Who Stole $3,400 From Our Offerings Last Year?
I have some good news and some bad news.
First for the bad news
A thief has been at work in our congregation! Each week, as your offerings have been generously pouring in, this thief has been skimming a cut off the top. We’ve been putting up with it because we thought there was no other option. The thief was CREDIT CARD PROCESSING FEES.
Ever since 2012, our church has had an option to give via credit card, whether through our website or via text giving. We have definitely seen an increase in giving related to having this convenient option available. In short, you love giving with your credit/debit card! The problem we began to face was that as the credit card giving increased, so did the processing fees. Every time a donation is made by credit card, there is a 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee that comes out before it even hits our account. This may not seem like much to you, but when we calculated the amount we paid in fees last year it came out to $3,409.68! OUCH!
Now that our online giving represents more than half of our total giving, we had to make a consideration. Are credit/debit donations more likely to increase or decrease in the future? I think it is obvious that it is more than likely to increase as time goes by. We love using our cards to give! This means that we would be subject to higher and higher fees unless something changed.
Now for the good news
The Potter’s House has employed the services of a brand new giving platform that promises to recover what we’ve lost to processing fees; RebelGive. We are so excited to introduce this new platform that will ensure that every dollar you intend to give will come to us. Unlike most other church giving providers, RebelGive doesn’t artificially inflate their fees so they can keep a percentage of every church donation for themself. Going forward, your online giving options will include the following:
Give online with your credit or debit card. An industry-low 1.9% convenience fee will be added to your gift.
Give online with your bank account for the flat cost of $0.25 - no matter the size of your gift.
This change will add the processing fees to the intended gift, rather than taking it out afterwards. RebelGive has minimized this to the lowest possible rate for your convenience. If you hate that added percentage like I do, then you can give directly from your bank account for the insanely-low flat rate of $0.25 each time. This is a game-changer for our church and our donors and will result in the recovery of these lost fees.
How does it work?
We have already integrated the new platform into our website. When you go to any page at VBPH.org you will see this button at the bottom right. Tap or click on this button to experience the fast and convenient giving flow. It’s pretty slick!
Make the Switch Today!
In order to get you excited about using RebelGive to make your future donations we have a launch week contest. Every gift of $10 or more that you make this week (April 21-28, 2019) through our new platform will give you an entry into a Gift Card Giveaway. We’ll be giving a $50 Wawa Gift Card to one randomly-selected user of the RebelGive donation platform just to show you how much we appreciate you making the switch. The more times you give, the greater chance you’ll have of winning! Plus, any recurring gifts you set up will count for three entries.
We think you'll love the ease and convenience of the new platform. Go give it a try.