Your Church’s Move To Digital Giving In The Era Of COVID-19
As in-person gatherings will be limited for the near future to protect your congregation and community during COVID-19, it’s important to still equip your people to stay connected and support your mission. The good news is you have everything you need in your Aplos account for digital giving, communication, and connecting with your people. Let’s quickly walk through some options so you can find the right tools for your congregation. We’ll also provide some tips to make it easy for your people to make the switch when it comes to online church donations.
Step 1: Select Your Digital Giving Tools
Aplos has tools in place to help you quickly and easily set up online giving through a form, widget, or Text to Give feature. All of these can be set up in minutes, with no coding required. Each option provides the opportunity for people to give one-time or recurring gifts. You know your people best, so you can utilize any or all of the tools Aplos has available to keep your congregation connected digitally.
Text To Give
Text to Give is great for those who are watching a livestream or recording of your service. Simply show a phone number on a slide during the service with instructions to text the word GIVE. An auto message will guide them through a quick gift setup on their phone. This is our most popular option for church donations since people are able to respond right away to your call to give during the live or online service.
See The Text To Give Guide
Start Using Text To Give
Increase Church Donations Through Online Giving Pages Or Widgets
Online giving pages are easy to customize with your logo. You can even create a dedicated page to ask for support for a specific COVID-19 need. A widget can be embedded on your website, or you can easily link a dedicated giving page to your weekly email or social media page.
See A Sample Giving Page
How To Customize Your Giving Page
Start Collecting Contributions In Aplos
Step 2: Share Your Message
Connect Through Social Media
Because physical gatherings are being canceled, social media is a great tool to help your people feel like they are still connected. Whether streaming over Facebook Live, Instagram TV, or posting a video on YouTube, they can join in to see live updates. You can also schedule regular posts to provide encouragement. Show how the church is assisting others, provide opportunities to serve with a local ministry, or post stories of how your people are responding positively. These options help fill the void of physical connectivity.
Add Ways To Connect And Support Ministries In Your Emails
Even if you aren’t meeting in person, it’s important to still build community and connection to your ministry. Whether that’s sharing the link to your online service, or ways people can get involved in the community, a personalized email to each person is a great mode of communication. You can easily use the email campaign tool within Aplos to spread the word and link to your multiple giving options.
See A Sample Email Campaign
Share Giving Options In The Service
As you encourage your congregation to remain connected and to participate in services remotely, include easy-to-read graphics on the screen. These will show people how to participate and support your ministry. Check out this launch kit for sample slides and templates.
Church Giving Launch Kit
Add Giving Links To Your Website
If someone is looking to make a gift or send in tithes or offerings, your website is likely the first place they’ll go. Make sure a “Give” link is visible on your homepage so people can easily find it.
