Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum by Power Trade Media

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B E T T E R S T E WA R D S .

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum Presented by:

Elexio Church Software

Table of Contents FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Q&A: A PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Mark Kitts served as a founding pastor before establishing People Driven Software, which merged with Elexio Church Software. Today, Kitts is Elexio’s Lead Software Architect.

GIVING / DONATION TOOLS: YOUR ChMS SHOULD GROW WITH YOU

People are already abandoning cash and checks in favor of debit and credit cards. And, the tools they’re using now could be obsolete in 10 years. So, choosing a ChMS that stays current with giving technology is crucial. By Mark Kitts

USING ChMS TOOLS TO ENGAGE VISITORS: 5 STEPS

Engaging first-time visitors is crucial to church growth. But, how can churches ensure they’re connecting with visitors so they’ll want to return for that next visit? By Mark Kitts

ChMS-ENABLED VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

When implemented correctly, church management software simplifies scheduling every aspect of an event — including the crucial volunteers. By Mark Kitts

FINDING THE RIGHT VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT TOOLS

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME FOR A NEW ChMS? 9 As churches evaluate their processes and introduce new ways of doing things, the common next step in the evaluation is the fundamental platform of a church management system (ChMS). But, what are the milestones that would evoke a pursuit of this magnitude? By John Connell & Emily Kantner

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

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Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum Presented by: Elexio Church Software

Financial management Q&A: a pastor’s perspective Mark Kitts served as a founding pastor before establishing People Driven Software, which merged with Elexio Church Software. Today, Kitts is Elexio’s Lead Software Architect. Mark Kitts

How does church management software help churches with financial management and what are the most important functions? Kitts: At our company, we’ve chosen not to concentrate on all areas of accounting and financial management. We integrate with Quickbooks because they’ve mastered accounting software. Budgeting, general ledger, accounts payable — those things aren’t unique to the church. But managing accounts receivable is unique within the church, so that’s where we focus our financial management efforts. Like many ChMS providers, we make it easy to collect and manage money coming in from donors through traditional giving methods — as well as online — through a mobile app, on a kiosk, or via text and then understand what all this means to the church. There’s no purpose in putting that information into the system if you’re not planning on getting it out in some more organized or summarized fashion. That’s why flexible reporting tools that make it easy to analyze giving trends are so important. A ChMS should also integrate with the various giving methods a church uses so contribution information is automatically recorded and staff members don’t need to manually enter it. We approach financial management with a pastoral perspective rather than a business person’s perspective only. You certainly need those accounting tools to run a good church, but we see giving as a point of engagement and involvement in the church. Show me all the people who’ve given in the last year — by age group or geographical area. With a ChMS that understands the pastor’s point of view, you can see where giving is really coming from. Churches can delve even further into the data to see what methods work for different demographics. Who in the church can benefit from these financial management tools? Kitts: Integrated financial management tools will benefit everyone in the church community. Donors will benefit because it’s not only easy to give, but they can also access their giving history at any time online or through their mobile app. churchexecutive.com

Church staff will save time entering giving data, compiling reports, and preparing annual contribution statements. Pastors can easily use the information to identify giving trends and evaluate the health of the church. What is one of the most underused ChMS tools / features for financial management? Kitts: Even with a variety of giving options, many churches still receive a large number of paper checks each week but don’t take advantage of check scanning. But they should, for a few reasons: • It could cut data entry time by 40 percent to 50 percent • It allows donors to pull images of their checks online • It deposits electronically so staff members don’t need to take checks to the bank • It’s more secure than multiple people handling paper checks. Why is good financial management support through a ChMS important to the church? Kitts: Good financial management involves the church’s integrity and stewardship. Churches are accountable—to God and government — for every dollar they receive. They already face skepticism that they only care about money, so ensuring that donations are spent wisely and accounted for is critical. Pastors are often concerned about the income of the church because they need to make payroll, but giving is also a spiritual indicator for the church. If contributions are down, pastors should be able to run a report to help them determine why. Is attendance dropping? Is it too difficult for people to give? Is there a deeper issue that needs to be addressed? Healthy things grow — and giving within the church is no exception.

Mark Kitts is Lead Software Architect at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com and lives in North Carolina.

