SecureGive, a Georgia-based company that provides kiosks enabling worshippers to swipe their bank cards, has been offering units since 2007. In the past year, they have seen rapid sales growth.
“A lot of people just don’t carry checkbooks,” says Stuart Baker, director of sales and marketing for SecureGive. “We’re moving into a cashless society. From a practical standpoint, it allows people to do what they already want to do –give.”
Places of worship have provided more options for tithing and offerings in the past decade. (A tithe is generally the 10th of one’s income that is donated to a religious organization in weekly or monthly installments.)
SecureGive is one of a growing number of companies, including easytithe.com and mychurchdonations.com that are integrating convenience and more practical methods of giving into their options for houses of worship, and with good reason. Estimates of online giving are as high as 50 percent over giving in person.
These companies cite features such as stabilized giving trends, automated and instantaneous tax deduction statements, and weekly and monthly automated reports as benefits for their clients and reasons for their growth.
