Mobile Church Giving Success Story: Berean Christian and D.E.E. Results

Introduction to Mobile Church Giving

Demetra Morgan is the CEO of D.E.E. Results, an Atlanta consulting firm that assists churches with building their infrastructure, overall business and ministry operations. She also previously served as the church administrator for Berean Christian Church in Stone Mountain, GA.

Ms. Morgan was introduced to Givelify during visiting services at a potential church client. During the offering, various giving options were put forth including kiosks out in the hallway and Givelify. After some quick research online, she downloaded the Givelify app and made her donation.

I was able to give a donation to this church I had never visited with an app I had never utilized in less than a minute.

Demetra Morgan

The benefits became immediately clear, as the mobile app met her needs and expectations even as a first-time user. As someone who prefers not to carry cash or write checks, a mobile church giving option not only made giving more efficient, but also provided a powerful emotional response.

I want what is convenient, I want what is efficient, I want what I can be able to track. It’s almost like a reward, like, “Thank you for thinking about me, thank you for making this easier for me.”

Client Results

Following her initial experience with Givelify, Ms. Morgan helped institute mobile giving at Berean Christian Church. Their previous electronic donation solution was a kiosk-based platform that had shown less-than-outstanding results. Berean rolled out Givelify on September 1, 2016, and it immediately took hold as members’ preferred way to give electronically.

The amount that came in via Givelify in a four-month time period was double what came in from kiosks all year long, 12 months of giving.

Given these results, Ms. Morgan established Givelify as her firm’s preferred recommendation for mobile and online giving. She touts it as a quick, easy, secure method for people to be able to give to their organizations.

They find out that it’s so easy to use and it doesn’t cost them anything, and yet it gives so many more options for people wishing to give. One of my clients has seen about a 30% increase in just a short amount of time.

Keys to Success

As with any new technology, educating users is a critical component of rolling out a new church giving solution. Ms. Morgan recommends using the “Power of the Pulpit” to announce Givelify during offering time. From their very first introduction onward, mobile giving is consistently and repetitively pushed as an option for giving, driving awareness and adoption.

Congregants are increasingly reading their bibles on their smartphones, so including mobile giving fits in with their increasingly cashless mobile lifestyles. This is true across generations, not just with much-maligned Millennials. Cash, checks, and card swipes may not disappear in the near future. Adding mobile giving helps ensure the church meets people where they are via their phones and remains relevant for future generations of givers.

It’s not so much about reaching millennials or reaching a certain population of people. It’s about staying relevant and making sure you’re giving people options.

Nobody’s taking away the envelopes in the church, nobody’s taking away the offering basket, nobody is saying don’t give cash. That’s never being said at any organization. Instead it’s, “We have options for you.”