19 Best Church Giving Software To Track Contributions In 2024
10 Best Church Giving Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
Start talking about church giving software, and it can suddenly feel like you’re back in school, nodding off during a boring lecture. However, church giving software offers some exciting potential benefits. It can streamline how your church accepts, processes, and tracks donations, thereby freeing up time for ministry work.
With countless software options out there, it's crucial to understand which features matter most. In this article, we'll dive into key benefits, must-have features, and current trends in church giving software. Plus, we'll answer common questions pastors have about these tools. Let's simplify your decision-making process and help you find the perfect fit for your church’s needs!
What is Church Giving Software?
Church giving software is a tool that helps churches manage donations and tithes more efficiently. It allows members to give online, via mobile apps, or through text messages. (Imagine a digital collection plate that people can use anytime, not just on Sundays.) This software also tracks donations, sends out personalized thank-you notes, and generates reports to keep church finances transparent and organized. It's like having a smart assistant that handles all the financial contributions so you can focus more on ministry work.
My "Best in Class" Shortlist for Church Giving Software
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
Why You Can Trust Our Software Reviews
My team and I—fellow pastors and church leaders—have been testing and reviewing church giving software since 2019. Trust me, we know how critical and tricky it can be to make the right choice. We’ve put in the hours, diving deep into research so you don’t have to. Over the years, we’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different church financial use cases and written over 1,000 detailed software reviews. Our goal? To help you make better software purchasing decisions.
Want to know how we stay transparent? Check out our affiliate page and our church giving software review methodology. We’re here to make your decision easier, one review at a time.
How to Choose Church Giving Sofware
Every church leadership team approaches decision-making a little differently. As you lead your team through your own unique software selection process, keep the following points in mind:
- Ease of Use: This is paramount. An overly complex system will frustrate both your staff and congregation. Look for intuitive interfaces and straightforward navigation. For example, a simple, user-friendly dashboard can help volunteers quickly manage donations (without extensive training).
- Integration Capabilities: Your church likely uses various software tools for different functions. Ensuring your giving software integrates seamlessly with existing systems like your church management software (ChMS) or accounting software, is essential. This integration helps avoid data silos and ensures all your information is synchronized.
- Security and Compliance: Handling donations involves handling sensitive financial information. Ensure the software complies with industry standards for security and data protection. Look for features like encrypted transactions and PCI compliance to protect your donors' information.
- Customization and Flexibility: Every church has unique needs and processes. The software you choose should offer customizable options to fit your specific requirements. Whether it’s custom giving categories, personalized donor messages, or flexible reporting, the right software should adapt to your church’s unique way of doing things.
- Support and Training: No software is perfect; no matter how great the tool, issues will inevitably arise. Reliable customer support and comprehensive training resources are crucial. Look for software providers that offer ongoing support, training webinars, and a robust knowledge base to help your team get the most out of the software. This support ensures your team can effectively manage the system and troubleshoot any problems that occur.
By keeping these considerations in mind, you’ll be well equipped to choose church giving software that best meets your church’s unique needs and enhances your church’s giving experience.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Church Giving Software
Here’s a brief description of each church giving app to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
MinistryPlatform is a comprehensive church management software designed to manage various aspects of church operations, making it particularly suitable for large churches. One of its key strengths lies in its giving and contribution management capabilities. The platform provides an intuitive experience for managing donations, tracking contributions, and generating detailed financial reports.
The giving and contributions tools offer easy integration with multiple giving methods, including online donations, text-to-give, and mobile app contributions through PocketPlatform. These diverse options make it convenient for congregants to donate, ensuring that the church can accommodate different preferences. The platform also includes features for managing pledges, setting up recurring donations, and providing real-time updates on giving trends and goals.
Additionally, MinistryPlatform’s advanced reporting and dashboard tools enable church leaders to gain real-time insights into their financial health. Customizable reports and interactive dashboards provide a clear view of giving patterns, donor engagement, and overall financial performance.
ChMeetings assists churches in managing their giving processes by offering a comprehensive suite of features that facilitate both online and offline donations from members and non-members.
The software allows members to pledge and donate using various payment methods, including dedicated cards, custom links, and options during events. It also supports recurrent donations, making it easier for members to contribute regularly. Additionally, ChMeetings provides tools for generating donor statements and tracking pledges.
ChMeetings offers a free plan with paid plans starting from $25/month for up to 100 people.
Anedot is a donation platform that helps churches accept online payments. The platform controls the financial process from end to end, so it offers you more control over your data and deposits.
