Most churches already have online giving in place. But having a giving platform and getting everything out of it are two different things. After over 20 years of working with churches across the country, we’ve seen the same gaps show up again and again. Not because churches aren’t paying attention, but because some things are easy to set up and then forget about. Here are six areas worth a second look.
1. What Are Churches Really Paying for Online Giving?
That is understandable. Giving platform costs have two parts that are easy to look at separately but harder to compare together: a monthly software fee and per-transaction processing fees. Some platforms charge no monthly fee and recover those costs through processing rates of 2.9% or higher on every transaction. Some price their broader platform by congregation size, so a church that grows pays more simply because it grew.
The dollar impact is easier to see at scale. If your church receives $1,000,000 a month in giving and your platform charges 2.9% across card transactions, you are sending roughly $26,000 to processing fees before a single dollar reaches ministry. At SecureGive’s rates, that same volume runs closer to $25,000. That may not sound like much of a difference, but over 12 months that is more than $20,000 that could have stayed in your church.
The only way to know your real number is to calculate your effective rate: your total monthly software cost plus processing fees, divided by your total dollars processed. That tells you what your church is actually paying, not just what the platform quoted at signup.
SecureGive’s pricing does not scale with congregation size or giving volume. Whether that is the right fit depends on what your church processes and what you are paying now.
What Churches Pay for SecureGive
Subscription Costs
Plans starting at $149/month
Transaction Processing Rates
ACH (bank transfer): $1.50 flat
Debit: 1.75% + $0.30
Credit: 2.50% + $0.30
*Most churches see an effective rate of 2% or less.
2. Are You Missing Giving Methods Your Congregation Actually Needs?
A lot of churches have giving in more places than they realize. A link on the website. A PayPal button someone set up years ago. A kiosk in the lobby that almost nobody uses. A text number that went out in the bulletin once. None of these talk to each other, and none of them give your team a complete picture of what is actually coming in.
The problem with this kind of setup is not just administrative. It is that every disconnected channel is a place where a gift can get lost, a donor can get confused, or your staff has to do something manually on a Tuesday morning to reconcile what came in Sunday.
A complete giving setup should support every way your congregation gives, in one place. Online, mobile, text-to-give, kiosk, check scanning, and non-cash giving including stock and cryptocurrency. Your donors should be able to use any of it without leaving your church’s branded experience, and your team should be able to see all of it from one dashboard.
Different people in your congregation give differently. A first-time visitor is more likely to give at a kiosk in the lobby than navigate to a giving portal they’ve never seen. A longtime member who travels frequently wants a recurring gift that runs without them thinking about it. A younger attendee might text in a gift on Sunday morning. A major donor may want to give appreciated stock rather than cash. When the platform only supports some of those, it quietly stops serving the rest.
One practical note on kiosks: if yours is not being used, the issue is almost never the technology. It is placement, visibility, and whether your congregation knows it is an option. A kiosk that is present and promoted consistently tends to become the highest-converting channel for first-time givers.
3. Are Your Church Giving Funds Set Up to Capture Every Gift?
A lot of churches run one giving fund. Tithes and offerings, everything goes to the same place. It works. But it leaves something on the table that is worth understanding.
Givers want to see their money doing something specific. Helping rebuild a single mother’s home lost to a fire. Paying off church debt so the ministry can truly flourish. Sending a teenager to camp who couldn’t otherwise go. When a donor can see a specific cause at the moment they’re giving, they respond to it. And when they can’t, a lot of them default to giving less or not at all.
Setting up named giving funds for your most active initiatives gives that specificity. Building campaigns, local outreach, child sponsorships, seasonal drives. The fund should exist before the moment arrives. A capital campaign with no designated fund is a gift that does not happen because the donor had nowhere to put it.
Multifund giving takes this further. If your platform supports it, donors can split a single transaction across multiple funds at once. A tithe to general operations and a separate amount to the building campaign, all in one step. That is especially useful during capital campaigns or any time your church is running several active initiatives at the same time. It removes the friction between a donor’s intention and a completed gift.
If your platform allows descriptions on each fund, use them. A sentence or two about where the money goes gives donors enough context to give with confidence.
