, it seems churches and parachurch organizations would jump at the opportunity. Few, however, appear to be doing so.
Tim Neu can remember the days when he worked in the church office, running adding machine tapes each Sunday after the offering plates had been passed. Donations were collected, counted, stamped, appropriated and double-checked.
And there was still more to be done, including entering the data into the church's software management system and making bank deposits.
"It would have been a lot less stressful for us if we made use of technology like organizations do now," said Neu, who now runs the financial office for New Tribes Mission in Sanford, Fla.
New Tribes Mission is a Christian non-profit agency that sends missionaries across the world to spread the gospel. Nearly $3 million in donations -- including gifts for particular missionaries -- comes through New Tribes' offices each month, Neu said.
"That adds up to a lot of checks to manage," he said.
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Main Uses of EFT for Churches
Benefits of EFT for Churches
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Fifteen percent of the organization's 17,000 monthly donors are using EFT, Neu said. The time saved in paperwork and processing has led New Tribes to cut its financial staff from five or six full-time employees to three or four. Their goal is to get 20 percent of donors using the service.
"We've found it to be a lot more convenient for our donors and certainly a much easier process for our office," Neu said. "The real benefit has been its consistency. Our missionaries appreciate it when their donors use the service because they know what they can count on to come in each month. Sometimes when people are writing checks, they're not as consistent with their gifts."
Diversified Financial Systems of Sun City, Ariz., processes New Tribes' EFT donations. The company's president, Dennis Foster, said he is surprised that more churches aren't using either EFT or other electronic services that could save them time and provide faster access to cash.
"I think it's more of a church culture issue," Foster said. "Sometimes pastors are concerned that they'll be viewed as being too worried about the money aspect of church. The fact is, every church has to worry about money, and this technology is designed to make things easier and more convenient."
Churches catching on
EFT is nothing new, of course, said Willits Sawyer, chairman of EFT Corporation in Hamden, Conn. Sawyer has been promoting the service to churches since the late 1970s, when it first gained government approval.
"I honestly thought churches would jump on the service," Sawyer said. "I didn't realize the resistance to technology that existed."
He soon found out. While promoting EFT at a National Religious Broadcasters conference, Sawyer's booth was picketed by those who claimed the service was a tool of the antichrist.
"Needless to say, I learned a quick lesson," Sawyer said. "There will always be those who are a bit afraid or intimidated by technology, but I think we're now to the point that businesses, and churches, realize how to use the tools for good."
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Costs Costs for electronic processing services – from EFT to electronic check conversion or online giving – is usually comparable to what banks charge for deposit transactions. Each transaction can range from a few cents to just under $1 each. Credit card transactions are more costly because they must go through individual credit card companies. Checks are processed through the government's Automated Clearing House, which is less expensive per transaction. The businesses offering these services claim churches and parachurch organizations will save money in the long run. Electronic processing can significantly cut staff time, and those who make donations electronically tend to give more money over a year's period, according to the Christian Stewardship Association. |
"I think we're right on the edge of something big," Busby said. "As they realize that incorporating technology can help them be good stewards with donations, they're more open to experimenting with new things."
Sawyer said seminaries do a great job teaching pastors and priests about the Bible, but don't teach them nearly enough on how to raise funds or do business.
"God does provide," Sawyer said, "but he's also given you some tools to use. Churches have a hard time understanding it's OK to do things a different way."
Electronic check conversion
Agora Services of Katy, Texas, is relying on an Old Testament king to get the word out about its newest service, electronic check conversion. According to the Bible, Joash was the youngest king of Israel, who found a secure and efficient way to handle sacred donations.
The king was the perfect example of what Agora's Joash service is all about, marketing director Dan Bishop said.
"All churches are concerned with being good stewards of their collections," Bishop said. "Now they have a way to simplify things and cut down a number of risks associated with handling paper checks."
Once checks are collected from the offering plate, they are run through a desktop device known as the Joash unit, which captures the check's information, uploading it and a digital image of the check into the church's software management system. The check's amount still has to be hand-entered since the device cannot compute it.
"Joash saves churches 55 to 60 percent of the time they'd normally spend processing paper checks," Bishop said. "There are no endorsements, no deposit slips and no need to travel to the bank with a big stack of checks. It's all done with one swipe through the Joash unit."
An added bonus, Bishop said, is that churches no longer have to keep up with offering envelopes, storing the Joash image of each envelope along with the check image on a CD or ZIP disk. The federal government requires checks be destroyed within 14 days.
Kay Ayers is already looking forward to the moment when Mariner's Church in Irvine, Calif., might start using Joash. Ayers, who oversees the church's accounts receivables office, said the time saved could be put to good use in other areas of ministry. The church currently uses Agora's services for processing its automated bank drafts or EFTs.
"It's amazing how much time is saved just with the 150 people we have that give (through EFT)," Ayers said.
The church, which averages 5,000 in worship attendance each week, also receives 25 to 30 electronic checks each month, and about 130 people use a credit card for a recurring payment, Ayers said.
"Those are not my favorite because there's more work involved, and it costs more to process each transaction," she said.
Churches can purchase the Joash system for $999, Bishop said, and as with other services, will pay a small transaction fee -- less than half a dollar -- for each item processed.
Because fewer people end up handling the paper checks, changes for embezzlement or identity theft are reduced, Bishop said.
"I think once church members realize fewer people actually have access to their personal banking information this way, they'll really get behind it," he said. "It's just a natural for responsible stewardship."
Bishop said even small churches, which process fewer than 100 checks a week, can see benefits from electronic check conversion. The Joash unit is designed for smaller batches of checks, he said, but mega-churches, which might process thousands of contributions each week, might opt for a more sophisticated device that can handle the larger load in a more timely fashion.
Getting members to buy in
Sawyer, the chairman of EFT, thinks the biggest obstacle to churches coming on board with any electronic processing system is pastors' fear of talking about fund raising. He recommends they form a lay committee to handle the issue.
"You're not going to get a big groundswell of people who go to the church staff and say they want you to do this," Sawyer said. "It's going to be up to church staff to take the lead and tell the congregations this is a good thing. It helps budgeting. It reduces administrative costs. It lets the church keep more of its money for doing the work of the Lord."
Jim Cline, sales and marketing manager for NCS Envelope Service, doesn't think churches are ready to make the jump from offering envelopes to an automatic transfer of funds. He does have faith, though, in an electronic version of his company's most popular service.
NCS, which for 87 years has provided paper offering envelopes to thousands of U.S. churches, has launched an online E-giving system that enables church members to make contributions through the Internet using an electronic offering envelope. The service costs churches less than 50 cents per transaction.
Churches do not need to have their own Web sites to use NCS' E-giving service, Cline said. NCS establishes and hosts a Web page for each church, which can be updated and customized by church staff. Churches can set up five fund designations on the electronic offering envelope and include special collection opportunities.
"People feel comfortable with the envelope concept because that's what they've always known," Cline said. "We think this program will be successful because it's an easier concept for church members to grasp; it will look and feel familiar to them."
EFT's focus groups indicate that donors try the electronic approach because they were asked.
Sawyer, who regularly consults church leaders at the Christian Stewardship Association meetings, said marketing is key when getting church members to buy in to a new way of giving.
"The first thing you have to do is ask," he said. "It's all in the ask."
