Looking for the right fundraising platform to grow your church? I'll help you find the best church giving software platforms for your budget and needs. Plus, I'll share 12 key features to look for in your online giving software.
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Your congregants expect to be able to give online – and when they do, they give more. Churches with an online tithing option see an increase of 32% in their donations on average.
You know you need an easy online giving option…but which platform is right for you? Let’s take a look at eight great options!
Donorbox is an all-in-one church fundraising solution that offers a quick setup process and a variety of powerful features.
More than 100,000 organizations in 96 countries have trusted Donorbox with their online giving, including churches. Donorbox MinistryMomentum is a key pillar of Donorbox, created specifically to help churches strengthen and grow consistent tithing.
As a church leader, you know how much consistent giving helps your ministries and budget planning. That’s why we love that Donorbox specializes in making recurring giving easy with easy-to-embed forms, multiple interval options, and customizable prompts that encouraging recurring gifts.
It’s also budget-friendly, with a free plan (just pay processing and platform fees) that includes tools like donations, events, peer-to-peer, and reporting. No startup costs or contracts.
Take a look at The Calvary Family of Churches’‘ embedded recurring giving form:
Donorbox is a strong fundraising and online giving platform with a newer nonprofit CRM, but it doesn’t include built-in church management or volunteer management features like some other platforms.
Learn more about Donorbox pricing.
PayPal is a widely used payment processor trusted by millions worldwide. It offers a convenient giving option for church-goers who already have an account, while still allowing others to tithe without needing to sign up.
Paypay is a popular payment method and very trustworthy, so church members may feel more confident giving with this option. There’s also an option for church members to give in person, which is great for your church foyer or events.
While PayPal makes online giving simple, it isn’t built for churches. On its own, it doesn’t capture supporter information, offer flexible recurring giving, or let supporters cover processing fees. These features are just too important for most churches to go without.
PayPal comes with some other drawbacks as well, which you can read about here.
Tithely is an all-in-one church technology platform built to help churches grow generosity, engage their communities, and simplify ministry operations.
This church giving software offers online and mobile giving, church management tools, messaging, custom website and app, events, and financial reporting – all designed specifically for the unique needs of faith-based organizations.
We love that Tithely is a pastor-created software designed just for churches. They focus on simplicity, reliability, and ministry impact, to help church leaders spend less time managing tools and more time serving people.
Tithely focuses on direct giving, but doesn’t offer peer-to-peer campaigns for supporter-led church fundraising. It also has limited form customization options compared to some other platforms.
Learn more about Tithely pricing.
RebelGive is a solution for church online giving that prides itself on doing things differently. The platform’s flat fee and straightforward approach make it a solid choice for those who want a no-muss, no-fuss solution. With RebelGive, you get what you pay for without any surprises.
Rebel is an affordable platform committed to helping churches cover any online giving fees. RebelGive covers things like NSF, security, PCI, or Visa fees and they invite your church memebrs to cover fees to ensure you receive 100% of their donation goes to your church.
With RebelGive, donation form customization is limited to a logo and picking a color hue. With that in mind, this system may not be the best solution for churches that prioritize customization and a cohesive brand image.
Learn more about RebelGive pricing.
Amplify by Ministry Brands is a multi-platform solution that helps nonprofits and faith-based organizations accept online church tithes. Their mission is to build productive, sustainable relationships between nonprofit organizations and their givers.
They also pride themselves on their reporting capabilities, which allow you to quickly pull data on information such as donation trends, new supporters, and average donation amount.
With Amplify, you can build a fully branded church app that includes online giving right alongside everything else. Church apps are an easy way to bring key parts of church life, like child check-in, events, media, and of course giving, into one easy, accessible place for your members.
Amplify doesn’t include tools like peer-to-peer or crowdfunding, which can make it harder for churches to reach new people or fund specific projects. It’s also not ideal that you have to book a demo or call just to view their pricing.
Amplify does not publicly disclose their pricing. Contact the Amplify team for information on plans and fees.
Pushpay is a contract-based online payment processing service for online church giving. They offer a variety of additional services including church management software, church giving apps (customization available for an undisclosed fee), and donor relationship-building tools.
Pushpay has strong recurring giving features, with ways to encourage one-time supporters to become consistent givers. We also love that church members can easily manage and update their recurring gifts through their own donor portal.
Many Pushpay reviews mention that the platform feels expensive for the features offered. Church fundraising tools like peer-to-peer fundraising and crowdfunding are limited, and Pushpay doesn’t offer a giving kiosk option for in-person donations.