C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

Focus on: Giving / Donation Tools

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum l

Your ChMS should grow with you People are already abandoning cash and checks in favor of debit and credit cards. And, the tools they’re using now could be obsolete in 10 years. So, choosing a ChMS that stays current with giving technology is crucial. By Mark Kitts

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Churches that employ alternative giving methods collect more contributions more consistently than those limited to traditional giving only. Many church leaders don’t realize the great impact that technology can have on giving; if they did, they’d be more intentional about pursuing options for their church community. Because people want to give, but the process has to be frictionless.

The Mobile Church:

Online — Through their ChMS, churches should at least provide the capability to make contributions through the convenience of an online portal via ACH, debit card or credit card. Mobile — Incorporating mobile giving tools isn’t just about reaching the younger generation anymore. More than half of American adults now own smartphones, and they expect the church to keep up. Many churches have already found the value in a mobile app that allows their people to access a directory, register for events and catch up on the latest sermon series. But it’s also a great tool for giving. Churches can simplify giving and allow people to access their giving history anytime, anywhere through a mobile app integrated with their ChMS. For guests and those who don’t want to install an app or create an account, text to give is simple, quick and convenient. After setting up initial payment information in under a minute, people can give with a simple text message in a matter of seconds.

Connecting with Community Americans now access the internet more with smartphones and tablets than with PCs. There is a growing demand for an ability to interact with churches via smartphones. Whether watching a sermon, registering for an event, accessing a directory, or making contributions online, church-goers have new expectations for what functionality should be available to them on mobile devices.

The Big Picture

56%

of American Adults own Smartphones

Mark Kitts is Lead Software Architect at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com and lives in North Carolina. 4

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

8 out of 10 internet users will access the web via a mobile device in 2014

Kiosks — Because giving is an act of worship, some churches want to keep it within the service. So, they station touchscreen kiosks in the auditorium as a replacement for passing the plate. People can quickly swipe a card to donate, and others will see that giving is active in the church. Online, mobile and kiosk giving can all address a different crowd. Each church community is unique, but providing options that are integrated with the ChMS will boost donations and simplify contribution management. Underused ChMS giving functionalities Churches often see a dip in giving during the summer months — but, they can maintain consistency in contributions year-round with recurring giving. Online giving allows people to schedule contributions, providing convenience for the donor and steady contributions for the church. Having separate accounts for the general fund, mission fund and building fund can cause confusion for donors and extra work for the church. But, allowing people to quickly give from a kiosk or to text in a donation to the fund of their choosing will decrease the reconciliation workload for church staff. Ensuring all these tools are optimized won’t happen organically; churches need to realize that making this change is worth the time investment. For giving technology to have an impact, senior leadership has to commit to changing the system and regularly promoting these tools. Churches will see the best results if the pastor demonstrates on Sunday morning — text in a contribution or give within the mobile app from the pulpit. It only takes seconds to make a difference. They can include an image on the service loop, instructions in the bulletin, an explanation in the newsletter and details on the website. Using these giving tools within the ChMS equates to more resources in the church that allow them to grow more disciples.

Nearly

Mobile now accounts for 12% of American’s media consumption

44% of Online Americans use the internet for religious purposes

55% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices

31% of Millennials watch online videos pertaining to faith

In the past 6 months, 19% visited their church websiteand 17% visited the website of a church they were not attending

56% 20%

of practicing Christian Millennials scope out a church online

of US Adults have made a charitable contribution online

1 in 10

have made a charitable contribution using text messaging feature via mobile

2 out of 10

practicing Christian Millennials have contributed using text messaging

The Bottom Line Churches connect with community via mobile apps • • • • •

They provide a convenient “sneak peek” for those who want to check out a church online There’s access to media (e.g. sermons and videos) It allows instant event registration and payment It facilitates charitable contributions It provides directory access and note taking ability

Sources: Pew Internet and & American Life Project, 2013 Digiday 2013 eMarketer 2013

