I'm no web master, but I am getting us set up for electronic giving. Text to give, online and a kiosk. It's a process, but not too difficult. I have 6'kids between 19 and 28. They all have checking accounts and debit cards but none of them write or have checks. This is a reality of the kids these days. Everything is electronic. So I think we will see offerings at church jump, as a segment of the population will feel comfortable with this form of giving. We have a lot of young families. Hoping to increase giving through a means that they work with.

I'm afraid of hackers and identity theft so I'm still using checks.

Hmmm. The thing is checks are out of date. Like I'm also converted over to all electronic means of payment as well.

 

The problem is hackers going after large name brand stores more so. Like I've had my debt card hot swapped twice now. Because of the fact I had used it in different stores like Home Depot and WalMart. Even if I used a credit card still in the same boat. So I stick mostly to using the debt card for bill payment with the phone company and other things like this. So far I've never had a single issue with PayPal or my debt card usage paying the bills.

 

So if you created a donation page on your site and linked Paypal to that page then you have a means of collection. Then you'll have to bind the Paypal to bank account preferably separate from the actual operational account (if your worried). Like M73M has it own account and Paypal is bound to it. So transferring fund back and forth can occur. Typical 3 days to transfer fund either way.

 

In the past I was doing the long and hard way issuing a check, actually travelling to the bank to deposit the fund, then writing out the check and mailing. Pay for the fuel to travel 40 miles to deposit the check, then pay for the checks to be produced, etc. Way to much involvement with to many hands to lose the funds or be late with payments.

 

As for checks they found ways to ink wash a check and re-write it out for thieves own purpose. So is a check safer?

I give online to my church and actually prefer it that way. Apart from the convenience, it is also a great way to keep track of giving -- not necessarily for tax incentives, but more for auditing purposes. If I ever get audited, I know exactly where to go to show an auditor exactly how much I've given. It is a shame that I even have to worry about being audited and even more so prove how much of the Lord's money I've given back to Him, but that is world we live in.

Mike, I tried to wash the ink on one of my canceled checks and it smeared some, washed off some like you said, but it stayed clear enough to read the original amount. I think it's very difficult to wash a check clean and clear to change the amount.

If crooks put as much effort into legal pursuit of income as they do illegal, they'd do pretty good.

What wrong with building a web page for donations to the local church? What wrong with allowing people to donate using Paypal? Seems to work well here for the site it would just the same for the church.

We went with Continue To Give. A faith based operation that does crowd funding, kiosks, text to give and online giving. Nice to have under one roof. Plus they integrate with our financial software, so no data input.