The Number of Text Messages Sent Every Day is Shocking, so we Decided to Roll out Text Giving for the Church!!

Fun fact: The first-ever text message was sent December 3, 1992, by software engineer Neil Papworth, to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis, who received the message on his Orbitel 901 cell phone. It read simply, “Merry Christmas.”

That makes text messaging over 20 years old!

Wow. Incredible, right?

Here are a few more interesting things about text messaging:

Recent studies show that 97% of US adults own a cell phone.The Pew Research Center found in May 2010 that 72% of U.S. adult cellphone users send and receive text messages.As reported by CTIA in December 2009, the 286 million US cell phone users sent an average of 534 text messages each per month.

What’s the point? Well …

Most cell phone users are VERY comfortable with text messaging. Possibly more comfortable with texting than using apps or even making phone calls. :)

So … we figured offering text giving as another digital channel for giving made a lot of sense.

‍

Tithe.ly Launches Text Giving for Churches and Ministries

The mass usage, comfortability, and security that texting offers made it a no brainer for us. Now, churches who use Tithe.ly to run all their other forms of digital giving have one more great option.

With the addition of text giving, churches can now offer online, mobile, kiosk, administrator, and text giving to their members … all from one platform that is super simple to sign up for online and extremely cost effective.

Is text giving secure?Absolutely.

At Tithe.ly, we take your data and financial information security seriously. All financial information is passed using 256 bit HTTPS SSL enctyption. That information is encrypted and stored by our banking partner to Level 1 PCI DSS standards. Level 1 PCI compliance is a set of rules stated by credit card companies and audited by an independent third party. Level 1 PCI DSS is the highest possible rating possible.

How Does Text Giving Work?Text giving is fairly straightforward. There are a few key steps that one should be aware of prior to jumping in:

First off, you have to be signed up to use Tithe.ly. You can signup as a new church signing up for the first time or an existing church that wants to add text giving.After you've signed up and added text giving you will be given a 10 digit phone number.People will give via text by texting in a dollar amount (eg. $50) to your church’s 10 digit phone number.Givers can also designate funds and/or setup recurring giving (eg. $50 Missions or $50 Weekly Offering)It’s important to note that the phone number you're given is dedicated to your church and funds raised from this number will be deposited into your church bank account.

What is the best way to educate my church about text giving?There are a few things that churches can do to really ensure members are aware of and comfortable with this new form of giving:

First and foremost, get your leadership team and volunteer force engaged by having them use text giving a few times. Doing this creates great fans of the new way of giving and enables you to have more individuals who can help with education, answering questions, etc.Create business or postcard sized print outs that have your new giving number on it. Place these on seats, have the welcome team hand them out when people come in, put stacks of them on tables that people pass by, and/or have ushers hand them out when they're passing the plate, etc.Create one presentation slide that has your church’s giving number on it and put that slide up when you talk about giving. It’s best to do this for a few weeks in a row when you initially launch text giving. Then periodically use that slide again to remind those who already know and educate any new folks.Add a message in your church bulletin.Put a note about text giving in your next printed newsletter.Mention it in your regularly sent emails.

Example post/business card or slide.

There you have it! Text giving is here. Now go signup, start using it, and let us know how it goes at your church. :)

You can signup as a new church up for the first time or add an existing church that wants to use text giving. It only takes a few minutes.