FAQs

E-Giving at First Church

Frequently Asked Questions

A. - General

What is “E-Giving”?

As currently implemented at First Church, E-Giving is the process of member-managed one time and recurring donations processed directly from the giver’s checking or savings account using an “Automated Clearing House” (ACH) transaction. This is the same mechanism many members use to pay bills on their bank’s E-banking site. In the case of the church, we have also installed “Giving Portals” to be sure that your donation is properly credits to you in our systems/

What are the advantages to me of “E-Giving”?

E-Giving offers you the capable to sent up flexible giving plans that don’t require you to write checks. In addition, you can define recurring giving so you can maintain regular giving even though you may be away from the church. You can easily change any of this at any time.

What are the advantages to the church of E-Giving?

E-Giving eliminates several administrative steps that streamline the processing of your gift. Namely, E-Giving avoids the need for the church to process your written check, saving time and reducing the potential for error.

I use my bank’s on-line banking tool to send the Church a check every month. Isn’t that just as good as E-Giving?

With this your bank’s “Bill Pay” function, the bank generates a paper check and mails it to the church, where it is routed to the Financial Secretary. The Financial Secretary posts your contribution into our financial system, endorses your check and makes arrangements for its deposit into the church’s account. With E-Giving, no check is generated. Your donation is sent using an ACH (Automated Clearing House) transaction to our systems and is posted into your account. The Financial Secretary provides oversight for the deposit and posting process, but does not need to process a paper check. There is also no need for her to “Key In” your donation and giving unit into our system. This eliminates a potential source of error.

Why has the Church implemented E-Giving now?

We believe there is now sufficient demand for this way of giving to justify the effort required to implement it. Many members are now less inclined to write checks, preferring some type of on-line transaction.

Other Church’s have had E-Giving for some time. Why are we just starting now?

We have been assessing member demand for E-Giving and feel that interest has reached a point where it is cost effective to implement this technology.

B. - Security & Credentials

What are “E-Giving Credentials”?

E-Giving credentials are a unique User Name and Password you will set up and then use to log into the E-Giving tools.

E-Giving Credentials serve three purposes.

• They provide you with a unique identifier that accompanies your contributions so that we can correctly post your donation under your name.
• Your unique E-Giving credentials also contain your key to access of payment information that you use for E-Giving (e.g. Checking Account Routing and Account Numbers). This allows you to have sole control over this information. Your payment information is encrypted and not visible to the church or to our software vendor.
• Your On-line account provides you access to any recurring plans you may have set up and allows you to review your giving history over the last 12 months.

How can I get my credentials?

The first time you access either of the E-Giving tools, you will be given the opportunity to set up your credentials. The tool will guide you through the process. In order to generate credentials, you will need access to the email address the church has on file for you. If you are not sure what address that is, or you want to add a new address, simply email the church and we’ll get back to you.

Is “E-Giving” Secure?

Yes. Our implementation of E-Giving is protected by Comodo Cybersecurity. Comodo® is an industry leader in this field. Also, the record of your transaction that is visible by the church has your banking information masked. In many ways, an E-Giving transaction is more secure than using a personal check.

Are there other benefits to getting credentials even if I don’t want to E-Give at the present time?

Yes, there are. Having credentials will let you log on to CDM Engage, a tool that will maintain a summary of the last 12 months of your giving, whether your gifts were through E-Giving, check, or cash. In addition, CDM Engage offers other capabilities that are described more fully in a separate document.

C. - Receipts

If I make a one-time gift with E-Giving, will I get a receipt.

Absolutely. You will receive a detailed receipt via email upon completion of the transaction.

Will E-Gifts I make show up on my end-of-year statement?

Yes they will. E-giving transactions are fully integrated with the other donations you make to the church.

How can I tell for sure that my E-Giving donation was received by the Church and posted to my giving account?

You can always review your giving history using the E-Giving tools.

D. - Giving Process

OK, I have my credentials, now how can I E-Give?

There are two ways:

• If you have a smart device, you can log into CDM Engage (https://engage.suran.com/fpcs/s/login) to set up your one-time or recurring gifts.

• Or, if you would prefer to use your computer, you can access our Giving Portal from the Church’s web site (www.straspres.org). Just select “E-Giving” from the banner menu.

Can I still make my donations to the church the way I have in the past?

