Have you ever read one of those how-to books? You know the ones we’re talking about—the kind designed to teach even the biggest dummy how to be an expert in the subject they choose.

Now I don’t know about you, but the times we’ve thumbed through books like these—books created to take something complicated and make it easy—we end up more confused than when we started!

And the worst ones of all? Books on finance and fundraising!

Now I may just be simpleton, but I always seem to have major issues trying to understand the ideas, terminology, and concepts. To be completely honest, they might as well be written in a different language. Professionals write books on money full of plans and concepts that an outsider just can’t understand.

It’s complicated.

And that’s a problem because complicated strategies kill giving.

It’s like trying to teach Trigonometry to a 1st grader. You can go over and over the questions, formulas, and equations, but when the time comes for them to actually put their knowledge to use, they’ll freeze up. Why? Because it’s too complicated!

And when something is too complicated, most people don’t dig deeper or try to press on. No, most people just give up and move on to something else.

So you’re probably thinking, Yeah, that’s true but what does all this mean for me?

Well, have you ever thought that your system and strategy for online giving at your church might be a little like Trigonometry to your people?

In other words, it’s too complicated for your people to understand.

And we don’t want complexity to kill your church giving and fundraising. We want you to have more money for ministry! And we think simplicity is the key to making that happen.

Complexity will put the brakes on your giving, but simplicity will press the gas.

We created Clover Give to make giving easy for your church to integrate online because when giving is easy for you, it’s going to be easy for your people, too. But beyond switching to Clover Give (which is our first recommendation of course!), here are four things you can do to take your online giving and make it easy for your people.

Make it easy to find. 

If your people can’t find a place to give on your website, then they’re just not going to give. It’s as simple as that. Make sure the option to give is easy to find on your church website. Highlight the button to give, make the offering page easy to see in the main menu, or include the link on the homepage. The goal isn’t to push giving on your site, but to make it easy to find for users who come to your site for that purpose.

Make it easy to follow.

Once your people find where to give on your website, you want to be sure the instructions are easy to follow. Remember, the goal is to avoid complexity. Keep the directions short and sweet so that your people can not only understand them, but follow them quickly as well.

Make it easy to use.

If the directions are easy to follow, your platform has to then be easy to use. Make the fields easy to identify, the information needed clear, and the input simple. You want your people to experience a hassle free donation the first time so they’ll return to give again or even sign up for auto-pay.

Make it easy to talk about.

When something is easy to use, it’s easy to explain to others. So if your giving page online is easy for your people, it will be easy for them to talk about once they’ve used it. The best compliment is a good referral so make your giving page easy enough to use that your people will refer other members of your congregation to try out online giving for themselves.