PushPay does not list pricing on its website – instead, it builds a custom pricing quote for each church, plus payment processing fees. Learn more here.
easyTithe offers online donation solutions for churches of all sizes. They provide a relatively straightforward all-in-one portal for collecting donations, recurring gifts, and text gifts. With easyTithe, you can view graphical reports of monthly trends, recurring gifts, forecasting, and more.
easyTithe also offers a free demo to get an in-depth look at this service.
easyTithe’s giving kiosk software is a crowd favorite for reviewers. Church members can give on the spot in the foyer or at an event without needing cash or checks.
As with some other services listed here, easyTithe does not allow for donations via Apple Pay or Google Pay. Donations can be made via credit card, debit card, or ACH bank transfer.
To get details on easyTithe’s plans and pricing, you’ll need to schedule a call, as their plans aren’t publicly listed.
Givelify offers online giving options as well as a giving app for churches and nonprofits. This platform is used by nearly one million donors. With next-day deposits, no monthly fees, and no contracts, this is a simple solution for online church giving.
To get a more interactive look at this system’s features, sign up for a free demo with Givelify.
Givelify has excellent built-in reporting tools through the Analytics Studio. It gives church leaders an easy way to track tithes, send personalized communication, view giving trends, and manage tax information for easy financial reporting.
Like many online giving platforms, Givelify is missing some built-in fundraising features such as peer-to-peer fundraising, event ticketing, and native email marketing tools.
Learn more about Givelify’s pricing here.
While these depend on what your church is looking for in a giving platform – like simplicity, low fees, free solutions, customization, integrations, or multiple payment methods – there are 12 important factors you can’t miss at all.
Some church donation software takes just minutes to set up, while others require lengthy paperwork. To minimize time and hassle, look for giving software that allows you to easily create an account and a fundraising page in minutes.
For example, Donorbox lets you create a free donation page or an embed form in just 15 minutes, so you can start collecting donations right away
Software and donation fees can really cut into the funds you’re raising. Keep more money in your church’s budget by reviewing the fees for each service you’re considering. Some charge a monthly fee, while others might charge a startup fee or donation processing fee.
Pro tip: Be sure to look at the fine print for your church donation platform. Be mindful of any monthly fees, add-on costs, or other sneaky fees that can add up. For a straightforward approach, consider a platform like Donorbox that has no startup fees, no monthly fees, and no contracts.
A customized donation form with your church’s brand colors and logo can help you put your best foot forward and entice donors to give. Additionally, a professional-looking donation form can build feelings of trust with your church members.
Some church giving software platforms offer hardly any customization, while others allow personal touches and even custom CSS code. Be sure you understand any design limitations of the donation platform you’re considering.
Donorbox lets you easily customize the donation form and the page. You can add your church’s logo, colors, any images, etc. to give them a branded look. This helps people connect with your church and trust the donation process, and you can use a page like the one shown below to securely accept your online donations.
Create a Branded Donation Form
One way to ensure your church doesn’t leave money on the table is to accept as many legitimate payment options as possible when fundraising. These days, many people prefer to donate with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal – or even cryptocurrency! Choose a service that accepts the payment methods your congregation will likely use when donating.
Donorbox UltraSwift™ Pay lets your donors give via digital wallets like PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, as well as choose other methods like credit cards, bank transfer, direct debit, etc. The donation process is also super fast as donors don’t have to input their details and can directly go to complete the payment.
This feature comes automatically enabled with all your new campaigns on Donorbox. All you need to do is sign up for free and create a fundraising campaign for your church. Your donors will get a plethora of convenient options to donate.
Offering flexible recurring donations is a convenient way to collect weekly tithes as well as monthly, quarterly, or annual support. Choosing a system with robust recurring gift capabilities can help boost online tithing for churches.
Donorbox Recurring Donations are easy to set up. You just need to select the recurring intervals you want to add to your donation form while creating it. That’s all. They will reflect on your donation form automatically. Donorbox also gives you the option to highlight the preferred interval with a tiny heart icon next to the interval, as you can see in the example below.
A text-to-give campaign can be a powerful way to raise money for a church project. This is especially true in the days of virtual church services when a physical collection plate isn’t passed around. Text-to-give is also convenient for your parishioners as most of them don’t carry cash to the church anymore. When you ask them to give, it’s better to let them know of another simpler way to give. Just share with them a texting number and your online campaign ID. They will send the ID to the number and receive the link to your online campaign page. Simple, isn’t it?
