Giving to Church via an App

[Terumah]

I wanted to post and idea I had and see what everyone on the board thought about it. I am thinking about developing a mobile app for Android and iPhone that make giving to churches much easier and mobile.


I envision having churches and people sign up. People 'follow' their church and can give at any time they want. Churches can also create campaigns to notify their members of current or ongoing needs to which members can respond immediately and share their giving on Facebook and Twitter (if they want).


Any thoughts?


Daniel

[tango]

Honestly, it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Churches can already notify their members of current and ongoing needs through giving notices at the beginning of a service. People giving to a church who want to crow about it on Facebook are probably giving for the wrong reasons anyway, I remember what Jesus said about giving so the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

I suspect people who routinely give to their church will continue to give as they see appropriate and aren't going to suddenly think "I know, I'll give an extra $10 right now" and reach for their phone to do it. Those who don't give to their church aren't likely to start giving just because there's a new app that lets them give from their phone.

It's also hard to see how you're going to make any money out of this, even if all you look to make is enough to cover the costs of development and hosting, because anyone who wants to give to their church is unlikely to want to spend $10 to give $7 to the church, $1.50 to run the web site and $1.50 in assorted processing fees when they could have just put a crisp $10 in the collection plate and let the church have all of it.

[Terumah]

Thanks for your response! I really appreciate your honest feedback.

I initially came up with idea because the church I go to is far away and we are not always able to make the trip. I wondered how many people are in the same boat or watch church on TV but can't give.

Daniel

[tango]

"Can't give" sounds a bit lame. If you don't want to give that's one thing but if you want to give you can always send money. If someone watches church on TV the church that is making the broadcast can use the TV show to mention any specific needs they have.

People attending distant churches may be somewhat detached from what is going on but if they've got internet access they can receive emails detailing what the church needs, or they can call the church office or minister to ask if there are specific needs, or just figure they've got $100 to give and send the $100 so the church can do anything from help a family in need to paying the heating bill with it.

Ultimately if people don't want to give then having an app won't make them give, and if people want to give they don't need an app to do it.

[amazzin]

Such an APP exists. We have one that was developed and cutomized through "The Church APP" developers