Online giving for churches: how to set it up, step by step

What is online giving?

Online giving, sometimes called digital giving, is any way of giving to your church that doesn’t involve cash or a cheque: a giving page on the web, a QR code on a pew card, a Give button on your website, a contactless card reader by the door, or a regular gift by card or Direct Debit.

It doesn’t replace the offering. In most churches it sits alongside planned giving by standing order and envelope, and reaches the people who used to give cash and no longer carry it, along with visitors, people who join online, and anyone giving to a one-off appeal.

What you need before you start

• A bank account in your church’s name. Never collect gifts into someone’s personal account.
• Someone responsible for the finances, usually your treasurer, who can confirm the church’s details and their own identity with the payment provider.
• Your church’s legal name and, if it has one, its charity number from the Charity Commission, OSCR or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Many smaller churches in England and Wales are “excepted” and don’t have one, which is fine. See does your church need to register as a charity?
• Your HMRC charities reference, if you want to claim Gift Aid. You can add it later.
• Agreement from your PCC, elders, deacons or trustees, recorded in the minutes.
• A logo or photo, and a sentence about what gifts make possible.

How to set up online giving for your church

1. Agree who is responsible

   Decide who will set it up, who can see givers’ details, and who will match payouts against your bank statements. At least two people should be able to see the payments, so no one person has sole oversight. Write this into your finance procedures and minute the decision.

2. Choose a giving platform

   Compare what each one charges (a flat fee, or a percentage of every gift), whether gifts are paid straight to your church’s bank, and how it handles Gift Aid. Our questions to ask a giving platform will help you compare.

3. Connect your church’s bank account

   The payment provider checks your church’s details and the identity of the person setting it up. Every provider has to do this by law before it can pay money out. Have your bank details and your treasurer’s details to hand. It usually takes a few minutes, or a day or two if the provider asks for a document.

4. Build your giving page

   Add your logo, a photo and a short welcome. Set up the funds people can give to, such as your general fund, a building project or a mission partner, and suggest a few amounts. Keep the first screen simple: amount, how often, give.

5. Switch on Gift Aid

   Add HMRC’s model declaration, so UK taxpayers can tick a box as they give. Gift Aid adds 25p to every £1, at no cost to the giver. See how to claim Gift Aid.

6. Test it with a real gift

   Give £1 yourself. Check the receipt email, check the gift appears in your dashboard, and check it arrives in your bank with the next payout. Then you can explain it with confidence.

7. Launch it on a Sunday

   Put the QR code on a slide, explain it in two minutes and show how quick it is. Our giving announcement scripts give you the words.

8. Put it everywhere people look

   Your website, newsletter, email signatures, social media profiles, pew cards, noticeboard and welcome desk. See QR code giving and adding a donate button to your website.

Which ways of giving should you offer?

Start with one-off and regular giving on a single giving page, then add the others as you need them.

For a side-by-side look at standing orders, Direct Debit and card gifts, see regular giving for churches.

How much does online giving cost a church?

There are two separate costs, and it helps to keep them apart when you compare platforms:

• The platform fee: what the giving platform charges. It might be a monthly fee, a percentage of every gift, or both.
• The payment fee: what the card or Direct Debit provider charges to process each gift. With Stripe, standard UK cards are currently 1.5% + 20p.

The platform fee is where churches see the biggest differences. If your church receives £4,000 a month online, a platform that takes 2% of each gift costs £960 a year before card fees. A flat fee of £9.99 a month costs £119.88 a year, however much is given. Many platforms also let givers choose to cover the card fee, so your church receives the whole gift. Our guide to card fees on donations works through the sums.

Is online giving safe?

It is, if you choose a platform that uses a regulated payment provider and you keep a few good habits:

• Card numbers should go straight to the payment provider, never to your church or the giving platform.
• Choose a platform that pays gifts directly into your church’s bank account, rather than holding them first.
• Turn on two-step sign-in for everyone who can see payments or givers’ details.
• Never take card details over the phone or by email, or write them down.
• Tell your church the exact web address of your giving page, and check now and then that nobody has stuck a different QR code over yours.

How do you get people to give online?

• Keep it visible every week, not just at launch. A QR code on the screen during the offering is the single most effective reminder.
• Say what gifts do. A specific story (the food bank shelves, the youth worker’s salary) does more than a general appeal.
• Make regular giving easy for people who are ready to commit, and one-off giving easy for everyone else.
• Thank people quickly. An automatic receipt, and a personal note after someone’s first gift.
• Keep cash and envelopes for people who prefer them. Online giving should add a way to give, not take one away.
• Look at the numbers after three months. Which links and QR codes did people use? Put more effort where it works.