6 Reasons to Use a Church Giving Kiosk and Fundraising Platforms in Your Community
“Quick Summary” Donations and giving are the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization. As much as mission and vision keep a cause, church, ministry, or any movement, money is still a crucial part of the equation. It keeps the lights on, pays for wages, and does everything necessary to ensure the work continues.
As the world shifts into a new reality, online giving for churches has become a growing trend. Online giving is now the number one way people give to their churches. And so, for any ministry that wants to thrive in this modern-day, setting up digital giving platforms is a must.
How a Church Giving Kiosk Works
Now, the truth is that having an online giving platform isn’t enough sometimes. Most people want to give within the premises of the place of worship. So in these scenarios, having a giving kiosk is a great idea. So what are church giving kiosks, to begin with? Simply put, it’s a kiosk or booth with a device where people can give online on the spot.
Setting up a giving kiosk is pretty simple. Here are the steps you need to take to do that.
Find a church giving software
The first step to setting up a church giving kiosk is to choose a giving software that will manage the whole donation process. We recommend DonateMo, a church management software/application which is a great and secure online giving platform.
A great church giving software will come with multiple giving options, with credit cards being the first go-to. You also want to go with a simple and easy-to-use platform as not all your church members will be tech-savvy. As a great add-on, choose a giving software that provides a safe card reader, so it’s easier for people to give online on the spot.
1. Set it up on a tablet or mobile device.
Tablets have become inexpensive to set up a tablet or mobile device in your location for a fundraising event or service. Tablets are also a better option as they allow for touchscreen usage, which is much easier than navigating through a desktop, keyboard, and mouse.
2. Put up a kiosk in your physical location.
The last step is to set up a physical kiosk. You want your kiosk to be in a highly accessible place where people can easily queue up to give online. Have a committee or team in charge of guiding people through the process if they’re giving for the first time and need assistance.
3. Optional: Put it up on your website.
As an optional route to a donation kiosk for nonprofits, you can also put your giving portal on a church website. Or if you can, why not do both? The more channels you have for people to give, the more convenient it will be for them to do so. In return, giving could significantly go up in the process.
Top 6 reasons to use a church giving kiosk in your community
So what are the benefits of online giving through a church offering kiosk? Here are seven of the top reasons you should use a church giving kiosk in your church community, nonprofit, or charity.
1. Allow people to give digitally
The first and most obvious benefit of church giving software is giving people access to a digital giving platform. Studies show that 60% of church givers are willing to do so digitally. As this trend increases, not having a digital platform might be doing people a disservice.
The essence of church ministry is serving people. Doing this through an online channel should be a priority for most ministries, especially where digital transformation is strong.
2. Tablets are inexpensive and mobile
Putting up a credit card donation kiosk might seem painful and costly, but it’s not as expensive as most think. A tablet could go for around $150-200 nowadays, much cheaper than most expenses a church would pay for. The beauty of this setup is the one-time cost, while its service is usable for a long period.
Moreover, rising incidences of online giving point to a mass shifting to the digital giving platform. So, a giving kiosk for churches is a good investment. Doing so will help the church or nonprofit gain back their finances invested in this endeavor.
3. Ease of use
Digital platforms can be more convenient for many people, especially younger generations. There’s a big shift in church attendance, with more young and tech-savvy members now attending church. Improving the ease of giving can help boost online nonprofit giving and put a church or any charity or nonprofit in a better place financially.
4. Giver monitoring made easy
The other beauty of a digital giving platform is the ability to track giving automatically. Many churches still do this manually, taking up several hours of a church admin team’s precious time. Many church staff is already overworked, to begin with. So automating aspects of their work will be of great help.
You can set up a giving platform to monitor givers for social responsibility. Consider integrating a CRM tool into your workflow for this. A CRM will help you keep track of people who give, how much they give, and other information. That way, you can express gratitude to them. Here are some of the best CRM tools you should check out.
5. Analytics and reporting
Deploying Church Giving Kiosk Solutions at the Church’s facility will give its administration access to analytics that will shed light on all kinds of insights to help leadership teams understand the church’s finances more. These analytics can break down giving records based on time of the month, church services, sources, etc.
6. Reduced risks
Money has always been a sensitive topic in ministry, especially when going through people’s hands. Whether it’s the pastors or the church volunteers, you want to set up checks and balances to help reduce the risks of mismanagement and theft. Having an online portal does that as the money doesn’t go through any human channels but goes straight to the church’s bank. This helps lower any chances of theft or mismanagement.
Churches for tomorrow
As churches continue on their mission, many things remain constant. These include the gospel's message, church values, the truth of preaching, the importance of corporate gathering, etc. But throughout time, church ministry has gone through many changes and developments. Whereas the early church would meet in homes and apostles travel by foot to share the good news, we now meet in church centers and send missionaries on planes.
So the point is that as times change, there are avenues for the church to level up too. Implementing kiosks for churches is one of them. So if you haven’t considered this a remote possibility for your church yet, maybe it’s time you did. Doing that could become the next frontier that helps you take your ministry to the next level.
The DonateMo team and software will help streamline your processes, contact us today!