In 2007, the church received $317,000.
Within three months of installing the kiosks, Stevens Creek noticed that 27 percent of those who gave were new contributors to the church.
Rivers thinks these new contributors may not have given in the past because they had no option to use debit or credit.
He says not many people carry cash or checks anymore.
“We as people run our lives a little bit differently than we did a hundred years ago,” he says.
In his article “Church ATMs,” posted on the Trump University Web site, Donald Trump commented on the new technology.
“When it comes to money, churches are getting smart,” he wrote.
“They know that people don’t always carry around a lot of cash - or at least that’s their excuse at collection time.
So some smart ministers are forgetting about the collection plate.” Giving kiosks, however, are not exactly like ATMs.
Rivers explains, “Instead of taking money, you put money in.” To use a kiosk, a church member does the following:
1. Selects whether to give on record or anonymously
2. If on record, enters his or her phone number on a touch screen to be identified
3. Enters an amount to donate
4. Selects what he or she wants the money to go towards, such as a building project
5. Selects a payment method: debit or credit
6. When prompted, swipes a card
7. If using debit, enters his or her pin number Upon completing these steps, the machine will accept the donation and print a receipt with a note thanking the giver.
To date, SecureGive has sold 100 units to 50-some churches, and a couple of non-profit organizations, in various states.
A kiosk costs anywhere from $2,800 to $5,400, depending on the model.
So far, no customer has refunded the product.
Churches of different denominations and sizes are purchasing the kiosks.
While much larger churches have purchased them, Rivers says SecureGive probably sells the most to churches with 500 to 2,500 members.
Rivers says SecureGive wants to boost churches’ stewardship potential.
He says that giving is a service and that donations are necessary for a church to operate.
“Churches are realizing that their stewardship potential needs to be maximized,” he said.
Not everyone, however, agrees with using such kiosks in churches.
Pastor Tim Mitchell of Peotone United Methodist Church believes that sliding cards and pressing buttons “would take away from the joy of giving, and desensitize our giving, just as it has our spending.” Mitchell especially disagrees with the idea of using credit for tithes and offerings.
In the fall, he preached a series called, “Dollars and Sense: Making Sense out of Your Dollars Using God's Sense.” To avoid debt, Mitchell encouraged his congregation not to use credit cards at all.“ I feel the church should help people learn to manage their money properly, and using credit cards is not good financial practice,” he says.
Mitchell believes a giving kiosk would encourage impulsive spending, whereas he wants to encourage financial planning.
He says a spending thought process would replace a giving thought process.
“Why (would) I want to do something that promotes that thought process in the church?” Mitchell asked.
Rivers, however, respectfully disagrees.
In his opinion, donating with credit is not a big deal because he doubts it would ever get out of control.
He jokingly brought up the idea of a person going to something like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saying something like, “Hi, my name is ‘so and so’ and I’m a giver.” “I don’t see a lot of people going into debt from giving,” he said.
SecureGive does promote the use of debit, and even sells kiosks that will only accept debit, as opposed to credit and debit.
However, Rivers says he will not judge someone for using credit.
He says someone may want to use his or her card for reasons such as gaining frequent flyer miles.
“Everybody uses their money differently,” Rivers said.
Regardless, SecureGive wants its customers to use money responsibly.
“We don’t encourage debt,” Rivers says, “and we say that on all our screens.” Mitchell is not opposed to debit, but still hopes to avoid using machines for automated payment until society stops using cash and checks altogether.
However, he does condone another modern method of giving through online banking.
Members of his congregation can pay tithes to the church the same way they submit payments to various vendors.
As an example, First Community Bank And Trust, of Peotone, offers First ePay, a service powered by CheckFree, according to the company Web site.
To use the service, one simply sets up his or her vendors, enters the amount due and schedules payments.
Also, some churches allow its members to donate online at the church Web site.
Rivers says, however, that churches pay less to process transactions with the SecureGive software, because it is more secure than Web giving.
While Mitchell may not support every new giving practice, he does agree that the world is changing.
“We’re going to be cashless,” he says.
“That’s inevitable.” Rivers sees the progression into a plastic era, as he sees other monetary progressions throughout history.
People used to pay by offering livestock, then using coins, paper money, checks and now plastic.
“This is the 21st century,” he says.
For more information about SecureGive, visit www.securegive.com.
Story photo courtesy of SecureGive.
