10 Church Administration Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
With so many different church solutions available, figuring out which one is right for you is difficult. You know you want to maintain up-to-date member records, plan and coordinate events seamlessly, and communicate effectively with the congregation but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experience working as a technical consultant for MCC Illiana and my exposure to diverse tools working for a megachurch, with my picks of the best church administration software.
What is Church Administration Software?
Church administration software is a type of software used to assist churches in managing their day-to-day operations and administrative tasks. It typically includes features such as member management, event scheduling, financial tracking, communication tools, and volunteer coordination.
Church administration software aims to streamline administrative tasks, improve communication within the church community, and provide a centralized location for information and data management. Ultimately, church administration software aims to help churches run more efficiently and effectively.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Church Administration Software Solution
Here’s a brief description of each church administration app to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
Realm is a church management software that offers an all-in-one approach to church administration, ministry planning, community building, accounting, and other operations. One of the key features is its comprehensive member management system, which allows churches to maintain up-to-date profiles, including member contact information and involvement in church activities. This system is integrated with tools for communication such as email and messaging, making it easy for church staff to reach out to members individually or in groups.
Additionally, Realm supports financial management and stewardship with features that simplify donation processing and financial reporting. Churches can manage tithes and offerings with options for online giving and automated record-keeping. The platform also has reporting tools that allow church administrators to generate detailed reports on attendance, financials, and other key metrics.
GoDoChurch is a church administration software for staying connected to congregants. It has a membership database to record church members and their information. Church leaders can use GoDoChurch to capture and maintain a database of church employee records like employment details, salaries, benefits, and preaching license expiration dates. The software allows you to communicate with church members through custom SMS and emails.
GoDoChurch is the best church administration software if you want to boost the discipleship program of your church because it has a module that church members can use to craft their growth path. GoDoChurch’s Growth Path Module allows members to take classes and seminars to advance their discipleship. Members can tick off activities they’ve completed to concentrate on activities they haven’t attended. Church leaders can use GoDoChurch to monitor the progress of congregants to assist struggling members.
Church administration software with a church membership management feature
ChurchSuite is church administration software to help you manage members, volunteers, and employees. It has an event management feature for planning and holding free and paid events. ChurchSuite has an attendance tracking feature that includes a secure check-in feature for children and visitors.
This online church management software also has a giving feature for gift and donation management.
ChurchSuite is the best church management software to maintain a comprehensive church membership database. Maintain an address book with critical information like personal details, contact information, and key dates. Your church leadership can add custom tags to church membership database entries to make it easier to search entries. ChurchSuite has a mobile app that allows church members to edit their information, so you always have updated data.
Tithe.ly is a cloud-based church management software that church leaders can use to manage small groups, volunteers, and employees. It has a worship planning feature for creating service guides, assigning songs, and coordinating volunteers. Tithe.ly admin has a fund accounting feature for monitoring your church’s financial health.
Tithe.ly is the best church management software with an event management feature for successfully creating and managing church events. You can use Tithe.ly to set up event registrations and customize the information you collect on registration forms. This church management software allows you to create multiple ticket types for paid events. Tithe.ly admin lets you use QR codes for faster and more accurate event check-ins.
Aplos is a church management software with an online giving feature that allows church members to choose how they want to send gifts and donations like cash, checks, online giving, or mobile giving. This church management software has a membership management feature for keeping an accurate record of membership data to help engage your congregation. It also has a volunteer management feature for scheduling meetings, managing volunteer sign-ups, and delegating tasks.
Aplos is the best church management software if you want to assess your church’s finances because it has integrated church accounting software. This church accounting software can track and pay bills, create invoices, and accept online payments. This church accounting software also has integrated payroll for managing church employees’ salaries, benefits, and taxes.
Sunergo is a SaaS church administration software with a volunteer management feature for volunteer scheduling and database maintenance. This church software has an online giving feature to track donations and gifts to help finance church activities. Sunergo has church accounting software for generating financial statements to help you assess your church’s financial health.
Sunergo is the best church management software for gathering insightful data on church members through attendance tracking. You can use this church management solution to record attendance counts and determine which activities attract more members. Sunergo’s attendance tracking feature lets you record and assess individual attendance to know which members require follow-ups. This church management solution also allows church leaders to generate reports on different age groups to know which groups are more active in your church and which ones require more attention.
Church administration software with a volunteer scheduling feature
Ministry Scheduler Pro is church administration software for handling all your church’s scheduling requirements. You can use it to ensure a proper rotation of readers. Ministry Scheduler Pro lets you print sign-in sheets during services and events for attendance tracking purposes. This church software also lets you monitor training and background checks to guarantee that volunteers and employees have proper skills and training.
