Why Mobile Apps for Churches Are Better Than Text-To-Give

Have you considered using text-to-give for accepting offerings at your church? This option may seem like a wonderful idea, but mobile apps for churches are a better choice.

No Memorizing Text Codes

How good are you at memorizing strings of letters and numbers? Even if you have excellent memorization skills, you probably would prefer to not use them. After all, you are not in school. You are not taking an exam filled with historical dates and other difficult-to-remember facts. If your life involved daily memorization, you would likely become just as frustrated as a child in a high school history class.

But when you use a text-to-give service for church giving, that is exactly what happens to your parishioners. They are forced to remember specific text codes and numbers in order to send in a donation. If they forget the code, they can’t give, and you miss out on that much-needed offering. Why make giving so frustrating and difficult?  Mobile apps for churches can simplify the giving process for your churchgoers. No memorization. No frustration. Just simple, easy giving.

No Limited Donation Amounts

Your church needs the financial gifts of your members in order to thrive. Ideally,  your parishioners will feel moved to give large amounts. But with text-to-give, donors are limited in how much they can give. They can only give a specific set number, like $10 or $20, and are not able to change the amount in the process. Even if a churchgoer wanted to donate a large sum, they simply could not do so unless they made multiple text donations — and who has the time to repeat the process that many times?

By switching to mobile apps for churches, you can avoid that issue entirely. Church giving apps allow parishioners to write in their own offering amount, so they can give as much as their heart desires in one single donation.

Text-To-Give Is On The Decline

At one time, text-to-give was the most modern and exciting method available. But now mobile apps for churches are taking over the spotlight.

Historically, the most successful text-to-give campaigns have been in response to natural disasters. Back in 2010, the American Red Cross was able to raise over $30 million in text donations for Haiti earthquake relief.

But other disasters have failed to generate the same response. A subsequent American Red Cross text-to-give campaign only brought in $4.5 million for a similar disaster relief effort in Japan.

Mobile Apps For Churches Are More Relevant To Your Needs

Successful text-to-give campaigns are few and far-between, and even the success stories are not relevant for your organization. Churches do raise money to help disaster relief efforts, but most often church giving revolves around building funds, pastor salaries, missions trips, and helping out in the local community.

Let’s look back at the 2010 Haiti Earthquake relief efforts again for a moment. Most people who used text-to-give to make contributions to the campaign did so spontaneously. According to Pew Research Center:

50% of text donors gave immediately when hearing about the earthquake relief campaign.

23% of text donors contributed on the same day they learned of the campaign.

75% said their text donations were un-researched, spur-of-the-moment decisions.

You aren’t seeking one-time donations for a major disaster. You need consistent, ongoing gifts from devoted church members. For your purposes, mobile apps for churches are a much better option. This method of giving is perfect for church parishioners who wish to make regular offerings to your ministry going forward.

When using a giving app, donors do not just make use of the technology one time. Instead, the app is installed on their smartphone, and every time they wish to make a donation, they are already set up to do so. All they have to do is pull out their mobile phone, open the app, and give.