Crowdfunding for Churches: What You Need to Know
Is crowdfunding the right choice for your church? Here’s everything you should know about launching a crowdfunding campaign.
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Is crowdfunding the right choice for your church? Here’s everything you should know about launching a crowdfunding campaign.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!These days, almost everyone has given to a crowdfunding campaign. These types of fundraisers involve asking several people for small donations that add up in a big way, usually to reach a specific goal.
Many churches have found great success with this method. But is it the right choice for your church?
First, I’ll show you why so many churches use crowdfunding to support specific projects. Then I’ll outline how to create a successful crowdfunding campaign for your church.
Churches use crowdfunding because it’s an easy, efficient, and impactful way to raise funds for projects, like building or planting new churches or mission work.
Simply put, churches use crowdfunding because it works. The average crowdfunding campaign raises $9,237.55. And 34% of donors give to crowdfunding campaigns.
Additionally, churches use crowdfunding because it’s:
If you need to raise funds for your church quickly, creating a crowdfunding campaign is the way to go.
Here are seven ways to make your campaign a success.
Look for a crowdfunding platform that’s affordable, requires less time to get you set up, and provides all the essential features for accessibility, shareability, communication, and fundraising.
Platforms like Donorbox offer important features like a goal meter, which can result in a 35% increase in donations, along with social sharing buttons, the ability to share updates, and a donor wall to inspire more giving.
Prioritize a fundraising platform that makes it easy to customize your crowdfunding page to match your church branding. When a donor recognizes your brand, they’ll feel more comfortable giving.
Share a compelling story about your church’s mission and work to inspire greater generosity among supporters.
It’s also smart to choose a crowdfunding platform that lets you customize your page with your own colors and photos.
Once you’ve set up your crowdfunding campaign, the next step is to promote it to increase engagement and support.
Here are some tips to help you successfully promote your campaign:
Promoting your campaign in various ways early on helps increase support and engagement.
When people see others donating to your campaign, they’re more inclined to support your cause.
Use a virtual donor wall to recognize campaign supporters for their generosity and increase participation.
Including a goal meter on your crowdfunding campaign helps create a sense of urgency and excitement that motivates your church community to donate.
A goal meter can also result in a 35% increase in giving, on average.
Your supporters experience a sense of instant gratification after donating and seeing the impact of their gift. This motivates them to share your campaign and even make an additional donation.
Once someone donates to your campaign, they’ve invested in your project’s success. Make it easy for them to subscribe to email updates, so they know when you hit new milestones and ultimately reach your fundraising goal.
A subscribe option is also very helpful when you have visitors other than current donors. As visitors receive updates, images, and videos of your progress, they might want to visit again and make a donation.
With a platform like Donorbox, your visitors and potential donors can easily subscribe to receive updates on your campaign page, as shown below.
Crowdfunding campaigns that update supporters receive 126% more donations than campaigns that do not post updates.
As your campaign progresses, post updates when you reach significant milestones, such as being halfway or ¾ of the way to your fundraising goal.
Pro tip: When sharing campaign updates, remind everyone about the importance of your project, including photos and personal stories wherever possible.
Wondering which crowdfunding platform is best for your church? Below, I’ll share four of the best options for churches like yours, with a breakdown of their top features and pricing.
Donorbox is a conversion-optimized fundraising platform trusted by 100,000+ organizations worldwide, including churches and faith-based organizations. Some of its most popular features include highly customizable donation forms, Text-to-Give, Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer, and giving kiosk software for tablets and smartphones.
Donorbox is free to start and offers three pricing plans that align with different fundraising requirements:
Pricing excludes standard Stripe and PayPal processing fees, but these can be covered by donors.
Bonfire provides a fun, creative option when it comes to Christian fundraising and crowdfunding for churches. With Bonfire, churches of all sizes can create a t-shirt fundraiser to raise funds. When the project is completed, you’ll receive your funds.
Bonfire comes with an 8% processing fee, plus shipping fees. Verified nonprofits pay a reduced processing fee of 3.5%. Domestic shipping starts at $3.99 (free for orders with 5+ items), and international shipping starts at $11.99. Learn more on their website.
GoFundMe is often used by individuals to raise money for personal projects or medical expenses. This popular platform lets you set up a crowdfunding campaign and easily share it with your church community.
GoFundMe charges a 0% platform fee, but comes with payment processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per donation. The platform also requests optional tips from donors, with the default tip amount set to 16.5%. Monthly donors are charged a 5% fee for every recurring donation. Learn more on their website.
GiveCentral is a donation platform used by more than 1,100 nonprofit organizations in the U.S., including churches and Christian organizations. They offer various online fundraising services, including crowdfunding.
Key church crowdfunding features:
The one-time fee to establish an account is $75. The monthly fee for each merchant ID is $33.82, including applicable regulatory compliance and network fees. Payment processing fees range from 1.4% to 2.9% + 38¢ per transaction. For more details, read GiveCentral’s Terms of Use.
Crowdfunding can help churches like yours raise funds quickly while increasing engagement and spreading awareness of your mission within your community. With the right fundraising tools and a little bit of planning, you’ll be on your way to crowdfunding success in no time.
Donorbox MinistryMomentum offers a range of fundraising features and donor management tools to support churches and Christian organizations.
If you haven’t already, sign up today to start fundraising for your church.
For more church fundraising tips and ideas, visit the Nonprofit Blog.
With a background in professional writing, Lydia brings over 10 years of experience in nonprofit communications under her belt, with a strong focus on fundraising and donor engagement. Her passion for supporting nonprofits was sparked during college internships with global mission organizations, where she gained hands-on experience with fundraising marketing strategies.
Lydia went on to serve for more than eight years as a Church Communications Director, overseeing both internal and external communications to clearly communicate the church’s mission, build trust with members, and encourage generosity through accessible tools like online and recurring giving. In this role, she partnered closely with church leadership to support giving campaigns and highlight the real-life impact of financial support through storytelling.
These experiences have continued to fuel her dedication to empowering nonprofits through her writing.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!