4. Should a Church Giving Platform Support Multiple Languages?
This one tends to be invisible until someone points it out. If a portion of your congregation primarily speaks a language other than English, your giving platform should work for them as clearly as it works for everyone else.
More than 41 million people in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language. That number represents a meaningful share of many church congregations, particularly across the South, Southwest, and urban communities around the country. A donor who cannot navigate a giving form confidently is a donor who may not complete the transaction. That is not a technology problem. It is a hospitality problem.
SecureGive supports giving in English, Spanish, and Portuguese natively. If your current platform does not offer this, that is worth exploring a platform where everyone in your congregation has equal access to participate.
5. What Should You Expect from Church Giving Platform Support?
Most platforms make the transition feel seamless. The onboarding is structured, someone walks your team through the setup, and questions get answered quickly because there is still an active implementation in progress.
What matters more is what happens six months later. When onboarding is done and it is just your staff running week-to-week operations. When your giving administrator has a question about a report and nobody from the platform has checked in for months. When a recurring donor’s card expires quietly and your team does not know until someone mentions they have not given since March. When a donor calls with a question about their year-end statement and your staff needs an answer before the end of the day.
Those are the moments that reveal whether a platform was built for the long term or just for the sale.
SecureGive’s support team is U.S.-based, responds same-day, and is available on Sundays and after hours. Every church gets the same level of access regardless of size or giving volume — not just during onboarding, but in month six and month eighteen and whenever you need it.
Beyond troubleshooting: does your platform walk your team through the tools you are paying for? A giving platform is only as useful as the parts your team actually knows how to run.
6. How Can a Church Giving Platform Help Build a Generosity Culture?
Technology can lower the friction of giving. Building a culture of generosity is pastoral work that goes deeper than any platform. But your giving data should be helping with that work, not sitting in a dashboard nobody checks.
Here is the thing most churches do not fully use: the information that is already inside their giving system. Who gave for the first time last month. Whose recurring gift quietly stopped in March. Which donors give consistently but have never set up a recurring gift. A pastor who knows that someone stopped giving in March can check in. A team that sees a first-time gift can follow up while the connection is still fresh. That visibility is worth something beyond the financial report.
The churches that build strong generosity cultures tend to treat that data as a ministry tool, not a reporting requirement. The platform should make it easy to see what is happening and act on it quickly.
SecureGive’s DonorIQ surfaces giving trends in real time. When a recurring donor goes quiet, it shows up before it becomes a pattern. When a first-time gift comes in, your team can follow up while the connection is still warm. It is the kind of attentiveness a good pastor already has, made easier to act on consistently.
Putting It into Practice
The six areas above are worth revisiting any time your church’s size, staff, or community changes. If any of them surfaced a question you do not have a clear answer to, that is worth a conversation.
A 30-minute call with one of our giving consultants gives you a clear picture of where your setup stands and what SecureGive could look like for your church specifically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your effective rate is the actual percentage of total donations that goes to processing fees, calculated across your full giving mix. Divide your total processing fees paid in a month by your total dollars processed. Most churches find this number is higher than the rate their platform advertises, particularly if most donations come in by credit card.
Most churches benefit from offering at least three giving methods: online giving, text-to-give, and a physical kiosk for in-person and first-time givers. Adding non-cash options like stock and cryptocurrency is increasingly relevant for churches with donors who want to give appreciated assets rather than cash. The most important thing is that every channel feeds into one system your team can see and manage together.
In our experience working with churches over 20 years, yes. When donors can designate gifts to specific causes they care about, overall participation tends to increase. The effect is strongest during capital campaigns and community outreach initiatives, where a named fund gives donors something concrete to give toward. Multifund giving, where a donor can split one transaction across multiple funds, strengthens this further.
U.S.-based support, same-day response, and availability on Sundays and after hours are the standards worth asking about. Beyond reactive support, ask whether the platform provides onboarding training and an implementation plan to help your church get full value from the tools you are paying for.
Most churches complete the transition to SecureGive in approximately 45 days. Recurring giving is protected throughout. A dedicated Client Success Manager manages the process from start to finish, planned around your church calendar.
No. SecureGive has no long-term contracts. Plans start at $149 per month. You are free to leave if SecureGive stops earning your business.