Kentucky Church Has Winning Combination for Giving

Okolona Christian Church in Louisville, KY is a model church for utilizing both print and electronic tools to gain tithes, offerings and gifts to their church.

Okolona has been mailing their members offering envelopes since 2002 with AmericanChurch, Inc., and more recently added Online Giving – a combination that works well.

Business administrator, Elaine Duncan manages the contributions for the church. “When a member goes to online giving, we take them off of our envelope list. By offering both methods of giving, people can give in the way that works best for them,” Elaine comments.

The church has no plans to adjust their offering envelope program, as many members prefer that method of giving. Along with the weekly envelope, a mail back envelope is included in every packet to encourage sending in their gift when away.

Elaine says, “In most cases, our older members prefer to receive envelopes and younger people gravitate to the electronic option. Yet we have several older members who use Online Giving because it allows their gift to be automatically debited from their account like their utilities.”

When asked which method she prefers from an administration standpoint, Elaine would like to see more people online. She points out the money goes directly into the church’s account, that gifts are more regular due to the recurring option, and that Online Giving is easy to manage. Elaine is pleased that online givers have continued to grow. That’s partly because Okolona does an excellent job of promoting the electronic option.

“We always have a blurb in the bulletin about online giving. In addition, whenever we talk about stewardship, we make sure that it’s mentioned. It seems that as soon as we bring it up, more people sign up almost immediately.”

In that spirit of promotion, Okolona Christian Church has a web page dedicated to online giving. The page contains copy about the importance of online giving as a means of income to the church. A downloadable brochure that explains online giving and answers frequently asked questions is also featured on the page.

Okolona’s approach to gaining contributions works. By making it easy for people to give in the way they prefer, they experience sustained giving and support for their ministries.

Merry Christmas from AmericanChurch

AmericanChurch, Inc. would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Print Plus Web - A Match Made in Heaven

I have visited several churches throughout the country over the past few months. Although each church is different in size and scope, there was a recurring discussion worth repeating.

As electronic giving continues to increase across generations, some church leaders tend to equate that increase with a decrease in the demand for printed offering envelopes. “How do we decide which to use? Can we eliminate envelopes?” is a common comment. We respond with a resounding “CAUTION”.

The thought is appropriate, but the caution lies in placing the giving habits of your members and guests into one bucket, and limiting the vehicles by which they prefer to give. Printed offering envelopes and online giving are not competition, but rather, complimentary vehicles for communication and contributions. Unless your congregational make up is of a single generation, your church will benefit from both print and electronic giving vehicles – especially if used in concert with each other.

Does your offering envelope include the URL to Online Giving? Is there an “I gave online” check box on your offering envelope that allows the electronic giver to participate in the act of worship during service?

Does your website reinforce the message of prayerful giving? Are you reminding your congregation that they can set up recurring gifts or one time gifts easily online?

There are countless ways that you can promote engagement and contributions through the use of printed and web communications together. Considering the cost of printed offering envelopes is just a couple dollars per year per member, it only wise to continue this traditional form of giving in your communication mix along with online giving.

Let’s hear from you. How do you use offering envelopes and online giving to communicate to members and guests?

2011 Hot Product

Religious Product News®, a monthly publication for religious leaders and pastors named Online Giving from AmericanChurch, Inc. a Hot Product for 2011. 

In the magazine’s evaluation, ACI Online Giving is a product that will help churches operate more effectively and efficiently. 

Of course, we agree, but don’t take our word or even the endorsement of the magazine. Take Anita Coleman's word, administrator of Enon Tabernacle Church in Philadelphia. 

“Online Giving is revolutionary,” Coleman says. “Members love the option to give online and set up giving on their terms.

People expect change to be difficult, but Coleman says that as soon as members saw how easy Online Giving is to set up, the compliments started coming in. It’s important to be able to offer members giving options, Coleman notes. And giving electronically lets them have the opportunity to give when they are out-of-town or on vacation.”

As the use of technology grows and the generation gap of internet users continues to narrow, churches need an online giving option. ACI Online Giving is a preferred solution for several important reasons. 

ACI Online Giving was developed specifically to suit the unique needs of churches. Reporting features allow for easy import and appropriate reporting at the touch of a button. The church is in control of the types of funds to offer and how they will accept gifts (ACH or Credit Card). 

The giver can access Online Giving directly from the church website. He can set up recurring funds – which equates to better consistency of contributions coming into the church. 

AmericanChurch thanks Religious Products News® for recognizing ACI Online Giving as an appropriate “wish list” product for 2012. 

For more information about Online Giving, download our FREE white paper, Why Churches Should Implement Online Giving.

3 Must-dos for Effective Outreach

 You've decided to invite your community to an event, a direct response to Jesus's calling in Acts 1:8.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth"

Here's three "must-dos" for effective outreach:

1. Go with an event that you do well and one that meets a need.
   
   There are several things that might attract people to visit your church, but focus on the Big Thing that your church does well and meets a need in the community. Now you're on your way to engagement. An "After School" program, a fun Fall Festival, an Easter Egg Hunt, a Meet and Greet with food and drink, a Food Drive - these events get attention and meet needs in tangible ways.
   
2. If you want to reach 30 people, connect with 1000. Every which way and often.
   
   Do it any other way and you'll be wasting your resources. Two rules of advertising apply here. One is that an average response to direct mail to a household list is about 3%*. The second rule is that a person must be exposed to a message three times before it sinks in. That's why we are plagued with the same commercials many times over.
   