Barna Group 2013 Pew Research Center 2012 Grey Matter Research 2012

Created by Elexio: Church software to help people know Jesus

churchexecutive.com

Focus on: First-Time Visitor Engagement

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum

Using ChMS tools to engage visitors: 5 steps Engaging first-time visitors is crucial to church growth. Most church growth studies find that: • Out of 100 visitors, typically 10 to 25 will return for a second visit • About 50 percent of those second-timers will return for a third service • Of those, 75 percent will make a fourth visit • After going four times, churches can generally begin to call those people regular attenders. But, how can churches ensure they’re connecting with visitors so they’ll want to return for that next visit? By Mark Kitts In conjunction with a church management system (ChMS), churches can engage first-time visitors by following five steps: #1: Create a great first impression. Regardless of the follow-up processes in place, first-time visitors won’t go back to a church if their whole experience is terrible. An effective integrated church management system can indirectly help churches make the important first impression a positive one. Visitors will evaluate the experience of checking in their children — is it fast, easy and secure? Does the church have an intuitive check-in system? They’ll notice the church’s use of technology to collect information or contributions using touchscreen kiosks and a mobile app. Even promoting the interactive tools available to the church community will tell first-time visitors that the church is relevant and embraces technology. #2: Capture visitor information. Churches can’t follow up if they don’t have an effective system for capturing visitors’ contact information first. They might gather this through a connection card, interactive kiosk, sign-up sheet at the welcome center or even a browser-based form on their smart phones. Once they’ve collected these details, staff or volunteers should enter them into the church database within an hour of the service so the follow-up process can begin immediately. #3: Communicate, communicate, communicate! Most church management software provides a variety of tools for follow-up communication, and churches should be using more than one —and get started right away. If churches quickly key information into their databases following the Sunday morning service, they can send a mass text message to all firsttime visitors within that first hour. This should be just a brief thank you and include a link to the church website. (While not all people will provide mobile phone numbers, most guardians will provide this information when checking in their children.) On Monday, churches can send those visitors an email that includes a word from the lead pastor detailing his or her vision, as well as links to more resources or information on the church website. churchexecutive.com

That same day, the church should mail a letter that will arrive within the next two days. This might include specifics about what the church has to offer their families, or an upcoming event. With the details they’ve collected, churches can customize these letters to each individual. Through a simple text message, email and letter, churches will have already connected visitors three times within the first few days of their visit. Simplified through ChMS tools, these mass communications will show that the church cares about forming a relationship with visitors. Churches can also run reports that make it easy for volunteers to make phone calls or deliver cookies to visitors. The best way to follow up is very specific to each church’s community, context and culture. All this follow-up communication can be pretty basic, but people typically need several touch points before what churches are telling them sticks. #4: Designate tasks. Some churches overthink the follow-up process and ask first-time visitors to come to an event, join a small group and get involved with a ministry right away. But initially, the goal should simply be for that visitor to come back. Beyond mass communication tools, churches can use a task management feature within their ChMS to log phone calls, set a date for a future follow-up and assign it to someone — for example, to a small group leader or connection pastor. They can capture notes about visitors within the database so there’s one central repository for staff and volunteers to access. Using these tools will make ministries more efficient and ensure people aren’t slipping through the cracks. #5: Launch the assimilation process. As visitors return week after week — and eventually become regular attenders — churches can use integrated ChMS tools to aide in the assimilation process. If people have access to an online portal and mobile app, they’ll have simple ways to connect with a small group, register for an event, make contributions or sign up for volunteer opportunities. But those visitors who are getting started with the steps toward assimilation need to know these tools are available. Some churches fail to connect the dots for people; most newcomers won’t know what’s expected of them. So, churches should clearly communicate what they can do to get ingrained with the church community and get the ball rolling from being a spectator to becoming an active participant. Mark Kitts is Lead Software Architect at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com and lives in North Carolina. C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

CHURCH SOFTWARE

Community Fellowship Church Lancaster, PA Community Fellowship Church is an established church of 600 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They were looking for an easier way for their church community to give when it was convenient for them. Community Fellowship Church stopped passing around the offering plate each week in favor of integrated online and mobile giving options through Elexio. They now receive an average of 64% of their giving online, and some weeks it’s as high as 85%. Even during the transition, the church never saw a drop in contributions. While giving typically decreases in the summer for churches, their giving actually increased from the spring—and it continues to grow. The church community has simple, convenient options for making contributions to the church, and the staff has a reduced workload. These tools continue to be successful because church leadership stays up-to-date with the technology and regularly communicates with the church community about these giving options. “Our giving has continued to grow as the church has, but the online giving has stabilized our week to week giving. We got people on board with these giving options simply by getting the word out and talking about it. We recognized that if we weren’t behind this, then adoption would be lack-luster. As a result, donors have responded and embraced these new tools, giving more consistently and sacrificially.” David Dixon, Administrative Pastor at Community Fellowship Church