With Anedot, you can build donation pages without writing a single line of code. The pages are customizable, look nice, and are mobile-friendly, so your community members can donate using their favorite devices.
Anedot’s reporting capability is a passable substitute for accounting software, allowing you to pull reports and understand the costs behind every donation.
You can start using Anedot for free. The platform will charge a fee starting at 3.3% + 30¢ for every credit card donation and at 0.3% + 30¢ for ACH/bank draft donations.
Subsplash One is a digital platform that provides a suite of tools and services to aid churches in engaging their communities and disseminating their message. The platform's offerings include custom-branded mobile and TV apps, website building with advanced SEO tools, digital giving systems with donor management and analytics, media hosting, live streaming, secure messaging, and event management.
You can also use the Subsplash Giving app solo, a comprehensive church donation application equipped with a range of features and services designed to empower churches in efficiently managing their donations and donor profiles. Subsplash Giving caters to the needs of your congregation across various platforms, including mobile devices, websites, and text-based donations. It also provides church leaders with robust donor management tools and analytical capabilities.
Subsplash's mobile app distinguishes itself as a modern, well-designed, and remarkably user-friendly tool. Church members will encounter no difficulties when setting up digital donations, while administrators can effortlessly monitor donation totals, recent contributions, donor retention, and overall financial performance metrics.
Subsplash One offers pricing upon request. Subsplash Giving doesn't require a monthly fee, but instead charges a percentage of donations collected (a fee that can be covered by donors, if they opt in)—as low as 1.9% for cards and 0.5% for ACH.
Church Windows is one of the oldest church management software (ChMS) out there. The solution offers multiple features that can help you keep track of your community’s giving and pledging, and its reports enable you to get a clear view of your income sources.
This tool helps you enter donations efficiently. You can make entries by giver name or envelope number, and you can use descriptions for special giving situations or gifts-in-kind. The solution’s donation tracking features allow you to track annual giving and see the contribution of each community member or household across multiple years.
Church Windows integrates with many online giving services, allowing you to keep track of online donations.
Church Windows costs from $279/month. You can access a demo and request a free trial.
FlockBase is a church management software with powerful church giving tools. The solution enables faith-based organizations to accept online contributions via credit cards, debit cards, and eChecks.
With FlockBase, donors can schedule recurring gifts and allocate those funds to different causes. As a church leader, you can set up multiple causes using the platform and encourage people to donate.
The software helps you manage your church finances, allowing you to track donations, run payroll, and create detailed reports on fund accounting.
FlockBase costs from $16/month plus processing fees. The platform offers a free 14-day trial.
Tithe.ly is a church management solution that offers strong church giving features. The tools offers your church members six ways to donate, allowing them to give via text, app, website, check, kiosks, or envelopes.
This software allows church leaders and their staff to choose when to deposit their funds into their bank account and creates tax receipts donors can use when filing their taxes. The tool’s reporting feature makes it easy to track your budget and fundraising efforts.
With Tithe.ly, you can accept and manage pledge campaigns. You can create accessible giving goals for your community and inspire churchgoers to help the church achieve its goals through consistent generosity.
Tithe.ly costs from $99/month plus processing fees. You can access a free 30-day trial.
Gyve is a contribution management software that helps church leaders motivate their congregations to donate. The platform has a neat layout and its iOS & Android mobile apps look great and are easy to use.
Gyve helps you encourage people to donate with cash, checks, credit cards, app, or text. Its text giving feature enables your community members to donate instantly by texting a number. The app allows congregants to split gifts and designate a single donation to different causes without making multiple payments.
One of the great things about this software is its round-up giving feature. This feature enables church members to round up their day-to-day purchases and donate that money to your church.
The solution creates its own reports and also integrates with church accounting software.
Gyve is free to use. The platform charges a fee of 2.5% + $0.30 per processed transaction.
DONATION is a church giving platform that’s ideal for a small church. The platform offers all the features you need to keep track of donors and donations without the complexity of a church management system.
This software has a simple layout that’s easy to learn. The platform enables you to issue charitable receipts to confirm the donations. There are multiple types of receipts to choose from, each optimized for a specific area - different provinces and territories in Canada, the US, and so on.
DONATION allows you to grant access to multiple users, which can be helpful if your faith organization relies on volunteers. You can grant users limited access, allowing them to see and record donations without being able to see the donors’ names.
DONATION costs from $30/per year. You get a free month for free. You can access a free 60-day trial.
