According to a recent study conducted by Lifeway and 1003 protestant churches 55% of churches offer online giving with attendance of 500 or more. Two-thirds of churches with online giving offered it for 2 years or less. It also found churches in larger cities used it more often. To check out all the statistics please review the study. With this growing trend it is essential to have church software that can handle seamless integration.
MultiSite Churches & Campuses – The Synergy they Produce!
Multisite churches and campuses grew out of mega churches as a possible solution to fix churches that were too large and ran out of room in their current facility. The success of these early mega churches led to a conceptual change for smaller organizations that appeared to be stalled in their current growth or looking for new ways to reach a certain area of the community. The synergy that comes out of multiple facilities that share common goals, values, resources, etc is enormous. According to research at Leadership Network there will be 30,000 churches that will merge in the next 2 years or merged in the past 2 years in the US alone. There are similar trends in other countries.
Bar coding for bulk mailing – does it really save a lot of money for non profits?
Many non profits are lead to believe that barcoding gives huge discounts when they bulk mail. What many organization do not realize is they must be CASS/PAVE certified. This certification is an expensive endeavor for smaller organizations. Because of the expense for these certification the organization will actually lose money unless they are mailing out thousands of “mail pieces” at a time. Here is an example of the cost of non bar coded and bar coded for “mail pieces” for the not-profit industry.
Donation Comments added to the Standard & Simple Statements.
Contribution statements done through IconCMO can include comments for the individual entries. The comments are entered in during the processing of contributions each week. These comments can be put in so the church has more details about certain transactions.
Email History for Households Added to IconCMO!
It has been an exciting time at Icon Systems for the Development team. Today Icon Systems uploaded all new code for the entire IconCMO system to work faster on the Internet and eliminate cache issues in browsers.
Included in this upload was additional enhancements like email history. This function is found in two areas of the system:
- Household Menu (Hse-List)
- System Menu (Email History)
Small Groups, Cell Groups, Core Groups, Bible Studies – All have the same function
What do all these names have in common?
They serve the same function, in that they are to bring the community together on a more personal level and increase our spiritual growth within the church. They are also to help bring new people into the church and get them involved in the church’s mission. Imagine if the church could mobilize their entire congregation to donate at least one hour a week towards a group function. How many things could get done in that time to help the church fulfill its mission? Groups are especially important in the larger churches where on any given Sunday you may not know the person’s name next to you.
Every church has a different name for these groups such as bible study group, men’s or women’s bible studies, youth groups, core groups, reach groups, home groups, connection groups, and the list goes on and on…
Return on Investment (ROI) – How Does your Church Software Compare?
Ever wonder if the church’s software gives a good return on investment? Has the church ever reviewed the numbers to see if the church is saving money using the software? Does it save labor, resources, money, time, increase donations and attendance, etc.? Some of these are very concrete numbers and others are abstract and at times can not be easily calculated. However all of them are important and should be used to calculate the ROI equation. Using this equation the church ensures that the software is giving the biggest bang for the dollar.
Media Fusion Sermons on your Website
Today we’re announcing a partnership with UpperRoom Technologies. This San Antonio based company has been developing some amazing products for ministry and we’re excited to bring them to you as one of our partners!
VolunteerSpot and IconCMO for Volunteer Management
Icon Systems has partnered with VolunteerSpot to provide churches a total solution for volunteer coordination and church management. VolunteerSpot saves time and makes it easy to schedule, sign up and remind volunteers. VolunteerSpot can be used by ANYONE, church leaders and congregation volunteers, to organize signups for activities ranging from hospitality committee to parking attendants, liturgy to ushers, VBS to Christmas productions, ministry meals to Sunday school snacks, festival fundraisers to community service projects.
Marketing to your Church Visitors and Members more Effectively
Partnership between Icon Systems and Constant Contact!
Icon Systems has released software integration with Constant Contact for advanced e-mailing capabilities. IconCMO can now export e-mail addresses from the groups and talents modules to Constant Contact, eliminating duplicate entry between the church software and e-mail program. A challenge for churches in the past was how to leverage the data in their traditional church software to communicate effectively and easily using a sophisticated e-mailing program.