   Here's the lesson. It's better to send a card to the same people three times than to a larger number of people once. For further impact, use multiple media channels. Send the postcard, post the message on your sign, include it in your bulletin and give cards to members to distribute to friends. Not all of these require added expense, yet go far in supporting your efforts.
   
3. Know what to do with the people God brings you.
   
   When your outreach achieves the response you are looking for, take full opportunity to show them the love of Christ. This means doing the Big Thing well, as well as having a plan on how you'll meet visitor's needs.
   
   Make sure there are plenty of people on hand who represent your church well. Consider training staff and members on the vision of your church or non threatening methods of evangelism.
   
   Ultimately God will work in people's hearts. Our job is to represent Him with love, sincerity and warmth.

These are just three of many ways that churches can help to advance outreach efforts. We know there's many more "must-dos" that you have found to be helpful in effective outreach. Care to share the knowledge?

(*http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispannouncements?article=1451)

Website Guru Interview with Christian Computing Magazine, Part 2

In Part 2 of Steve Hewitt's interview with Aaron Winn, website guru for AmericanChurch, Inc., Aaron shares the insider's view of Radius Web Tools, built for ministry.

CCM: What led to the development of a web solution geared toward churches?

ACI: Unlike some church website solutions, Radius Web Tools was not originally built just for churches. In fact, Radius Web Tools was built in the early days of content management systems (nearly a decade ago) for a Christian university. It was so powerful and worked so well and met with so much success that local ministries asked for a simplified version they could use themselves. When these requests began to increase, the Radius Web Tools team spent the better part of a year building the user interface now enjoyed by ministries across the nation. Its genesis as a powerful software engine lends a great deal of stability and extensibility to Radius Web Tools that allows it to power websites of only a few pages with a single editor to its current record site of over six thousand pages and more than one hundred editors.

CCM: What makes Radius Web Tools so easy to use for ministries?

ACI: First of all, Radius Web Tools is a content management system. This means that it's specifically designed to allow normal people - not just Kligon-speaking programmers [laughs] - to edit their own site just like they might edit a word processing document on their computer. But what makes Radius Web Tools different than many other content management systems is the quality of its user interface. This sounds a little technical, but we all understand how important a user interface is when we get into a car that we're not used to driving and can't figure out how to adjust the seat or turn on the windshield wipers. When you get into a car with a superb user interface, everything just seems to work how you expect. We take this for granted every day, but thousands of hours of work go into designing a web editing interface like Radius Web Tools that is not only powerful but also easy to use. In fact, it's so easy that the vast majority of editors using it today have absolutely no training!

CCM: What makes Radius Web Tools different from other website software available to churches?

ACI: The real difference is the way Radius Web Tools balances power with ease-of-use. This ease-of-use allows even the most timid editors to add pages, blogs, podcasts, photos, slideshows, etc. without feat of "messing up the site." Its power allows more advanced users to edit in HTML, add Flash snippets, embed widgets, and social media feeds and more. Radius Web Tools also offers one of the fastest deployment times available. For ministries in a hurry, a new website can be deployed within 5-10 minutes of submitting the request. So, a ministry can literally be editing their new site within about a half hour of deciding to deploy their new site! 

Website Guru Interview with Christian Computing Magazine, Part 1

Recently, AmericanChurch, Inc. was highlighted in the September issue of Christian Computing Magazine. Following is an excerpt from the cover story interview between editor in chief, Steve Hewitt and Aaron Winn, Radius Web Tools guru for AmericanChurch, Inc.

CCM: What are the greatest challenges ministries face with their websites?

ACI: In a word: under-utilization. Sadly, most ministries under-utilize their website; they simply don't take advantage of the powerful tools available to them to communicate with and engage their communities. Some ministries have websites that were started years ago and are difficult - if not impossible - to update. Others don't utilize a website at all because they think it's too technical or too expensive for them. This is complicated by the fact that there's a pervasive misperception floating around out there that a programmer is still needed to maintain a website. To be sure good programmers are required to start a website, but maintaining one can easily be done by any pastor or secretary with solid communication skills and comfort with basic computer skills (like word processing, etc.).

CCM: How does Radius Web Tools address these challenges? 

ACI: Radius Web Tools is one of the premier website services for ministries on the market today. What differentiates Radius Web Tools from many of the other services out there is how easy it is to use. I've personally met and interacted with the Radius Web Tools team. They're all active in their own churches and so they understand the importance of a reliable, easy-to-use website program that allows ministry leaders to maintain a meaningful website without having to first earn a degree in computer programming.

Radius Web Tools addresses the challenge faced by ministries with outdated websites by making the upgrade quick, painless and quite easy. It helps ministries without any website at all "dip their tow in the water" by providing both DIY and turnkey website solutions that are surprisingly affordable. But the great thing about Radius Web Tools is that you don't have to sacrifice features to get a truly affordable and usable website solution. The single comment we hear most often by new users of Radius Web Tools is "I can't believe how easy this is!".

CCM: What are some of the key elements of Radius Web Tools, and how do they benefit churches?

ACI: Radius Web Tools offers a host of "content" tools including unlimited pages, enewsletters, blogs, podcasts, photo galleries, FAQ's, flipbooks, etc. Rather than restrict usage based on congregation size, everyone pays a low flat fee to use as much as needed. Radius Web Tools also includes a powerful online calendar tool that allows for complex recurring events, detailed descriptions of events, grid views, list views and filtering by user-defined categories like men, women, youth, etc. Also included is a powerful email module that allows ministries to send unlimited enewsletters at no cost and easily manage their own email accounts at their domain.

To read more excerpts from the interview with Aaron, come back on Thursday, October 27th.