Vanco is an online giving platform that helps churches encourage donations and achieve their mission. The platform can be used independently or as part of a church management solution.
This tool makes donations convenient. Church members can donate online using your website, text messages, links, or QR codes. They can also set up automatic with each available option.
Vanco helps you create donation pages without previous experience. The webpage builder is easy to use and you can customize most aspects of your pages without difficulty.
Vanco doesn’t charge a monthly fee. The platform charges a fee starting at 2.65% + $0.39 per processed credit card/debit card transaction or 0.9% + $0.39 per ACH transaction.
Other Church Giving Software
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
Other Church Financial Software Reviews
If you are looking for other financial software for churches, I've put together a few similar lists we've created:
- Church Finance Software
- Church Accounting Software
- Church Bookkeeping Software
- Church Payroll Software
- Donor Management Software Comparison
Selection Criteria for Church Giving Software
Choosing church giving software starts with examining key features and functionalities to determine how well they will meet your church’s specific needs and pain points. Our criteria focus on how these tools can help churches like yours spend less time, energy, and money on operations and more on ministry. We’ve personally tested and researched these tools to ensure they meet the most critical needs.
Here’s HOW we go about evaluating and ranking the various church giving software tools:
Core Church Giving Software Functionality - 25% of total weighting score
Common features for church giving software typically include online giving, mobile giving, text-to-give, recurring donations, donor management, reporting and analytics, integration with church management systems (ChMS), event registration, fund designation, and security compliance.
To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best church giving software, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases.
- Collect and manage online donations
- Enable mobile and text-to-give options
- Generate detailed financial reports
- Manage donor information and communication
- Integrate with existing church management systems
Additional Standout Features - 25% of total weighting score:
- Innovative giving methods like cryptocurrency or QR code donations
- Advanced reporting with real-time analytics and insights
- Customizable donor communication templates
- Multi-campus or multi-site support
- Automated donation acknowledgment and tax receipt generation
Usability - 10% of total weighting score:
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- Simple navigation and dashboard layout
- Drag-and-drop customization options
- Accessible design for all user skill levels
Onboarding - 10% of total weighting score:
- Quick setup and implementation process
- Availability of comprehensive training videos and templates
- Interactive product tours and onboarding chatbots
- Access to live webinars and detailed documentation
Customer Support - 10% of total weighting score:
- Availability of 24/7 support channels
- Dedicated account managers or customer success teams
- Extensive knowledge base and community forums
- Responsive and helpful support staff
Value For Money - 10% of total weighting score:
- Transparent pricing models with clear value propositions
- Competitive pricing compared to similar tools
- Flexibility in pricing plans to accommodate different church sizes
- Cost-effectiveness in terms of features offered
Customer Reviews - 10% of total weighting score:
- High ratings and positive feedback from users
- Consistent praise for reliability and ease of use
- Users highlight strong customer support and quick issue resolution
- Reviews emphasize the software's impact on enhancing giving processes
By focusing on these criteria, we can pinpoint the church giving software that best fits your church’s needs.
Trends in Church Giving Software for 2024
My team and I believe it’s important to keep our fingers on the pulse of church giving software. We’re always paying attention to the latest product updates, press releases, and release logs from industry-leading software tools. Here are the trends we’re seeing:
Evolving Features
- Enhanced Integration Capabilities: Many church giving software tools are improving their integration with other systems like accounting software, CRM, and ChMS. This seamless connectivity ensures data consistency and reduces administrative workload.
- Advanced Mobile Giving Options: Mobile giving features are rapidly evolving. Tools now offer one-click giving, app-based donations, and even support for digital wallets. This trend is driven by the increasing use of smartphones for financial transactions.
- Security Enhancements: Enhanced security features are becoming paramount. Tools now offer multi-factor authentication, encrypted transactions, and compliance with the latest data protection regulations, ensuring donor information remains secure.
- Recurring Donation Management: Recurring donations continue to be a critical feature. Improvements in managing and tracking recurring gifts, with more flexible scheduling and reminder options, are becoming standard.
- Multi-Campus Support: Tools increasingly support multi-campus and multi-site churches, allowing centralized management while catering to individual campus needs.
- User Experience Simplification: Simplicity in user experience is gaining importance. Streamlined interfaces, drag-and-drop features, and intuitive dashboards are now expected, making it easier for staff and volunteers to manage donations.
New/Novel Functionalities
- AI-Powered Analytics: The introduction of AI-powered analytics is a novel functionality. These tools can now predict donation trends, segment donors based on giving patterns, and provide actionable insights for targeted campaigns.
