Churches like yours depend on donations from congregation members to not only make their operations possible but also grow the church and its impact on the community. Seeing as 63 percent of donors prefer to give online, your church should focus its fundraising efforts there.

But in an increasingly digital world, there are many players—from religious nonprofits to Christian companies to individual influencers—competing for the attention of your church’s potential supporters online. Let’s look at a few best practices your church can follow to improve its online church fundraising and win over its audience.

1. Optimize your donation page

Before you start browsing fundraising ideas, developing marketing materials, and planning events, start at the core of your donation collections: your church’s online donation page. After all, potential donors can’t give without a designated portal for submitting donations!

Whether you need to update your existing donation page or don’t have one at all, there are a few key donation page elements that every church should keep in mind:

• Make the page mobile-responsive. Ensure donors can access your donation page from their mobile devices. Provide simple forms and enable auto-fill options to make the page easy for mobile users to access and navigate. 
• Include elements of your church’s branding. Instill trust in page visitors by incorporating your church’s logo and brand colors. Include your mission statement to remind donors why their gifts are important. 
• Offer other ways to give. Even if they land on your donation page, some donors may want to give to your church in other ways. Provide links to information about other types of donations, like planned giving, volunteering, or in-kind donations.

When building your church’s donation page, put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What would prompt you to donate? Maybe you’d appreciate having a few suggested giving amounts to choose from. Or, you might be interested in checking a box that opts you into recurring donations, so you can contribute regularly without returning to the page every time. Consider and include the features that would make giving as easy as possible for your potential donors.

2. Drive traffic to your church’s website

Once you’ve built and optimized a donation page, it’s time to draw attention to your church’s website. Not only can donors give here, but they can also learn more about your church, its mission, and how it will use their generous contributions. 

Your other marketing channels, such as social media and email newsletters, should point back to your website as the main source of information regarding your church’s operations. This can attract visitors who might not otherwise stumble upon your website.

Another resource for driving traffic to your website is right within the search engine. Google offers a grant to eligible churches—the Google Ad Grant—which awards $10,000 of free ad credits to spend on Google Search Ads. According to Getting Attention, churches can apply for the grant using the following steps:

1. Confirm your eligibility for an account.
2. Request a Google for Nonprofits account using the email associated with your church or religious group.
3. Wait for your request to be reviewed, which can take a few weeks.
4. Use your Google for Nonprofits account to activate your Ad Grants account.
5. Complete a Google Ad Grants eligibility form.
6. Accept your invitation to the Google Ad Grants program if approved.
7. Accept the billing profile provided.

And that’s it! If your church is approved and you use the Google Ad Grant wisely, your website will reach a wider audience and you’ll increase your chances of receiving online support.

3. Lean into crowdfunding

If your church is unfamiliar with the idea of crowdfunding, it’s an online fundraising strategy in which a large group of donors give smaller donations online to reach a specific goal. For this method of fundraising, you’ll need a platform to host the campaign and accept donations. 

Fundly’s guide to crowdfunding websites recommends looking for these attributes when choosing a platform:

• A “Keep it All” (KiA) approach. This means that the fundraiser’s organizer (in this case, your church) gets to keep the donated funds regardless of whether they reach their fundraising goal. 
• Low pricing. The pricing of crowdfunding platforms is often based on a percentage of the funds collected. Look for a low percentage to make sure your church can keep a significant portion of its crowdfunding donations.
• A broad range of fundraising areas. Instead of choosing a platform that caters to niche fundraising needs, find one that supports fundraisers for all kinds of organizations and audiences. 

Since crowdfunding takes place primarily online, it’ll gain the most traction when your church promotes the campaign through its online channels. Use your online presence to spread the word and provide frequent updates about your progress toward your overall goal. 

4. Share progress reports

During any fundraising campaign, sharing your fundraising progress builds trust with your congregation and encourages continued support. When the congregation sees how close you are to reaching your goal, they’ll be excited to visit your donation page and get involved. 

Update your congregation on your fundraising needs, efforts, and milestones. Visual aids like charts and infographics can be especially helpful for breaking down your church’s financial information.  

It may be easy for your church’s treasurer or accountant to create a financial report, but disseminating this information to your church family requires a delicate approach. Keep your church’s core values in mind when getting down to the numbers by highlighting how these funds support your church’s mission. This might involve sharing stories and testimonials about how you use the donations.

5. Use the right tech

If your church is like most others, you likely meet in person once a week for worship and fellowship. But with the development of livestreaming, your weekly sermons may also be making an appearance online.

Your church’s fundraising efforts can take a similar approach. Use your face-to-face connections with congregants to direct potential donors to your online channels. This requires using the right technology, such as:

• QR codes. Add a QR code to your donation requests, Sunday morning bulletins, or other printed materials. Congregants can scan the QR codes with their mobile devices to automatically open your donation page and give online.
• Text-to-tithe services. Simplify giving by getting started with a text-to-give provider. This way, congregants can simply text a keyword to your church’s number and receive a link to your donation page. They can give quickly and directly from their phones, maybe even before the sermon starts!
• Fundraising platforms. There are numerous software solutions purpose-built for fundraising that can help your church engage congregants online. Your church may be familiar with a few, but there are also plenty of alternatives to explore when trying to find the right platform for your church’s needs. 

The tools your church invests in will depend on its fundraising goals, budget, and other factors. Carefully consider your options when choosing software and request free demos or consultations with software providers before committing to a platform. 

As donations start to roll in, make it your top priority to thank donors for their support. Not only can signs of appreciation encourage continued support, but it’s just the right thing to do. Eventually, by following these best practices, your church will develop a loyal base of support through which it can continue growing to fulfill its mission.