The timeless truths of God’s Word have been entrusted to modern-day ministries, as have labor-saving technologies. Stewardship requires us to carefully handle both. As you aim to be a good steward of the ministry God has entrusted to your management, you’ll want to consider the many ways that EFT giving can benefit your ministry.
Benefit #1: Encourage donor commitment.
Easily, the #1 reason for implementing an EFT giving program is to encourage committed, faithful giving among your donors. At eGiving.com, we’ve seen ministries use our recurring gift program to achieve a 95% retention rate over 5 years. According to Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, pledge-based giving is generally accepted as achieving only a 40-80% fulfillment rate during a single year. The disparity between those reliability rates clearly demonstrates the value of a recurring gift program.
The founder of eGiving.com, George Eusterman, pioneered the use of EFT usage in the secular world for health club dues.
He realized that while many members fully intended to pay their dues on time, many simply forgot. Instead of continuing to observe delinquent accounts and the lack of consistency, his health club’s finances became steady and actually grew by leaps and bounds once he implemented automatically recurring billing.
As a believer, Eusterman recognized the kind of impact a similar system could mean for the cause of Christ. When commitment accompanies good intentions, ministries benefit, as does the Kingdom.
Benefit #2: Expand your donor pool.
Let’s face it: We’re living in an increasingly tech-savvy culture, and it’s here to stay, for better or for worse. The decreasing number of people who use cash or paper checks will likely continue to decline, but it’s already making an impact on donations. In fact, it’s interesting that the very same demographic least likely to tithe are the very same people who are most likely to pay bills online or through EFTs. Perhaps by not offering people electronic giving options, you’re actually isolating prospective givers.
eGiving.com is constantly implementing donation options that reflect the changing trends of technology. EFTs are only one of the many services we offer, ranging from online giving opportunities seamlessly embedded in your current website to text giving and other newer options. Because all our services are web-based, you don’t have to worry about updating software or learning new technologies; we take care of that end of things so you’re free to focus on your ministry.
Benefit #3: Enhance cost-effectiveness.
The kind of “donor inertia” that recurring gift programs provide means that you will only have to solicit donations one time. Unlike even annual pledges, there is typically no end date involved in EFT giving; it simply continues until action is taken. This open-endedness makes recurring giving an excellent way to stretch your ministry’s fundraising dollar. In addition, your regular givers are probably your best prospects for major gifts toward specific projects.
The electronic basis for EFT giving means that you eliminate the labor-intensive processing of paper checks, including tasks such as entering data into your reporting software, making bank deposits, and sending out receipts.
Leave a Reply