Checks Aren’t Dead…Yet
When was the last time you wrote a check?
Let’s see – I paid with a check a month ago when I had yard work done (weeds are still winning). I paid taxes back in April. Then I gave a gift to a June graduate.
And, for goodness’ sake, when was the last time I balanced my checkbook? If you’re a CPA, please disregard that last sentence.
Compare that to back in the day when I spent hours writing checks and accounting for every penny I spent. This feels like freedom.
But hold on, checks are still a thing. In a recent New York Times article, Why Paper Checks Refuse to Die, it’s clear there are many people – including 22% people of faith – who prefer to use checks.
Here are some of the reasons:
- Fees. This is the biggest reason people dislike electronic giving. It can cost your church money when you give them money electronically. Fees run anywhere from a set cost up to 3% of what you give. Sending in a check or delivering it by hand costs the giver and receiver nothing (except if you use U.S. Mail…then it’s a 73-cent investment).
- It can be meaningful. If you utilize offering plates, some worshippers like to have the physical experience of putting a check in the plate in response to God’s call. As one person said, “I want to feel the act of giving.” It can be a form of worship.
- Fear. As the article lays out, everyone has heard about someone who’s been ripped-off electronically by the internet bad guys. Paper checks make that less likely to happen.
However, if 22% of your people prefer to use checks that means 78% want to give in other ways. Unless they're handing you cash, they want to give electronically.
According to a Vanco report, The Definitive Guide to Churchgoer Giving:
E-Giving Continues to grow. Pre-pandemic versus post-pandemic digital giving saw a dramatic rise in electronic giving. E-giving increased by 60% between 2019 and 2022.
81% said they would be willing to cover processing fees. The old adage that I just made up, “If you don’t ask, they won’t cover the fees” holds true here.
38% preferred to give to targeted funds. This is a tricky thing since giving to the general fund is usually needed most. This goes to highlight how important storytelling is about specific ministries within the general fund.
I am not naïve enough to think that Vanco doesn’t have an interest in you utilizing electronic giving (and signing up with them as your provider). But I also know that we are not going back to the days when checks and cash were the only ways to give.
There are still too many congregations (and I hope you know who you are) who are not giving people the opportunity to give electronically. It’s not too late. Electronic giving is not going away.
Keep encouraging the variety of ways God’s people want to give. Checks, cash, electronic giving are all ways your people can respond to God’s generosity in their lives. Options are a good thing.
Now let me go write a check. Let’s see…who should I send it to?
Photo credit: Money Knack on Upsplash
Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations. In case you forgot (or never learned) here’s a video with over one million views: How to Write a Check.
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered!
Schedule a meeting now.
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