Accepting Credit Cards at Church

Church credit card processing has emerged as a great way for churches to increase funds. Churches are following the leads of businesses who almost without exception accept credit cards as an efficient way to generate revenue. And while technically a church may be a non-profit organization, just like a business, the church still has a specific purpose. It needs to increase funds to accomplish that purpose. Church credit card processing increases the church’s ability to generate funds.

In the society of today it’s normal for people to carry multiple credit and debit cards in their wallets, many tend to carry little cash. If during the time of tithes and offerings, people don’t have cash in their wallets, the church will not get any funds. To fight this and make it easier for members to donate funds, church credit card processing has increased.

Church credit card processing can help churches increase donations in many ways. To start off, the church can offer its members the opportunity to make their contributions through the use of their credit cards. That makes it convenient for those members who don’t carry much cash and commonly find themselves low on cash when the offering plate comes around. It also benefits the church because the more contributions and donations received through church credit card processing, the better the church is able to budget. It knows in advance how much it has coming in each week, month, or year.

Church credit card processing sometimes does not work exactly as credit card processing in stores but, it still requires something similar to a merchant account. Instead of actually swiping your card physically through a machine, what generally happens is that you’ll fill out a form at church or online providing all of your credit card billing information, the amount you want to give to the church, and the frequency of the donations. This is called “Automatic Tithing”. Some like to donate a larger sum annually, while others may prefer to donate a smaller amount each week.

The church credit card processing system will now take the member information and put it into an automated process. At the specified time interval, the members credit card will be billed automatically and the funds will be routed immediately to the church’s bank account. Church credit card processing has made it really easy and convenient for both the church member and the church when it comes to contributing.It also makes it very easy to do church fundraising by accepting credit card gifts and donations at the fundraiser.

The next step in church credit card processing is to be able to contribute via the church’s website. Church members would go to the church’s website and click on a link to a webpage where you could provide your credit card billing information and your monetary gift would be processed immediately.

This article was written by Todd Nelson, Marketing Director for Capital Merchant Solutions, Inc (HolyProcessing.com). CMS has been in the merchant account business for nearly 10 years, and offers free merchant accounts to both online and retail businesses. CMS also offers special programs for Churches and their members. One of these unique programs is called “Automatic Tithing”, which allows Churches to allow their members to automatically donate using their credit card or debit card. This article may be republished as long as absolutely no changes are made, and the resource box is included. Copyright 2007 – Capital merchant Solutions, Inc. – All rights reserved.

- Todd Nelson

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