Earlier this week CWM community member bunced recommended Church123 from within the CWM forum thread topic: EZ to build site, nice layout: which web host would you recommend for

What interested me was the statement by bunced that Church123 is:

"very powerful, and a professional company with a good customer service record and a nice product".

I have to say that after checking out Church123 for myself, I absolutely agree with bunced.

I signed up for a free 30 day trial account and here is what I saw:

• Sign up was very easy and it really only took three steps
• I received an automatic contact and then a personal contact from Church123 within a short period
• A church website was easy to setup and the system provides very clear guidance

• Very nice usability in that each step had clear directions, and hovering over items provided more explanation (for example instructions about editing content)
• In three steps the church website was ready, including some helpful default pages ready for adding content
• The Church123 website in general has helpful links and information for church websites. I often come across their site pages during Google searches for information
• Included with a Church123 account, Church123 provides free, professional website templates for churches

In my communications with Gordon, from Church123, regarding my comments about how easy is is to use their system, here is part of what Gordon said:

Our system is not crammed with as many features as some CMS's. We've concentrated on getting the core functionality really, really good. Our strengths are certainly ease of use and support (we genuinely care). In truth if you stick lots of features in the CMS then churches will think they should use them and they litter their sites with all sorts of widgets that actually distract visitors from the reason they came to the site. I go to a church of about 100 people, our site is clean and information rich (it was used as an example by the World Web Evangelism Day). On average we get two new visitors through the doors on a Sunday directly because of our website.

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PayPal Donations provides Christian Websites, Churches, and Non-profits with a simple low cost solution for accepting secure online donations.  With PayPal Donations your ministry’s members and donors may easily donate from your website using their credit card or bank account on PayPal’s secure server.  The advantages to using PayPal’s Online Donations for your Christian Website are similar to those discussed for NetworkforGood.org. 

PayPal’s Basic Online Donations includes the following advantages for your Christian organization:

• Receive secure online donations with little setup
• Low starting costs – PayPal online donations uses the same fee schedule as other PayPal payments
• Donor security and privacy are handled PayPal
• Receive detailed records of all online donation transactions

When using PayPal Subscriptions, your members and donors may:

• Setup regular automatic monthly donations through their credit card or bank account

One very nice feature of PayPal donations is that your Christian organization could setup donation links which may be included within emails to your members. 
Unlike, NetworkforGood.org, PayPal does not require your Christian organization to be an exempt nonprofit registered with the United States IRS.
One only needs a PayPal account in order to get started receiving online donations and your Christian website can begin receiving online donations in less than five minutes. 
PayPal provides the following seven step overview on their website:

1. Log in to your PayPal account
2. Click on the Merchant Services tab
3. Click on the Donations link
4. Specify the name, amount (optional; if you leave amount blank, your donor will be asked to choose a donation amount), and other details of the donation
5. Add more optional information such as a customized button graphic and the ability to include a note with the donation
6. Click Create Button Now and the Button Factory will generate customized HTML code
7. Paste the HTML code on your website to create your Donate button

From my experience, the “Donations” link in step three is sometimes hard to find.  Donation buttons may be generated in the same place you find your PayPal button factory.  Also look for the donations link in the copy on the “Merchant Services” page, once logged in.

Today I am taking a look at NetworkforGood.org because it has the following advantages for your church or nonprofit website:

• You can start receiving online donations quickly with very little setup
• You can startup using the online donations service with little costs (their basic service has no setup fee and transaction fees are low)
• Your donors can setup regular automatic monthly donations.
• You do not have to worry about having a merchant account, managing secure transactions on your own website, or struggling to keep up with important privacy and security standards. Network for Good handles these issues for you.
• You are able to track your online donor information.

Note: I and CWM are not affiliated with Networkforgood.org or Guidestar.org.

Using Network for Good to Accept Online Donations

Network for Good is a nonprofit organization that has been around since 2001. Networkforgood.org acts as an online donations portal for non-profits. Networkforgood.org accepts online donations for any nonprofit listed within the non-profit database ran by Guidestar.org.

Guidestar lists all nonprofits who are an exempt nonprofit registered with the United States IRS. This means that if you are a church or non-profit in the US, then you are probably already listed on these websites.

Based on the information from their website, you can get started taking online donations in 4 easy steps.

1. Register and Complete the Guidestar Information Form
2. Read their Giving System Agreement
3. Create your Network for Good URL
4. Apply for Electronic Funds Transfer (Recommended)

Once your nonprofit registers, you can add to your listing in Guidestar. Network for Good provides you with a link and even images to let people click to “Donate Now” from your website.

One of my greatest passions is helping Christian non-profits succeed in their mission. Christian-web-masters.com focuses on helping Christian organizations with website resources. Accepting online donations is becoming one of the website resources which I most frequently recommend to the non-profits that I work with.

The chief reason for non-profits to accept online donations is the potential to develop a steady stream of recurring giving among its members. Most online donation systems allow donors to setup automatic monthly donations. These monthly automatic donations, will, over time, result in a predictable (usually steady and increasing) stream of giving. A predictable stream of income is a benefit to any non-profit, whether large or small.

Significant Increases in Online Donations Prompts Help for Charities with Online Fundraising

Online donations are on the rise. In fact, according to a report from USA Today in June of 2005, online donations to the USA’s biggest charities increased 63% from 2003 to 2005. The ePhilanthropy Foundation has reported that online giving is growing exponentially each year, from $250 million in the year 2000 to more than $4.5 billion in 2005.

As a result of the growth amount of dollars being donated online and the increase in numbers of people giving via the web, E-commerce vendors and other technology companies have been on the move to help non-profits meet the rising need to accept online donations by providing new tools to help charities with online fundraising.

For more information on trends in online donations see:

USA Today Article About Online Donations

About.com About Online Donations

Network For Good Study on Online Giving

Accepting Donations Online is Not Only Cost Effective for Non-profits, It May Save Your Organization Time and Money

Online giving is particularly cost-effective for charities. While it can cost $1.25 to raise a dollar from a new donor through direct mail and more than $.63 through telemarketing, the costs per dollar of raising money online can be as little as five cents. (Sources: Fund-Raising Cost Effectiveness/James Greenfield, Cost-Effectiveness of Nonprofit Telemarketing Campaigns/Keating, Parsons & Roberts, and Network for Good.)