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

churchexecutive.com

Focus on: Scheduling Tools

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum

ChMS-enabled volunteer management strategies As a founding pastor of a North Carolina church plant in the 1990s, I managed nearly 200 volunteers during our first few years. This included scheduling everyone from our first impressions team to our worship team to our set-up / tear-down team. By Mark Kitts Two decades ago, we were using spreadsheets that needed to be emailed around to the various teams to keep track of who was serving each Sunday. A few years after the church launched, I was able to hire an administrative assistant to help me with the immense workload. But, after 18 months of frustration due to the overwhelming logistics of scheduling all those volunteers, she burned out … and she quit. Back then, we didn’t have the tools in place to effectively support our ministry processes. Sending spreadsheets back and forth all week wasn’t an efficient way of managing the schedules for hundreds of volunteers; it just led to confusion and frustration. Now, the technology is available to streamline these processes. When implemented correctly, church management software simplifies scheduling every aspect of an event — including the crucial volunteers.

But, to communicate with potential volunteers and get them scheduled, churches need to know that those people are available and interested. To this end, they can include easy-to-use customized forms on their websites so members of the church community can express interest in serving in various ministries and indicate their availability — as well as register and pay for events. With a drag-and-drop tool to create the web forms, anyone on the church staff can set volunteers up to practically schedule themselves. Integrated with the database, this information will automatically update for simplified event management and communication.

Volunteer- and staff-friendly Staff and volunteers can quickly add an event to the church calendar within their database and select team members to fill open positions. The system will automatically email invitations to serve, and those volunteers can click “yes” or “no” to indicate if they accept. All the time slots can be filled quickly, and the schedule is available online for everyone to see in a central location. Advanced ChMS systems can also manage cancellations, black-out days and text-message notifications.

Churches should also use their ChMS for room and resource planning that requires approval. This lets them avoid double-booking rooms or running into last-minute conflicts. They can set up check-in for those events that require childcare, volunteer tracking or attendance tracking. The use of ChMS by many churches stops at people management — but they’re missing out and creating work for themselves if they don’t take advantage of the scheduling functionality. Rather than wasting extra time (that they don’t have) going through long, complicated processes to nail down details, they should use the tools that are already available to them. It will help churches retain their valuable staff and avoid burnout. Mark Kitts is Lead Software Architect at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com and lives in North Carolina.

churchexecutive.com

C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E • CHURCH EXECUTIVE

Focus on: Volunteer Management

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum

Finding the right volunteer management tools By Mark Kitts

As a founding pastor of a church plant in North Carolina during the 1990s — managing more than 200 volunteers every week — a key component of success was tracking their interests, skills and spiritual gifts. Then, I needed to be able to apply that information to finding volunteer opportunities for all of them… all while managing schedules and avoiding volunteer burnout. At the time, this meant using early versions of Microsoft Excel or Access, or an early church database system. The lack of comprehensive tools to handle this challenge served as inspiration to create our company’s ChMS product. As a result, the way church leaders can find and acquire volunteers today is quite a bit different. Key volunteer management areas Many of the innovation-drivers at our company are the areas where, in my experience, churches frequently hurt with regard to managing and assigning volunteers. Churches of all sizes struggle with this, but larger churches (1,000-plus in average attendance) can be crippled if they are missing solid volunteer management. To this end, a few key areas any ChMS should address are: • I nviting people to serve • Cataloging and reporting on areas of interest, skills and gifts • Easily scheduling events and volunteers easily • Sending reminders for events. Inviting volunteers to serve is one of the classic challenges where we once relied on one really outgoing person for recruiting. By using ChMS that offers communication options tailored to the individual — combined with an integrated web forms tool — it’s possible to reach out to potential volunteers in a way that makes it easy and convenient to respond to the invitation and sign up. Personalized email invitations for specific volunteer positions are ideal, especially when you can filter your list of potential volunteers based on skills, interests and even spiritual gifts. Ideally, you should be able to invite your volunteers to serve as you are creating your event and have the ability to go back later and add / edit what positions are needed. You should be able to effectively manage both the event and your volunteers within the same interface. Any system you consider should be capable of sending reminders to your volunteers so they remember that they have signed up, but also arrive on time and ready for any event. 8

CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

What can you do if you have an older ChMS (or none at all)? This is a challenge many church planters and small-church leaders face. Perhaps the church bought an early ChMS that serves more as a simple church database and offers little in regards to customized reporting. It’s possible that someone never looked beyond low-cost-of-ownership tools, such as Microsoft Excel or Access. But, there is hope — even in cases where resources are limited. With legacy ChMS and database systems and tools (Microsoft Office, for example), you must look for opportunities to create items such as custom data fields. Those fields allow you to store important information — importantly, a member’s areas of interest, special skills and spiritual gifts. Leveraging this data is critical for placing volunteers in the right roles and avoiding burnout. The right tools make all the difference Whether you are using a newer ChMS and haven’t used volunteer management, or you are limited to using a legacy system, your goal should be the same: to get the most out of either tool while keeping your volunteers from burning out. Creating relational systems that link volunteers to their skills and interests is pivotal. This will help keep your current volunteers happy — and it might even bring some former volunteers back out of “retirement.” Mark Kitts is Lead Software Architect at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com and lives in North Carolina. churchexecutive.com

Focus on: ChMS Selection

Church Management Software (ChMS) Forum

When is the RIGHT time for a new ChMS? By John Connell & Emily Kantner

As churches evaluate their processes and introduce new ways of doing things, the common next step in the evaluation is the fundamental platform of a church management system (ChMS). But, what are the milestones that would evoke a pursuit of this magnitude?

So, you’ve decided it’s time. Now what? As you begin to wrestle with the idea of introducing a new ChMS platform, you quickly realize that the market has seemingly changed overnight. Vendors seem to be speaking to you with their promotion of how they’ll change your life with their solutions. But, here’s the reality: Before embarking, you’ll first need to establish your needs. Here are a few primers that might help get the conversation started: What are you trying to accomplish through a ChMS? Consider your ministry goals and the processes you’ve established to meet them. If your church hasn’t already determined these important factors, you might need to take a step back — name the things you’d like to accomplish, and determine the steps you must follow to make it happen. Church management software is designed to simplify the administrative tasks so staff can focus on ministry, but it’s not a “magic ministry pill.” Keep in mind that ChMS can’t repair broken processes; it can, however, help you optimize them and facilitate discipleship. What are the details of the switch? What are you switching from? Is your church currently using another ChMS or just making do with spreadsheets? Your transition — including data conversion and training — will vary based on what you’re using now. And, are you prepared to use the next ChMS to its fullest potential? What is your motivation for switching? Do you want to save time or money? Are you unhappy with your current customer service or lack of new updates? Does your current solution offer competitive features?

In our experience, churches usually “pause and reconsider” their ChMS for three main reasons: 1) The church changes. Is your church exactly the same as it was 25 years ago? As the church grows and changes, you might need to add ministries for the large number of single parents in your congregation. You might have been able to manage basic member information in Excel as a church plant, but that method just isn’t practical for a thriving church of 1,000. 2) The community around your church changes. People probably aren’t looking for the exact same external qualities in a church as they were decades ago. Many church seekers are now looking for a place where they’ll have the opportunity to get involved and make a difference, and they’re searching online for the right fit. To reach them, your church must adapt. 3) The technology changes. As technology advances at a rapid pace, the variety of tools available to churches only continues to grow. Volunteers no longer need pens and paper — there are check-in kiosks and app check-in. Donations are online or mobile. Data is entered once with ease of integration. churchexecutive.com

What features and functions do you need? Who are your stakeholders? What do you value most, related to data management? Does the product roadmap fall in step with your continued growth projections? Determine what functions your church must accomplish through a ChMS — and also what features aren’t your highest priorities but will stay on the wish list. Get going! Whatever you’ve found to be your motivation to begin the pursuit, make sure to pause, reflect and begin to assess your needs. Solutions are plentiful, but marketing only goes so far in telling the whole story. Narrow your results. Find your matches. Get stakeholders involved in the discussion. There’s no mystery that selecting a ChMS is an intense process. Even so, don’t let the intimidation of the process overshadow your ability to start the pursuit. John Connell is COO at Elexio Church Software www.elexio.com in Elizabethtown, PA. Emily Kanter is Elexio’s Content Marketing & Communications Specialist.

C H U R C H M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E • CHURCH EXECUTIVE