How to Set up Online Giving For Churches

After a church finishes designing their website, one last concern is how to set up online giving. 

An online giving platform is one of the most important features of any church website. It’s a great way to allow your church members to tithe from anywhere at any time, and it gives them another payment option other than just check or cash.

However, before your church can begin to use it as a helpful tool, first you have to learn how to set up online giving for your church! Below, our team has detailed how to go about setting it up as well as some of the best tools for online giving.

How To Set Up Online Giving for Your Church

Before you can figure out how to set up online giving for your church, you have to decide which giving platform your congregation wants to use. 

There are hundreds of different tools out there that people can use to set up online giving for churches. So many that it can become overwhelming! Below, we’ve listed 2 popular choices for online giving for churches.

Choose a Tool for Online Giving

• Tithe.ly – This is a very popular choice for online giving. Tithe.ly charges no setup or monthly fee, but instead charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. With this platform, your church members have access to 6 different ways to give and can even set up recurring giving.
• Unified Giving – Unified Giving takes a slightly different approach to pricing. They charge $10 per month, but have a lower transaction fee: Interchange + 0.75% at .20 cents per transaction.

Bonus: If you’re looking for a Church Management System (ChMS) that includes online giving, the StoreHouse could be a great option for your congregation. This platform includes a mobile app, event registrations, accounting software, and more.

Create an Account

No matter which platform you choose, you’ll have to create an account for your church (and pay startup fees if your platform requires them.)

Most platforms will just ask for your contact information as well as basic information about your church including the name, size, and address. You’ll also need to provide your banking information so that tithings can be transferred to your account.

Embed Link to Your Website

After creating an account, you should be able to follow the specific setup instructions which will depend on your chosen platform. Some platforms, like Tithely, will recommend that you embed a link on your website.

If you have a WordPress website, the process is fairly simple. We’ll walk you through it and include example pictures.

1. Create an Online Giving Page

Before you can embed the link, you’ll need to create a space for online giving. In your WordPress account, navigate to ‘Pages’ in the left-hand menu. Then, click ‘Add New’ at the top and name your page.

2. Insert a ‘Code’ module

Click the gray plus icon to look through the available modules. In the search bar, type in ‘code’ and look for this module to pop up.

3. Copy and Paste in Code

Your platform should provide you with the necessary code to integrate it to your WordPress website. Once you insert a code module, it will take you to the text area where you can paste in the code you were provided.

And voila! You now know how to set up online giving for your church. If you’re really tech savvy, you can adjust your code to change the physical attributes of the button.

Need Help?

Depending on the platform you choose and your church’s website, the instructions for how to set up online giving for your church could vary. 

If you have questions or concerns about how to set up online giving, reach out to our team at Yemba Digital. We would love the opportunity to serve you and your church!