Introducing Online Giving To Your Church

Sometimes getting your church congregation to step into the newest and latest technological updates is quite tricky. Change is not always comfortable or desired. That is why most churches struggle with their congregation switching from passing the offering plate through the aisle once each Sunday to donating whenever, wherever and however many times they want, just by the click of a button. Take a look at these few suggested tips on how to introduce online giving to your church congregation.

Step one: Encourage the staff and leaders of the church to begin using the online giving solutions themselves. If they are using it, church goers are more likely to follow their lead.

Step two: Mention the ability to donate online every single Sunday! This is a great reminder to the congregation and in due time, they will give it a go. It might also be helpful to mention it in the church bulletin and/or have a slide up on the screen every Sunday.

Step three: Make sure to have the donation button on the home page of your website. If the donation button is clearly visible, church goers are more likely to begin their online donations the first time they see it. Hiding the donation button on another tab will make it difficult for donors to see and therefore less likely to donate.

Closing The Gap Through Technology

In today’s society, people are becoming more closely connected even when they are halfway across the world. Social media allows us to connect with others in ways that close the gap that distance causes. As people move further away from each other to pursue life dreams and such, today’s technology has allowed them to stay connected. In replacement of getting together for a coffee date, people are utilizing more and more the convenience of online meeting, when distance inhibits face-to-face connections.

We notice that through our merchant services, we can help people stay connected through financial means. When a church provides online giving for the congregation, church members can stay connected financially anywhere in the world! For example, if a church sends their missionary to a foreign country to serve, church goers can support their missionary just by going to the church website and donate to the missionary fund. Not sure how your company or organization can benefit from this? Contact us today for more information and we will find a solution to fit your needs!

Online source: http://bit.ly/xhqOKQ

3 Tips to Improve Church Online Giving in 2012

Church online giving is an avenue that people choose to give to support their church, organization and causes. If you aren’t satisfied with the flow of activity in your online giving, consider a few questions.

First, look on your church website and locate where your “give” button is. Is it clearly visible on the front page or is it hidden where people have to actively search for it? This is the first common mistake church websites have. People shouldn’t have to spend time searching where the “give” button is.

Secondly, does your church have a QR code tool? QR codes are another easy and convenient way for church goers to give. Using the QR code on a bulletin allows a church goer to scan the code with their smart phone that will direct them right to the giving page.

Don’t pass up the opportunity to offer your church congregation the convenience and easy accessibility to give to their home church. Visit our website today for more information at http://www.halopays.com/

Online Source: http://community.ccmag.com/CCMAG/Blogs/BlogViewer/?BlogKey=13e4694b-ea5b-4808-9e66-8e5f2e702b50

Online Giving Solutions

In the article entitled Online Giving: Is Your Church one of the 86 Percent? found on crosswalk.com, statistics show that only 14% of Protestant churches offer online giving to their community. Many church’s still pass around the offering plate on Sunday mornings. Although this tradition is still effective, it does not allow church members much accessibility to tithe and donate.

Online giving offers your church congregation (or business) to donate, make payments, or tithe any day of the week at any time. Not only has this been proven to increase donations, it has pleased church members and/or customers in churches and businesses.

Check out the rest of the article at Crosswalk.com

Check out an online giving solution at Halo Merchant Services

Year Round Gratitude Can Increase Revenue

A recent article from CNN stated that there has been evidence discovered that when businesses show year round gratitude to employees, revenue increases. Instead of showing gratitude to workers once a year at the annual Christmas party or at the company New Year’s party, business owners are developing an act of showing gratitude to workers on a daily or weekly basis. This changes thinking patterns of the employees and encourages them to work more effectively in their jobs.

In the article entitled “Why gratitude is good for business year round”, Elmer states that gratitude develops trust, which in turn creates loyalty from employees that business owners benefit from. When employees feel appreciated and needed, they tend to work harder in their everyday tasks.

At Halo Merchant Services, we are not only grateful for our hard working team, but we are especially thankful for each and every merchant we have that makes the company what it is today, a merchant processing company that offers simplicity and style to the online donation/payment processing.

Article Source: http://bit.ly/vzmb8v

Check out our website for info about credit card processing at www.halopays.com

Transition To Electronic Giving

As today’s society is transitioning slowly into a century of online payments and donations, one can see that the new age transaction system is faster, easier, and more accessible than before. Writing out checks, depositing checks, getting cash from the bank, and giving with cash is, in essence, more time consuming than the way we make payments today. Although not everyone has adapted to the new and more efficient system of online transactions, many are slowly transitioning over.

For more information about processing online payments through a merchant account, visit www.halomerchantservices.com

Also, visit bit.ly/csGG0y for more information about online giving.

Halo Compared to Square

One of the speakers at the Catalyst Conference this year was one of the founders of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, who talked a little about SQUARE, a portable transaction device. There was talk among conference goers about using it for online giving. “I did see food vendors (trucks) at the conference, using the square on their cell phones for credit card payments”, says a local Catalyst Conference attendee.

What most do not realize is that there are a lot of challenges in using SQUARE for online giving. For example, Square transaction devices are simply portable payment terminals that do not record any personal information or payment history for the costumer or organization. It simply takes the transaction as is. The problem with this is that the donor or customer does not have any way to track payment history.

Halo has developed a system that will allow transactions to be recorded so that the donor, customer and organization will be able to track payments and donations.

Though SQUARE is a great device for making sales transactions, it is not designed and suitable for online donations because this is a case of trying to find a use for technology rather than a technology solution to fit a need.

Halo Merchant Services now has the ability to swipe transactions on an iPhone, iPod or iPad. SQUARE is only available in the US for iOS and Android devices.

Though SQUARE is useful for taking payments at an event, it is not suitable for online giving or tracking payment and donation history. USB swipers on Netbooks, Android tablets, iPads or kiosks provided by Halo give you a much better solution.