Donations Processing for Small Churches: Square Payments

Square is a payment processor that we often see paired with small businesses and farmer’s markets. But for my small church setting, it’s been a cost-efficient and diverse way to accept donations, tithes and offerings.

Many churches have transitioned to online giving over the course of the pandemic, if they didn’t have it already. There are so many options available out there, many targeted specifically to churches and ministries.

But for smaller churches, the cost of these options is a huge consideration.

We receive a large portion of our tithes & offerings online, but from our regular attenders, it’s generally through email money transfers (ACH in the US). We encourage this because it’s free to receive money by email. We have our account set up for autodeposit, so there’s relatively little administrative load. However, this requires a donor logging in to their own online banking app, entering our email address, and going through whatever other setup and permissions that their bank requires.

For those who are not regular attenders, or who don’t normally give online, we do everything we can to make it easy to give. This is where we’ve found Square to be incredibly useful.

Here’s Why Square is Perfect for Small Churches

So Many Uses

• set pre-determined amounts for donations
• allow users to enter their own amount
• receive payment for events and dinners
• simple user registrations + payment for vbs or conferences
• Square “items” can be set up as different funds, allowing your donors to choose which fund they’d like to donate to
• send invoices from groups renting your building or equipment & receive payments from them

So Many Platforms

• you’ll get a dedicated website, which you could technically use for more than just donations
• you can set up “checkout links”, which are webpages for just one specific fund or event that you’re receiving donations or payment for; link to it from your own site, app, social media page, etc.
• embed a checkout link page in your website using an iframe so that your users stay on your own website
• use the Square app (free) on any smartphone or tablet to receive donations & payments with a card reader (paid) or not (free)
• use the Square Terminal to receive donations & payments by tap, chip, or swipe (paid)

So Many Benefits

• if you have an internet connection, you can take Square anywhere with you
• if you don’t have an internet connection, you can still receive payments and sync up when your connection is restored
• donors receive a receipt for their donations
• payment information is always available in your Dashboard, and “customers” are tracked with their contact info and payments/donations
• added functionality: time tracking for staff, appointment, the provided website could be used in any number of ways to receive donations, sell books, offer event registrations, etc

So Many Dollars Saved!

• Square doesn’t charge a monthly fee (unless you decide to pay for advanced features)
• you’re only charged when you receive a payment or donation (currently 2.9% + $0.30)
• the per-donation fees are quite close (if not less) than the ones that other popular platforms charge in addition to their monthly fee

Many popular providers offer one monthly cost for all donations. That’s perfect for churches that are receiving lots of online donations. But — if you’re receiving less than $2000/month in online (non-ACH/EMT) donations, paying per donation is probably more cost-effective for you. We’ve found that Square is a great fit for us!

If you’re new to Square, get free processing by signing up with our referral link here: GET FREE PROCESSING You’ll get free processing on up to $1000 for the first 180 days!

(Perfect for demonstrating the usefulness of Square to the decision-makers at your church  )