Ministry Scheduler Pro is the best church administration software if you want to manage the schedule of volunteers effectively. Volunteers can upload their availability to help you avoid scheduling conflicts. You can use this church software to accommodate volunteers’ preferences. Ministry Scheduler Pro automatically sends SMS and email reminders to help minimize no-shows during events and church services.
Ministry Scheduler Pro integrates with other church software, including Access ACS, ParishSOFT, Gabriel Software, and Servant Keeper.
DonorPerfect is a web-based church management software for creating a unified constituent database for storing member and donor information. This church management solution has a reporting and analytics feature for analyzing donor information and identifying fundraising opportunities. This church management software lets you automate simple yet repetitive tasks like recording donations and sending thank you notes to help you save time.
DonorPerfect is the best church management software with a fundraising feature for planning and holding fundraising events. Its ReadySetAuction feature allows you to generate auction catalogs, bid sheets, invoices, and receipts to help raise funds by holding auctions. You can use DonorPerfect to create online donor forms and embed them on your church website to convert visitors into supporters.
DonorPerfect integrates with church management software like Givecloud, Volunteer Matrix, and ShopRaise.
Planning Center is church management software with a membership management feature for maintaining a centralized database of membership information. This church management software has an online giving feature that gives church members several donation options, including cash, check, text-to-give, and credit/debit cards. This church management solution has a church community builder feature for organizing and maintaining church teams and groups to keep members engaged.
Planning Center is the best church management software for keeping members informed by building and maintaining a church website and mobile app. This church management system allows you to create a custom home page for welcoming visitors and members to your website. You can use Planning Center to broadcast recorded or live worship services on your church website. This church management software lets you customize the icon systems on your website and mobile app to promote your church branding.
Planning Center integrates with other church management software, including Faithlife Proclaim, MailChimp, MediaShout, and ProPresenter.
ChurchTrac
Church administration software for small churches with child check-in for Sunday school
ChurchTrac is church management software with a membership management feature that allows you to maintain a directory of members with contact details and pictures. It has a giving feature for accepting donations and tracking cash and in-kind gifts. ChurchTrac has an event management feature to plan events, handle registrations, and track attendance. You can use ChurchTrac to create custom forms for collecting prayer requests and guests’ information to help you engage members and visitors.
ChurchTrac is an affordable church management software with tons of family-friendly features, like child and family check-in for classes and events. You can use ChurchTrac to set up check-in kiosks to register child members as they arrive. This church management software allows you to print security tags, ensuring that child members get released to authorized family members. You can also add special instructions on security tags to note allergies or special needs.
Other Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list. Some are specifically for churches, others for non-profit organizations more generally.
- PushPay
Church administration software for worship planning.
- Breeze ChMS
Powerful, intuitive church management tools used by more than 10,000 churches.
- IconCMO
Icon church software is comprehensive, web-based church software solution with excellent support and nightly back-ups.
- Fellowship One
Church management software with online giving, church accounting, and payroll capabilities.
- MediaShout
Church presentation software for creating slides and sermons.
- Churchteams
Church management software with an informative dashboard to help you gain insight into your church membership and increase staff efficiency.
- SimpleChurch CRM
Church management software with membership management, volunteer management, and attendance tracking features.
- Crosspay Giving
Church management solution for automating administrative tasks.
- PowerChurch
Church management software solution for attendance tracking and visitation history.
- Church Windows
Church management software with membership, scheduler, accounting, and payroll modules.
Not sure you need church admin software? Try these instead:
- 10 Best Church Bookkeeping Software For Church Accounting
- 10 Best Church Membership Software
- 10 Best Church Attendance Software For Your Congregation
- 10 Best Church Payroll Software
How I Selected the Best Church Administration Software
If you're wondering how I selected the best church administration software, here's where I'll break it all down for you. First of all, I started with church administration software that have high user review and satisfaction ratings. Then, using my experience in church management, I discerned what key criteria were most important for church administration software and compared how each of them stacked up against the rest.
I empathize with how much time it takes to source the right software for a job. I do this work so that you don't have to. I've been using and reviewing church administration software for years so you can trust me to do the heavy lifting and compile all the facts you need to make your final decision.
Selection Criteria
After careful consideration, I've determined that these are the most important criteria when selecting the best church administration software. Here's a brief list outlining the whats and whys of my selection.
Ease of Use
Ease of use is important when choosing church administration software because it directly impacts how effectively and efficiently the software can be used by the church staff and volunteers. If the software is difficult to navigate or requires extensive training, it may discourage users from using it regularly, resulting in a lack of adoption and poor data management. On the other hand, if the software is intuitive and user-friendly, it can increase productivity, reduce errors, and save time, ultimately improving the church's operations and member experience. Excellent customer support helps in this area, too.
