Managing church giving in an age of electronic money : Cash is out and digital is in. How should your church respond ?
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article41967
- Author
- Folkins, Tali
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2018 December
- Author
- Folkins, Tali
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2018 December
- Volume
- 144
- Issue
- 10
- Page
- 8-9
- Notes
- "When St. Mark's Anglican Church, in St. John's, Nfld., first set up a system for receiving regular pre-authorized payment electronically from its parishioners' bank accounts in the late 1990s, only 13 parishioners opted for it. Two decades later, that number has grown to about 180 -- and it's clear the move has saved the parish a lot of financial stress, says the Rev. Robert Cooke, priest-in-charge at St. Mark's" (p. 8). "Setting up a system for pre-authorized payments makes it easy for parishioners to give even when they can't make it to church, says Susan Graham-Walker, stewardship ministry associate at the Anglican Church of Canada's national office and manager of congregational giving and stewardship for the United Church of Canada" (p. 8). Paul Nazareth, of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, a non-profit for professional fundraisers, says "it can be useful to churches to make other forms of electronic giving available. Churches may be missing out on potential givings, he says, if they don't arrange to put a 'Donate Now' button on their website, for example" (p. 9). "Church leaders should also keep in mind, Graham-Walker says, that different congregations may have different levels of comfort with electronic payments -- there's no one-size-fits-all solution". "One church to have tried text-to-give -- donating with a few keystrokes on a mobile phone's text messaging service -- is St. George [Anglican Church] Maple Ridge in Maple Ridge, B.C. The church's rector, the Rev. David Edgerton, says the parish wanted to broaden its options for the growing number of congregants who don't carry cash and put it in place earlier this year through Breeze ChMS, a U.S. company that specializes in church management software" (p. 9). "For managing electronic giving generally, Graham-Walker says she advises congregations -- many of which may be getting sales pitches from various potential providers -- to at least consider CanadaHelps, which, she says, has expanded its range of offerings in recent years. According to Payments Canada, a non-profit that operates systems for the clearing and settlement of payments, cash use in this country has declined 20% since 2011, and the trend is likely to continue" (p. 9).
- Subjects
- Church giving - Anglican Church of Canada
- Digital currency - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Money - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- St. Mark's Anglican Church (St. John's, Nfld.)
- Cooke, Robert
- Pre-approved remittance program (PAR)
- Anglican Church of Canada - Finance
- Walker, Susan Graham
- Nazareth, Paul
- St. George's Anglican Church (Maple Ridge, B.C.)
- Edgerton, David