April 2024 Newsletter (Non Parish Specific)

Greetings!

It's a brand-new month and Spring has finally sprung. Birds are singing and flowers are blooming in our local parks, neighborhoods, and in our very own backyards. Flowers and foliage are celebrated early in the Bible as are flection of God’s creation. Genesis 1:12 says, "The earth brought forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw that it was good." May the beauty of God’s world all around us bring you joy this month!

As always, let your Client Relations Manager know if you need help with anything or have any other questions or concerns.

Thank you for allowing Faith Direct to be part of your ministries. May God bless you and your loved ones!

In This Issue

Program Benefit Reminder

Health Check

Bulletin & Social Media Announcements

Event vs. Appeal

Church Help Center

April 2024 Disbursements

Program Benefit Reminder– Processing Offset

You may have noticed it is becoming standard practice to offer donors the ability to help pay the transaction fees of their donations. In fact, donors themselves are increasingly asking about this so their parish receives the maximum benefit of their gift. If you haven’t already, this option can be turned on for your parish.

The Processing Offset fee rate is determined by the church, however were commend 2.6% as the “industry standard” and not going over 5%. Donors opt in via checkbox and the fee offset applies to all gifts. So, you’re either opted in for all collections, or you are not. (There is no processing offset only for offertory and not for building fund.)

Finally, Processing Offset is treated like an appeal for reporting purposes.

Let your Client Relations Manager know or email clientcare@faithdirect.net if you would like to offer this option to your donors.

Parish eGiving Health Check

How is your parish doing with the Faith Direct egiving program? You can do a quick spot check by running the Enrollment report under Reports to see the number of your Offertory Donors, as well as your Average Weekly Offertory. You will also find under the Reports tab, the Canceled Accounts and Gift Change Reports, that give you a sense of the negative and positive participation and activity in eGiving within your parish.

If you want to gain more insight, please feel free to reach out to your Success Manager, who can also look at your account to see if there are features you are not taking advantage of and/or to discuss strategies for increasing participation in eGiving.

Your success is our success!

Event vs. Appeal

This is a question that often comes up when deciding how best to collect monies for a specific appeal or event in the parish. The main difference between collecting monies through an appeal or an event is the amount of information you want to collect and if it is a fixed price.

Creating an appeal is best for collecting open-ended donations that you do not need to collect information for beyond the name of the person submitting the payment. You can add text asking for information to be input in a note box, but you can only ask for this to be done and not require it.

Creating an event is best for collecting and requiring (if needed) a larger spectrum of detailed and specific information, as well as implementing fixed prices. You can also set a specific start and end date with an event. Other features are the ability to add more descriptive text and instruction, require signature and each form automatically generates its own QR code.

In other words, an appeal is ideal for simple processing of monies while an event offers more robust and specific ways of collecting monies and information.

If you want to know more, please feel free to reach out to your Client Relations Manager.

Bulletin Announcement

English:

Christ is risen! As His disciples, we are called to go forth and spread the good news of Christ's Resurrection. The fruitful ministries at our parish are examples of how many of you have answered, and continue to answer, that call. To ensure such work can continue requires not only gifts of time, but also of financial help. I ask you to prayerfully consider supporting our parish with electronic donations through Faith Direct.

You can sign up online at faith.direct/FD2 or call Faith Direct customer service at 866-507-8757.

You’ll provide us with consistent support that helps us always be at the ready with programs, services, and ministries for our church families and for those in need throughout the community.

Thank you for your continued support of our parish family.

Spanish:

¡Cristo ha resucitado! Como Sus discípulos, estamos llamados a salir ydifundir las buenas nuevas de la resurrección de Cristo. Los ministeriosfructíferos en nuestra parroquia son ejemplos de cuántos de ustedes hanrespondido, y continúan respondiendo, ese llamado. Para garantizar quedicho trabajo pueda continuar se requieren no solo regalos de tiempo, sinotambién de ayuda financiera. Les pido que consideren en oración apoyar anuestra parroquia con donaciones electrónicas a través de Faith Direct.

Puede registrarse en línea en faith.direct/FD2 o llamar al servicio al clientede Faith Direct al 866-507-8757.

Nos brindará un apoyo constante que nos ayudará a estar siempre listos conprogramas, servicios y ministerios para las familias de nuestra iglesia y paralos necesitados en toda la comunidad.

Gracias por su continuo apoyo a nuestra familia parroquial.

Facebook Announcement

English:

As we approach Easter, we focus our daily activities on growing closer to Christ through an increase in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. May this extend into our lives beyond this liturgical season. Signing up with Faith Direct is a great way to focus on almsgiving throughout the year. It is a secure and convenient way to make a conscious decision about your financial support of our many wonderful ministries.

Spanish:

A medida que nos acercamos a la Pascua, enfocamos nuestras actividades diariasen acercarnos más a Cristo a través de un aumento en la oración, el ayuno y lalimosna. Que esto se extienda a nuestras vidas más allá de este tiempolitúrgico. Registrarse con Faith Direct es una excelente manera deenfocarse en la limosna durante todo el año. Es una manera segura yconveniente de tomar una decisión consciente sobre su apoyo financiero anuestros muchos ministerios maravillosos.

Regístrese hoy visitando faith.direct/FD2 o llame al servicio al cliente deFaith Direct al 866-507-8757.

Church Help Center

Did you know there is a HELP section in your admin platform that is a Go-To Resource for common questions? The HELP sections is designed specifically to provide you with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction for all your reporting and platform needs. In the HELP section, (found in the upper left, on Blue bar) you will find comprehensive guides and tutorials to assist you in mastering every aspect of our platform. Whether you are looking to generate detailed reports, manage user permissions, or explore advanced features, our curated resources will walk you through each process with clarity and ease.

To enhance your learning experience, we have incorporated screen shots and visual aids throughout our tutorials. These images provide visual cues to accompany the written instructions, ensuring you can follow along effortlessly and confidently.

Our goal is to empower you the make the most of our platform and the HELP section is a testament to that commitment.

April 2024 Disbursements

Faith Direct will process April donations on:

Thursday 4/4

Monday 4/15

Faith Direct will disburse monies to the Parish on:

Wednesday 4/10

Friday 4/19

*Please Note: There is a four-business day period after donations are processed to reconcile transactions with bank and credit card companies before we disburse monies to your church account.

If your parish is currently offering one debit date and would like to add a second, you can contact your Client Relations Manager directly or send an email to clientcare@faithdirect.net.