ACH For Churches: What You Need To Know
Churches receive charitable donations in many different forms. I'm going to cover ACH giving, why so many churches are encouraging their donors to give exclusively through ACH, and why your church should jump on the trend.
What are ACH Payments?
ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments are a type of electronic bank-to-bank transfer. Payments via ACH are made through the National Automated Clearing House Association, instead of going through card networks like Visa or Amex. ACH payments have been around since the '70s, and are only available within the United States.
Whether you're a business or an individual, you can send money through an ACH transfer to any individual or business bank account. All you need is the routing and bank account number to send an ACH payment.
ACH VS Credit Card for Online Giving
ACH and Credit/Debit Cards each have their pros and cons...
- Donations clear instantly
- Most people have credit/debit cards
- Most people make payments with cards daily
Higher transaction fees, interest rates, and risk of losing recurring donations when a card expires.
Guests visiting your church who donate only once
- Anyone with a US bank account can give
- Most people already use ACH to pay bills
- The lowest transaction rates in the industry
Donations take a few days to transfer
Regular donors and recurring donations
The cons of credit/debit card donations are the interest rates of credit cards and higher transaction fees. You don't want donations to burden anyone through added interest rates and fees. Also, when a card expires you lose recurring donations from that supporter until they update the card info.
The cons of ACH donations is they take a few days to transfer to your account. That's it! As long as the donation isn't for an emergency, where you need the money right away, ACH has zero downsides.
Interested to learn about the low rates for ACH and how much that can save your ministry? Watch the video below!
Which payment method should my church accept?
If we had a quarter for every time a church asked this question, we could buy a sweet new coffee machine for our staff office! 😋☕️ But in all seriousness, we recommend both. Here's why...
You should always offer multiple ways to give so that your members can support your organization in the way that's easiest for them. However, it also makes sense to promote the giving method that benefits your church the most.
ACH is best due to the ultra-low flat rate. Once members enter their bank acct and routing number, they can easily give online from any device. With ChurchTrac Online Giving they can even set up recurring donations ›
Ready to make the move to ACH?
Churches ❤️ ACH payments and they're quickly becoming the preferred method of giving for their regular attendees. With features like recurring ACH donations and the ability to give easily from a smartphone, there's never been a better time to implement ACH donations.
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