Top 8 church giving apps
For many churches, donations and tithes have traditionally made up a significant portion of the funds that keep their operations afloat. But churchgoing habits — and society in general — is changing.
Today, many churchgoers don’t carry cash with them. Still others watch and take part in services and programs online rather than in person. These changes are forcing churches to get creative.
To manage donations and tithes in a more modern way, many churches are turning to church giving apps. If you’re investigating your options, we’ve rounded up the leading church giving apps in this article. But first, let’s look at what a church giving app is and how it can help encourage donations.
The purpose and benefits of church giving apps
A church giving app is a software application that facilitates the collection, tracking, and management of donations and tithes for churches. At a time when many people attend church services virtually or don’t carry cash with them when attending in person, church giving apps make it easy for churches to collect funds from their congregations.
There are many different church giving apps available with various types of functionality; however, you’ll find some common features across the board.
For example, most church giving apps have donation forms, which church members and supporters can fill out in order to provide donations and tithes. Apps also facilitate payment collection and offer various payment methods, such as PayPal or credit cards. Some even accept payments through text messaging.
Most apps also typically include collection reporting features, giving churches a way to see their donation history and track their progress. If your church has different funds — such as a fund for operations and one for programming, for instance — some apps allow users to designate where they want their money to go.
All these features make church giving apps convenient for both the church and its supporters.
Top church giving apps to consider
1. Jotform
Jotform offers a church giving app that also includes church management software.
Using Jotform, your church or religious organization can choose from over 200 templates to create donation forms, and you can customize the forms to your specific needs.
Jotform Apps lets you bundle forms together to build your own app — no coding experience required. You can get started quickly by using one of Jotform’s church app templates, so there’s no need to create anything from scratch.
Jotform accepts many different forms of payment, such as credit and debit cards as well as PayPal, Venmo, and Stripe. It can also accept electronic signatures on consent forms through Jotform Sign, and Jotform keeps all personal and financial data secure.
Jotform is available through a free Starter plan and also has paid plans starting from $34 per month. Nonprofit churches are eligible to receive a 50 percent discount on paid plans.
2. Tithe.ly
Tithe.ly is a great app for any church that wants to provide its congregation with many different options for giving. It allows people to donate via a church website, text, or an app. Tithe.ly has excellent reporting features, so your church can easily track donations and manage its finances. It also provides custom branding for a seamless experience.
Tithe.ly is available for free. It also offers multiple paid plans for different features, starting at $19 per month to create a website. Keep in mind that Tithe.ly charges a credit card fee of 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per transaction made on the free plan.
3. My Well Ministry
My Well Ministry is a good choice for churches that have multiple fund categories. With this app, users can specify which fund they want their donation or tithe to go to. This app integrates with major church management software and payment gateways in order to provide a seamless experience for churches.
While My Well Ministry has many good reviews, some reviewers have complained about the app not functioning properly on their phones. My Well Ministry has six tiers of paid plans, starting at $49 per month.
4. DONATION by Software4Nonprofits
DONATION works well for small churches, thanks to its competitive pricing structure. This app provides great functionality for accepting and managing donations, including tracking up to 100,000 donors and creating automated charitable receipts.
DONATION has two paid plans, starting at $129. It also offers a free 30-day trial of the software. Keep in mind that some larger churches may not find the full donation and tithe management functionality they need with this software, as it’s primarily designed for smaller churches.
5. easyTithe
easyTithe offers churches a way to streamline the giving process for their congregations. Using this app, churches can accept donations and tithes through multiple media, such as website, app, text, and on-site kiosks. easyTithe also has a reporting dashboard that churches can use to easily create custom reports to share.
This church giving app has many positive reviews, though some users have had issues with the customer support and noted incomplete data collection. easyTithe offers a free trial and three paid plans based on the size of the church, starting at $19 per month.
6. Givelify
Givelify is a donation app for churches and nonprofits of all sizes. It’s easy to set up and even has custom branding options to create a seamless experience for the user. Givelify enables you to raise money for specific causes or initiatives as well as send thank-you notes to donors. The app also has built-in donor management and analytics tools.
Givelify is free to use and doesn’t charge any monthly fees for churches. However, it does charge a 2.9 percent + $0.30 fee for every donation given on the app.
7. Qgiv
This church giving app helps churches accept donations online, in person, and via text. It offers unique features that facilitate online auctions and peer-to-peer fundraising. The app also has event registration functionality and reporting and analytics. Another bonus: Qgiv provides many resources that offer fundraising advice, such as webinars and e-books.
While Qgiv is a popular option, some users report that the features can be overwhelming at the start. However, the app does come with free training. Qgiv is available for free with basic features. The basic paid plan starts at $25 per month, and it offers paid add-ons for features like text and peer-to-peer fundraising as well.
8. Donately
Donately is a giving solution that enables churches to create mobile-responsive donation forms. The forms are easy to use and customize, as well as secure. Donately can accept payment through these forms from many payment gateways and payment types, such as PayPal and Apple Pay. It also comes with customer support for both technical issues and fundraising campaign strategy.
Donately has a free plan as well as two paid plans starting at $15 per month paid annually. Keep in mind that the free plan has a 4 percent platform fee, while paid plans have a discounted platform fee.
Church management, donations, tithe collection, and more with Jotform
There are many church giving apps to choose from, but Jotform, with its wide-ranging functionality, stands out from the crowd. Not only can your church use Jotform to facilitate donation and tithe collection, but you can also use it to manage and simplify other processes, such as church membership applications or event registrations. Each form, whether for donations or something else, is fully customizable, so you can make any adjustments to suit your church’s needs.
Jotform’s app builder is a no-code tool, which means you won’t need to hire a software developer to build your ideal app — you can do it on your own. Our app builder comes with many nonprofit app templates, so you can choose the one you want and customize it for your needs.
Go digital the easy way — start using Jotform today to encourage donations and tithes and keep your church financially healthy.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
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