Good afternoon!
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Those tricky ones involving a healthier diet and more exercise may have already fallen by the wayside, but don’t give up hope – like few others in recent history, this is a year filled with promise and potential. If you got too little exercise yesterday or ate too much last night, today is a new opportunity. Faith Direct, as always, is resolved to work as hard as we can to give you constant support and encouragement as you seek to grow your parish ministries. We’re here to help you, every step of the way!
This month we’re sharing ways that parishes are encouraging the generosity of spirit that is so transformative in challenging times – perhaps your church can incorporate one or all of these ideas. Read on also for Faith Direct’s January holiday schedule, as well as special year-end disbursement information and scheduled webinars we have planned for you.
Faith Direct is excited to welcome 2021 with your parish – here’s to continued blessings for the new year!
In This Issue
Generosity of Spirit
Faith Direct Holiday Closures
End of Year Disbursement
January Bulletin & Facebook Announcements
January 2021 Disbursements
Scheduled Webinars for January and February |
Generosity of Spirit
The most common question of 2020 was ‘How do we keep parishioners engaged with Faith Direct when in-person mass is not an option or very limited?’ As promised, we are sharing the feedback when we asked our parishes to let us know what they did to keep their parishioners engaged.
- Our letter to our registered parishioners from the Pastor and the staff that had our mass schedule and events for December listed, as well as our QR code on the inside message from the Pastor. This QR code links directly to Faith Direct and to our eGiving program.
- The option of the QR code on a poster in the foyer has been helpful.
- Text-to-Give/Enroll has been fantastic! We’re able to pin the phone number to the live stream masses so that parishioners know that they can easily donate.
|
Faith Direct Holiday Closures
The Faith Direct offices will be closed on Monday, January 18th, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. |
| End of Year Disbursement If you have been with Faith Direct for a while, you know the drill by now. To avoid commingling gifts from two different tax years in the same disbursement, we have compiled a special end-of-year disbursement report for all gifts that were processed in the tail-end of 2020. This end-of-year disbursement report was made available on the Church Admin site yesterday and contains all gifts processed in between your last regular December debit and midnight December 31st. The companion end-of-year contribution export can be downloaded from the site by choosing "12" as the Month of Charge, "End of Year" as the Day of Charge, and "2020" as the Year of Charge. If you did not receive a disbursement notification email yesterday or you do not see an EOY report in the Church Admin site, don't fret. It means that your parishioners planned their end-of-year giving ahead of time and were not processing anything at the last minute. Because the end-of-year disbursement includes these 2020 gifts, your disbursement report on January 8th will only contain gifts processed in the January 4 2021 monthly debit. Contact your Success Manager or call us toll-free at 866-507-8757 with any questions about the end-of-year disbursement. |
January Bulletin & Facebook Announcements Communicating with parishioners is important. Faith Direct recommends that every parish promote the program in its weekly bulletin and on its website and social media pages.
Below are some samples for January that we recommend you post to your parish bulletin and to your Facebook page.
Bulletin Announcement:
This new year is filled with hope and promise – opportunities abound to grow our vital ministries, explore new ways to share the good news of Christ’s love, and reflect His care and mercy to those in need throughout the community. To continue to make a difference in 2021, %%prospect_account.name%% is reaching out to our parishioners.
Begin the new year with eGiving to help sustain and build ministries throughout 2021 that reflect the promise of God’s love. The need is great in our community, and your generous online gifts will help people all around us.
We prayerfully request that you consider signing up for eGiving from your computer, smartphone or tablet. You can set up a recurring donation or make a one-time gift.
Sign up today by visiting faith.direct/(Your parish code), or text ‘Enroll’ to (Text-to-Give Number).
Thank you for your continued support of our parish family.
God Bless You,
(Pastor's Name Here)
Facebook Announcement:
This new year is filled with hope and promise – opportunities abound to grow our vital ministries, explore new ways to share the good news of Christ’s love, and reflect His care and mercy to those in need throughout the community. To continue to make a difference in 2021, %%prospect_account.name%% depends on online donations from caring individuals like you.
We prayerfully request that you consider signing up for eGiving and setting up your recurring donation. You can use eGiving from your computer, smartphone or tablet for recurring and one-time gifts.
Sign up today by visiting faith.direct/(Your parish code), or text ‘Enroll’ to (Text-to-Give Number). |
| January 2021 Disbursements Faith Direct processed the first set of January donations on Monday, January 4th, and will process the second set on Friday, January 15th. Parish disbursements will be Friday, January 8th, and Friday, January 22nd. The January 15th disbursement day is one day later this period because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day federal holiday on January 18th. Any live 2020 gifts that were processed before midnight on December 31st were included in a separate end-of-year disbursement on January 6th. If your parish is currently offering one debit date and would like to add a second, you can contact your Success Manager directly or send an email to clientcare@faithdirect.net. |
Scheduled Webinars for January and February
Church Admin Site Webinar Series A member of the Faith Direct team walks you through the important features on the Church Admin Site and answers your questions live!
Please join us as we cover topics like:
- Running a report and see who has enrolled in Faith Direct in the last day/week/month
- Tracking newly-scheduled online gifts
- Enabling appeals for Text-to-Give
- Forecasting next month's giving
- and more!
January 7th & 21st, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. EST
February 4th & 18th, 2021 at 2:00pm EST
Events Platform Webinar Series Join us for an exclusive live overview of the Faith Direct Parish Event Registration Platform. Learn how to create and manage online event registrations for all types of parish activities!
January 7th & January 21st, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. EST
February 4th & 18th, 2021 at 3:00pm EST
For more information on the webinar series and available training materials, please contact your Success Manager. |
| Faith Direct remains here to assist you during this difficult time. If we can be of any assistance to your parish, please call us at 866-507-8757 or send an email to clientcare@faithdirect.net. |
   |
|
|