Absolutely. E-Giving is an additional way to support the church, not necessarily a replacement for more traditional ways to further God’s work.

If I sign up for a recurring donations and life events force me to modify or suspend it, can I do that easily?

You have complete control of your recurring giving plans. Changes would normally take effect immediately, using one of the E-Giving tools. There would be no need to contact anyone at the church.

Why don’t you take credit or debit cards?

While our system can be configured to accept major credit cards, our Session felt that it was prudent to focus on checking and savings account donations at this time.

Why can I only give to the church’s General Fund?

Over time as we all gain experience, other giving opportunities may be added to the E-Giving capabilities.

When will I be able to give donations to special or one-time initiatives (like hurricane relief and Blanket Sunday) using E-Giving.

As we all become more familiar with the E-Giving process, we will phase in additional giving opportunities.

E. - E-Giving Access

I don’t have a “Smart Device”. Can I still E-Give?

Yes, you can. The Giving Portal accessible from the church’s web site provides comparable capabilities to the smart device

I don’t have a desktop computer in my home. I rely on my phone and/or tablet for internet browsing and email. Can I E-Give?

Yes, you can. The CDM Engage implementation for smart device gives you full control over one-time and recurring donations. You can easily review your 12-month giving history as well.

If I need help setting up E-Giving where can I get help?

A simple call to the church office can take care of most questions over the phone. For unusual problems, second level support is available though the church office.

F. - General

I liked things the way they were. Are you trying to force me into a giving method I don’t feel comfortable with?

Absolutely not. E-Giving has been implemented as an additional means to support the Church. Leadership is responding to a number of individuals who expressed an interest in giving by this method. How you give to First Church remains completely your decision.

Some of the emails I received when I set up my credentials came from “CDM” and/or “Suran Systems”. What have they got to do with the church’s E-Giving program?

CDM is the name of the Church Management Software used by the Church. Suran Systems is the owner of CDM.

It seems like signing up for recurring donations is the same as pledging. How is it different?

A typical pledge program contacts each member to encourage them to make a formal giving commitment to the church. The focus is usually on the amount pledged. The recurring feature of E-Giving is offered as a way for members to consider a structured regular way to implement their desired giving level without the focus on a structured "Program".

This seems like something that only a few members will use. Why is the church rolling it out broadly?

Leadership believes that, while E-Giving will likely begin with a limited number of members, it offers significant advantages over other methods of giving. Over time, we believe it will expand and become a very popular way to support the church.

Is E-Giving confidential?

Absolutely. Only the Financial Secretary sees your contribution. Your payment information is encrypted and inaccessible to the church.

Why do I need to have an email address to E-Give?

The E-Giving system requires an email address for two reasons:

• When setting up your credentials the system will send you an email that you must open and respond in order that your identity may be verified.
• All confirmations, individual receipts, etc are sent to you by email.

I understand there are third-party fees associated with E-Giving. How much of my donation goes to cover those fees?

The fixed monthly cost of maintaining a Merchant Account is $28.00 per month for the church as a whole. In additional there is a $0.30 fee for each ACH (Automated Clearing House) transaction processed. At this time we will only be processing ACH transactions. Leadership believes that these costs will be more than offset by giving increases from recurring donations. Our plan now is to maintain E-giving capability for a period of two years and then determine if it is cost-effective.

I’ve heard people talk about “CDM Engage”. What’s that all about and what does it have to do with E-Giving?

Engage is a tool optimized for Smart Devices that provides access to E-giving along with a number of other member benefits. See the separate document for more information on Engage. (Insert document names here)

This all seems unnecessarily complicated. Couldn’t this all be done much more simply using PayPal?

PayPal is more costly to the church, more limited in functionality, and requires additional bookkeeping. In order to set up and process recurring payments, PayPal would charge the church $10 per month plus 2.9% of the donations processed. In addition PayPal requires the use of a debit or credit card. Under PayPal, the Financial Secretary would need to “Key In” each PayPal transaction shown on our monthly PayPal statement. Members would need to access PayPal to adjust or suspend recurring donations. The ability to accept donations to one-time giving opportunities is also very limited with PayPal.

Many of the same disadvantages apply to Square, Due and PaySimple.

Questions and/or problems -- contact the church office (717.687.6030 or straspres@straspres.org).