When You Want To Give Religiously. Really.

With a click of a mouse, you can now pay your power bill, reconcile your checking account, and donate to your church. Yep, you read the last part correctly. In response to recent changes that now require a taxpayer to have a bank record or written communication from a qualified charity to prove donations, many churches are going high-tech.

Unlike years prior, when a taxpayer could self-document charitable donations under $250, a taxpayer must now provide a bank record that includes canceled checks, bank or credit union statements, and credit card statements with the charity’s name and the transaction posting date printed clearly. This has proven difficult for many taxpayers who are used to dropping cash into a collection plate and who don’t use checks to make payments.

The answer? Companies like Mychurchdonations.com let churchgoers pay online from the comfort of their own home using credit or debit cards and electronic checks. But the proverbial buck doesn’t stop there. Some churches now offer kiosks in their foyers through companies like Secure Give, which allow electronic transactions with ATM-like ease.

To be fair, churches aren’t the only charities using these options. Many charities accept online donations, and other organizations have used Secure Give kiosks (the YMCA is featured on their site). But for some reason, churches have been slow to embrace many technology-based donation options. This is curious to me, as churches are probably more publicly supported than most other charitable organizations, many of which also benefit from government grants. Churches, however, generally rely on the generosity of a cross-section of their own members and not single donors or unusual grants.

My guess is that many churches would see such blatant donation requests as ungodly and worry that it might make their members uncomfortable. But I also think the virtual anonymity of these services might encourage those who feel a little self-conscious to throw only a dollar or two into the collection plate.

So, I want to know. Have you ever used a kiosk or online service to donate to church? If not, would such a service make you more or less likely to give? Is there something appealing about knowing only that God, the IRS, and the folks at the bank are watching? Or does technology not have a place in church?