Perhaps you have seen that the Great Lakes Region website “Donate” button has a new look. We have decided to cease using PayPal for our on-line giving option in favor of a new platform designed by ministers with ministries needs in mind. That platform is Tithe.ly, and the change went live this month. Several factors influenced this change. First, the fees charged by PayPal were higher than comparable platforms considered, and the only way we could continue using PayPal was to close the current account and open up a new account with a new administrator (due to PayPal’s security protocols). Also, PayPal did not offer the option of a contribution setting up a recurring love offering to be automatically deducted from a donor’s account. This option offers a convenient way to set up the offering once without having to revisit our website monthly. Finally, PayPal required the administrator to request that love offerings be deposited to the GLURC bank account. Love offerings received through Tithe.ly are deposited automatically into our bank account weekly, hence no additional handling required. An added benefit of this change is that Tithe.ly will directly interface with our proposed new church management system (CMS) which will be up and running this year. Less handling will mean greater efficiency in preparing donor statements.
But enough about this change and why we made it. You probably want to know how easy it will be to make a donation. The developers of the software have done about everything possible to make the experience very simple. A donor can set up their own login with a password and PIN, which will allow Tithe.ly to “remember” the donor’s information. However, this is only an option, you are free to enter your giving information each time you select the “Donate” button. A credit/debit card, bank account, or Google Pay can be used as the source for your love offering, and you can select to “Cover Fees” in your giving to give the Great Lakes Region the full amount of your intended offering. Those fees include a set transaction fee of $.30 per transaction plus 2.9% of your total love offering. To illustrate, a love offering of $100 will have a processing fee totaling $3.20, with GLURC receiving $96.80 of that love offering. Should a donor choose to cover the fees, they would receive credit for a love offering of $103.20, with GLURC receiving the intended $100.00, a win-win for both the giver and GLURC.
As we progress in using the Tithe.ly platform, improvements can be made to make your giving experience to GLURC as simple as possible. The Board encourages you to take Tithe.ly for a test drive, and you can save postage and those trips to the post office. Of course, the Great Lakes Region recognizes and is grateful for the abundance in any form as demonstrated by loyal support of this ministry. We are blessed as we move forward into new avenues of service to our members.