Automations
Automations are important when choosing church administration software because they can save time, reduce errors, and increase efficiency in administrative tasks. For example, automations can automatically send reminder emails for events or contributions, update member records when a contribution is received, or generate reports without the need for manual data entry. These automations not only save time for church staff and volunteers, but also reduce the risk of human error that can occur with manual data entry or communication.
Software Integrations
Software integrations are important when choosing church administration software because they can improve the overall functionality and efficiency of the church's operations. Integrations allow different software systems to communicate and share data seamlessly, reducing the need for manual data entry and streamlining administrative tasks. For example, integrations with accounting software can automatically update financial records when contributions are received, or integrations with communication tools can automatically add new members to mailing lists. This reduces the risk of errors and saves time for church staff and volunteers.
Pricing
Pricing is an important consideration when choosing church administration software because it can impact the overall budget and financial sustainability of the church. While cost should not be the only factor considered, it is important to choose software that fits within the church's financial means. Some software options may be more expensive but provide more features or better support, while others may be more affordable but have fewer features or limited support. It is important to carefully evaluate the features and support provided by each software option and weigh them against the cost to determine the best value for the church.
Key Features
Setting up a good church administration system may include the following:
- Membership management: The ability to gather and store crucial member information like personal details, contact information, and important dates.
- Volunteer management: Allows church leaders to organize, schedule, and communicate with volunteers.
- Online giving: Contribution management to receive donations from members and visitors through mobile donations, cask, check, and online donations.
- Fund accounting: Bookkeeping feature to help churches monitor funds, payments, receivables, and donations are produce financial reports
- Worship planning: Allows church leaders to plan and execute worship services.
- Payroll: Pay those on the church staff according to duties served and state-based regulations
- Workflow management: Assistance handling basic tasks and projects, maybe with calendars or automations built-in
- Group management: Manage large or small group activities in accordance with church size, from large churches, mid-sized churches, and small churches
- Event planning: Coordinating religious organizations events according to church needs
- Outreach: Use of modern means to connect with members, like text messages, mobile devices, and mass emails
People Also Ask
Here are a few questions I wanted to cover before wrapping up.
How Do You Organize Church Administration?
Organizing church administration involves several key steps, including:
- Establishing clear roles and responsibilities: Define the roles and responsibilities of each member of the church administration team, including volunteers and staff.
- Developing policies and procedures: Establish clear policies and procedures for all administrative tasks, such as event scheduling, financial tracking, and communication.
- Implementing effective communication channels: Establish effective communication channels between the church administration team and the congregation, such as newsletters, emails, and social media.
- Implementing technology: Consider using church administration software to streamline administrative tasks, improve communication, and enhance member engagement.
- Developing a budget and financial plan: Develop a budget and financial plan that aligns with the church’s goals and mission.
- Providing training and support: Ensure that all members of the church administration team receive adequate training and support to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities.
- Regular evaluation: Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the church administration process and make adjustments as necessary to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Overall, organizing church administration requires clear communication, defined roles and responsibilities, effective policies and procedures, and the use of technology to streamline administrative tasks.
What are the Benefits of Church Administration Software?
Church administration software provides several benefits, including:
- Efficient administration: Church administration software streamlines administrative tasks such as member management, event scheduling, financial tracking, and communication tools. This can save time and reduce errors, resulting in a more efficient administration.
- Improved communication: Church administration software provides a centralized location for information and data management, which improves communication within the church community. It can also provide tools for targeted communication, such as sending reminder emails or newsletters to specific groups of members.
- Enhanced member engagement: Church administration software can provide online giving options, event registration, and other tools that enhance member engagement and involvement in the church community.
- Data-driven decision making: Church administration software can provide valuable insights and analytics, such as identifying trends in giving or event attendance, which can help the church make data-driven decisions.
- Scalability: As the church grows, administration tasks become more complex. Church administration software can help the church scale its operations, making it easier to manage a larger congregation and more complex administrative tasks.
Overall, church administration software can help churches run more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably, ultimately improving the member experience and furthering the church’s mission.
Church Administration Software for Highly Organized Churches
Managing a church is an enormous undertaking, and according to research, 90% of pastors say they often feel tired and worn out by their weekly or daily tasks. This leaves church leaders with little time and energy to personally attend to church members. However, that can change using the right church administration software.
If you want to learn more about other useful software to help you manage your church, subscribe to The Lead Pastor today.