- Customization and Personalization: There's a growing demand for customization. Many tools now allow churches to personalize donation pages, automate personalized thank-you messages, and segment donors for specific communication.
Declining in Relevance
- Declining Importance of Traditional Payment Methods: Features supporting traditional payment methods like checks and cash donations are seeing less demand. Digital and mobile giving options are taking precedence as more donors prefer online transactions.
By understanding these trends, churches can better choose giving software that aligns with their current and future needs, ensuring a more effective and engaging donation process for their congregation.
Features of Church Giving Software
Choosing the right church giving software can help streamline operations significantly; there are a handful of key software features to keep an eye out for:
- Online Giving Portal: Provides a platform for members to donate through your church website, ensuring convenient and consistent contributions.
- Mobile Giving: Allows donations via smartphones, making it easy for congregation members to give anytime, anywhere.
- Recurring Donations: Enables automated, regular contributions from donors, providing a stable income stream and reducing the need for frequent donation campaigns.
- Donor Management: Helps track donor information and giving history, improving relationship management without manual tracking.
- Reporting and Analytics: Generates detailed financial reports and donation trends, aiding in quick, informed decision-making and reducing time spent on data analysis.
- Integration with ChMS: Seamlessly connects with church management software, ensuring all data is synchronized and eliminating the need for duplicate entries.
- Text-to-Give: Allows members to donate via text messages, offering another convenient giving option and encouraging spontaneous donations.
- Security Features: Ensures donor information is protected with encryption and compliance with data protection regulations, building trust and reducing administrative concerns.
- Customizable Giving Pages: Provides branded and personalized donation pages, enhancing donor experience and engagement without additional effort from the church staff.
- Event Registration and Giving: Combines event management with donation capabilities, streamlining processes for fundraising events and reducing administrative workload.
Choosing church giving software with these features will streamline administrative tasks, enhance donor engagement, and ensure secure and efficient donation management.
Benefits of Church Giving Software
When church giving software has been effectively implemented in a church, there are typically several observable results:
- Simplified Donation Management: Automates tracking and managing donations, reducing administrative tasks and allowing pastors to focus more on ministry.
- Increased Giving Options: Offers multiple ways to give, such as online, mobile, and text-to-give, making it easier for congregants to donate and increasing overall contributions.
- Enhanced Donor Engagement: Provides tools for personalized communication and donor management, fostering stronger relationships without requiring significant time and effort.
- Comprehensive Reporting: Generates detailed financial reports and insights, enabling pastors to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.
- Secure Transactions: Ensures donor information is protected with advanced security features, building trust and reducing concerns about data breaches.
By leveraging these benefits, pastors and churches can improve their donation processes, enhance engagement with their congregation, and allocate more time and resources to their core mission and ministry work.
Costs & Pricing for Church Giving Software
A key part of your decision will come down to price. We’ve evaluated the dozens of plans and pricing options across the industry-leading software tools. Here’s what you can (generally) expect to pay:
| Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
| Free | $0 | Basic online giving, limited donor management, basic reporting, and email support |
| Basic | $30/month | Online and mobile giving, donor management, basic analytics, and phone support |
| Standard | $70/month | Text-to-give, recurring donations, enhanced reporting, and integration with ChMS |
| Premium | $150/month | Advanced analytics, customization options, event management, and priority support |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing | Full feature set, multi-campus support, dedicated account manager, and custom integrations |
Each plan caters to different needs and budgets. Consider your church's size and specific requirements to choose the plan that best fits your needs.
Church Giving Software: Frequently Asked Questions
How can church giving software help with fundraising campaigns?
Church giving software typically includes features that streamline and enhance fundraising campaigns. These tools offer customizable donation pages, campaign tracking, and promotion tools such as social media sharing and email marketing. By centralizing all fundraising activities within one platform, churches can efficiently manage and monitor their campaigns, ensuring greater engagement and success.
Can church giving software support international donations and different currencies?
Yes, many church giving software solutions support international donations and multiple currencies. This feature allows churches to receive contributions from global donors, broadening their fundraising reach. These tools often provide currency conversion and compliance with international financial regulations, making it easier to manage donations from around the world.
What level of customization is available for donation receipts and thank-you messages?
Church giving software typically offers a high level of customization for donation receipts and thank-you messages. Users can personalize these communications with specific donor details, custom messages, and church branding. This personalization helps build stronger relationships with donors by acknowledging their contributions in a meaningful and tailored way.
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