Five things churches can do to promote digital giving

Advice from the Parish Resources team to help your church promote digital giving.

Make it easy to give online by setting up these digital giving options,

• Include a link to Gift Direct in the comments of your Sunday service livestream.
• Ask people to Text to Give during the offertory.
• Add a PayPal button to your website and social media pages.
• Add these digital giving options to online church service slides or videos.

Describe your work in the community. We are more inclined to support charitable work than institutions. Bring your community work to life in pictures or videos - they make your message more powerful.

Talk about the impact of your work in the parish.

• If you are delivering food parcels to families in need, how has it helped them?
• What difference does volunteering in your local hospital make to staff, patients and their families?
• Describe the impact of your ministry and mission and remind people that their generous donations support that work.
• Use testimonials where possible. Let's hear from those who have benefited from donations. These can be anonymous.

Consider adding these words to your online service slides, your social media posts, and website:

Let people know why giving is vital to the work of your church. Paint a picture of the current problem and then its implications.

• What are the consequences if you can’t raise enough money to fund a particular project?
• Why do you need the money quickly?
• Who will miss out or suffer if you fall short?

To inject some urgency and encourage people to give now, highlight the financial details of your project. Seeing financial figures can help your congregation understand what you need and why you need it.

There are over 2300 verses in the Bible discussing money, wealth and possessions. John Preston, CEO of the Worcester Diocesan Board of Finance, encourages us to talk about “faithraising rather than fundraising” – responding to the biblical call to respond to the generosity of God.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul describes the benefits of generous giving:

Post Bible quotes about generosity on social media with a link to your giving page. Create graphics quickly and easily using Canva. This easy-to-use design app comes with lots of images and templates, including pre-designed templates for churches.

Supplement your sermons with a monthly series of short online videos describing how your church is responding to generous giving. These resources may help you preach about giving.

• Stewardship on Sundays produced by the Diocese of Portsmouth.
• Harvest Stewardship Series written by the Diocese of Winchester.
• Giving to Grace guide.

For further inspiration, visit our generosity podcasts on YouTube and Soundcloud.

And always include a link to ways people can give. Make it nice and easy for people to respond with generosity.