Donorbox Text-to-Give works in the same way. Repeating a donation with Donorbox Text-to-Give is even simpler. Your church members won’t have to open the donation page again to make a donation. See how it looks:
To learn more, read our blog post on why text-to-give campaigns are an important part of church fundraising.
Crowdfunding allows congregation members to combine their many small gifts into transformative collective action. Check to see whether the church giving software you’re looking at offers features such as a goal thermometer, virtual donor recognition wall, and campaign updates.
Donorbox Crowdfunding lets you set up a crowdfunding page in minutes. Like other features, this is also free to start. You can create a crowdfunding page that comes equipped with a donor wall, updates tab, goal thermometer, subscription button for visitors/potential donors, social media sharing buttons, a popup donation form, and more.
You can send email updates to your subscribers thus inspiring them to turn into donors. The moment you add an update to the updates tab, all your donors receive emails including that update. The donor wall helps you recognize the generosity of your donors and add social proof to your page. Here’s an example of a crowdfunding page created using Donorbox:
Create a Crowdfunding Campaign
Many church members are willing to cover donation fees because they realize it helps more of their gift support God’s mission. Some online donation platforms offer the ability for donors to choose this option, while others do not. Look carefully – this one feature can potentially save or cost your church a lot of money! See how Donorbox makes it possible for you to allow your congregation to cover processing fees.
Some online giving platforms can help you build and strengthen relationships with your church members. Look for a giving tool that allows you to track donor communications or that integrates with your existing CRM system if you’re using one.
Pro tip: Build strong donor relationships by keeping track of your parishioners’ birthdays, giving anniversaries, and other milestones. Reach out with a note of gratitude and celebration to build the connection. Donorbox’s donor management tools make this process easy!
Along with managing your donors, look for a platform that gives your congregation the power to manage. Imagine a system wherein your donors can have a secure account for themselves, can log in, and manage their recurring giving plans as well as donation receipts. The ease of all this will only strengthen your relationship with your donors and make them want to stay. Donorbox offers you all of that, along with QuickDonate with which you can let your donors repeat a donation right on the go. Here’s a peek into this feature to help you learn more –
When church members make a gift, ideally, they should receive an automated electronic receipt instantaneously. Make sure your chosen giving platform offers this. Otherwise, you may spend unexpected time creating and issuing receipts on your own.
Donorbox not only sends automatic donation receipts after every donation but also lets you customize it as per your liking. This helps you better connect with your donors in the way you like.
Think about the systems your church might already be using to send emails, manage records, or organize projects. When possible, picking a donation platform that integrates with your existing systems can minimize headaches and administrative time.
Donorbox integrates with several third-party tools including Salesforce NPSP, HubSpot, Zapier, Blackbaud RE NXT, Double the Donation, MailChimp, and more to help make your donor management and donor communications better.
Plus, Donorbox integrates seamlessly with church management software like Rock RMS and Planning Center. These native integrations streamline your workflow so all your key donor data can live in one place!
It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: your online giving platform must be secure. Look for a system like Donorbox that has built-in, automatic fraud detection, SSL/TLS encryption, tokenization of financial data, and strong customer authentication.
As you can see, there are a variety of online giving options available for your church, each with its own unique strengths and drawbacks.
After reading this, hopefully, you feel equipped with the information you need to determine which online giving platform is best for your church. Be sure to pay the closest attention to the features that you know are “deal breakers” for you and your church community. Also, be mindful that some pricing models (for example, a flat monthly fee versus a percentage transaction fee) may be more or less suited to your budget and needs.
With the right online fundraising solution, you’ll be well on your way toward boosting your church’s fundraising efforts and continuing to create positive change in the world.
Find more nonprofit management tips and resources in our nonprofit blog.
Set up your church’s online giving page in just 15 minutes with no set-up fees, no monthly fees, and no contract – sign up here!
Use a platform that supports mobile giving, recurring donations, and digital wallets like Apple Pay. Keep the form simple, branded, and easy to access.
Choose one that’s easy to use, secure, and supports recurring gifts and multiple payment methods – like Donorbox! Low fees and donor management tools are also helpful.
Yes, as long as you use a trusted platform with secure payment processing. Look for features like SSL encryption and fraud protection to keep your congregation’s data safe.
Heather is a writer, business owner, and nonprofit professional. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with more than a decade of experience leading fundraising efforts and creating communication materials for arts, education, and social services nonprofits.
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