This is part 2 of 5 in a series called The Deadly Sins of Online Giving. We discuss the most common obstacles to online giving that LIMIT your givers’ generosity and how to easily fix them.
You can download a copy of the entire series for free and we’ll notify you as new information is published.
Without being able to see the IMPACT their gifts will have, many givers are not moved to engage generously with ministry opportunities.
Today’s givers are so concerned about making a difference in the world that they’re taking a hands-on approach known as impact philanthropy or effective altruism. They want to “invest” their hard-earned income in causes that are making a difference in their community.
The upside of this accountability is that once givers find an impact that moves them, they’re willing to roll up their sleeves and engage with those causes in more ways than just financially.
But most online giving experiences don’t educate givers about your work in the community, connect them visually to meaningful projects, or inspire them to get involved or give more.
Every day, your attendees’ watch videos, create memes and upload pictures to their favorite social media platforms with astounding velocity:
The technology may be modern, but the tendency is not. To connect to his followers, Jesus told stories with word pictures about priceless pearls, fruitless fig trees, and coins in fishes mouths.
Most of us are naturally more responsive to imagery than text. That’s why smart ministry communicators make use of photography and video every chance they get in order to show givers the impact they can have in the community by participating in various mission projects.
Why hasn’t your online giving software gotten this memo?
The global nonprofit World Vision has used images and stories to transform the lives of over three million kids. It’s hard to scroll through the World Vision website without feeling the tug on your heartstrings as you see each boy or girl by name and learn how long they’ve been waiting for a sponsor.
But that’s not all. The organization now produces a beautiful gift catalog, leveraging the holidays to help parents instill generosity in the next generation. The catalog vividly connects kids to the significant impact they can have on needy families using irresistible imagery of smiling children holding baby goats.
Today, it just doesn’t make sense to try to connect givers to eternal purposes without imagery… especially when you consider the inherent concerns most of them have about their finances.
Charitable giving is an emotional decision. So—whether in-person or online—givers often experience anxiety. It may be about online security and privacy. It may be about their budgets. It may be about their time or their concerns about how your church will spend their gift … or any number of other reasons.
But here’s the good news: Because of their deep motivation to make a difference in the world, visualizing a way to do that generates powerful positive emotions that overrule their anxiety.
It’s true! According to neuroscience research, “our brains can only consciously focus on one thing at a time. Once you are in the act of doing, your fear fades away. Therefore, taking action reduces conscious fear,” writes Mareo McCracken in Inc. Magazine.
The text-based credit card processing platforms many churches use don’t educate or move givers to greater engagement with the work being done in your community. It’s time for churches to use the unparalleled effect of pictures and stories for the kingdom.
Vision2 is the only online giving platform that allows you to easily embed pictures and descriptions of your ministry opportunities right into your giving form.
Enabling givers to search, browse, and click through your mission imagery and stories to learn more—just as they do in all their other online experiences—wouldn’t be easy to manage on your own. Fortunately, you don’t have to rebuild your website to make this a reality.
With Vision2, givers can quickly choose one and donate right there on the giving page, or they can click through to read more details on your website (then donate from there.) The longer you keep people on your website, the more trust and engagement you build. The more impact givers can visualize themselves having, the more generosity they will express.
Sign up for a demonstration today to see Vision2 in action!
