What is Faithlife Giving?
Faithlife Giving is an electronic donation platform for donors to gift funds to churches and nonprofit ministries. On the administrative side, church leaders perform and manage donor development activities, receive reporting and can view donor activity and health. On the giver side, donors can give through either their desktop or mobile device with a single or recurring donation, and can easily add funds to different events or split funds between events.
How secure is Faithlife Giving?
Security and privacy are very important to us. We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of the giver’s personal and cardholder information. We utilize industry-standard best practices to secure servers and privacy. All supplied credit card information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and encrypted to ensure compliance with data protection regulations, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Please see our privacy policy for more information.
How much does it cost to use Faithlife Giving?
Faithlife aspires to be completely transparent as evident in our pricing. Our giving product includes payment methods, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and eCheck. We offer the following pricing tiers, standard and premium. Both tiers share the following characteristics: no set up fees, no deposit or transfer fees, no hidden fees, and no early termination fees.
Our Standard tier includes no monthly fees and is ideal for churches and ministries just getting started or receive less than $7,500 per month in credit/debit card donations. With no early termination fees, this tier is a no brainer for churches and ministries looking to build an online giving program.
- Credit/debit card transactions of 2.99%+ $.45 per item
- eCheckACH transactions 1% + $.45 per item
Our Premium tier includes a $44.99 monthly fee with lower transaction rates and is ideal for established churches and ministries that receive greater than $7,500 in credit/debit card donations or those that want to benefit from lower transaction rates.
- Credit/debit card transactions of 2.49% + $.30 per item
- eCheckACH transactions 1% + $.30 per item
Our credit/debit card rates are based on the standard mix of donation process. Some cards, such as Rewards, American Express, and Discover cards, are more expensive to process. Faithlife reserves the right to apply a higher rate if your donation mix exceed standard processing levels for these card types. However, before applying such rate, Faithlife will provide you with advance notice by email, and will contact you to discuss pricing revisions.
If I choose the the Premium package, how do I pay for the monthly fee?
The first monthly fee is due a month after the account has been approved to start accepting gifts. Monthly fees are debited from your account based on the date your account was activated. For example, organizations where accounts were activated on the 18th of the month would be billed their first month's fee the 18th on the following month and on the 18th of each subsequent month.
How and when will funds be deposited into the church’s bank account once a transaction has been made?
Faithlife supports two funding options.
The default option:
Faithlife Giving will deposit credit/debit card and ACH/eCheck transactions together into the church’s bank account, less any processing fees.
Example: $100 donation >> deposit $96.56 (Standard) or $97.21 (Premium)
The second option:
Faithlife Giving will deposit credit/debit card and ACH/eCheck transactions together into the church’s account. Fees are deducted in a separate transaction on the same day. Please submit your request for this funding option to support@faithlife.com.
Example: $100 donation >> deposit $100 and withdrawal $3.44 (Standard) or $2.79 (Premium)
In both scenarios, activity should be visible in your church’s bank account 2-3 banking days after a transaction has been made. Deposits and debits to your account will be be prefixed with "FLC*".
Monthly fees are debited separately from your account based on the date your account is activated. For example, organizations where accounts were activated on the 18th of the month would be billed their first month's fee on the 18th of the following month and on the 18th of each subsequent month.
What is required to complete the onboarding form?
When completing the onboarding form, be sure to have the following items readily available:
- Your church or ministry’s legal name and Tax Identification Number
- Your church or ministry’s bank account and routing number
- The church’s primary contact’s name, date of birth, and social security number.
Why do you ask for my social security number?
The Beneficial Ownership is a new rule from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), under the Bank Secrecy Act, that requires companies, such as Faithlife, to collect and verify specific information including social security number from controlling owners of the entity at the time a new account is opened. This intent of this rule is to assist in the government’s effort to prevent financial crimes.
How long does it take to activate Faithlife Giving?
The church’s main point of contact for Faithlife Giving will need to join the Faithlife Giving group. In order to activate Faithlife Giving, the main point of contact for the church will need to complete an onboarding form, which will collect information about the church (Tax ID, address, banking information, etc.), the main point of contact (name, email address, date of birth, etc.) and agree to the pricing, terms and conditions. Once this form is submitted, the main point of contact will be immediately notified if the church has been approved to begin accepting donations. At this point, a unique URL will be provided and the church can start using Faithlife Giving right away. This process should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.
When will I receive my first deposit?
Once you submit your onboarding form you can begin accepting donations immediately! Your account will be reviewed prior to sending your church’s or ministry’s first deposit. If additional information is required we will reach out to you; otherwise you will receive an e-mail from Faithlife confirming your account has been approved to receive funds. This review process takes between 1-2 business days. After initial review deposits will be received within 2-3 business days from the date of the transaction.
Do I need a new merchant account?
No! There is no need to open a new merchant account. When you complete the onboard form for Faithlife Giving, we automatically create an account for you in our merchant processing system. This account is included and managed from within your Faithlife Giving account, so there is no need to log into a separate merchant account or pay separate fees.
How do I get my congregation to start using Faithlife Giving?
Faithlife Giving comes with done-for-you promotional material that you can use to drive awareness to your new online giving form. You can embed the Faithlife Giving form on your website or share the link in a bulletin, sermons, email and/or newsletter. As a best practice, it takes 6-8 messages in order for someone to take action. With this in mind, you will want to include Faithlife Giving in all of your promotions and remind your congregation for several weeks that you now have a new giving option that presents many benefits for your church and the giver.
What are the major features of Faithlife Giving?
For givers, there is a simple user interface where givers can select a one-time or recurring gifts and designate or split funds. The system automatically sends an email receipt to the giver with the amount given and to which fund they contributed to. If they create an account, they will have access to a giving dashboard where they can view history, manage recurring gifts as well as payment and account information. They will also get the benefits of joining your Faithlife group where they can receive communication from the church, submit prayer requests, view posts or articles and connect with other members of the church.
For administrators, they will become part of the Finance Team group where they can manage funds or events, view reports, giver details and be able to easily export all gifts. Administrators will also have access to all communication and engagement tools within the Faithlife platform, including newsletters, calendar, messaging, small groups, article posts, prayer requests and more.
Does Faithlife Giving support fund accounting?
Yes. Every gift received by Faithlife Giving is allocated to a fund so that you can easily perform fund accounting. The reports include fund level details and aggregate information for easy reconciliation. For customers who take advantage of our early access program, you can expect to see this capability at the end of May, 2018.
Can I issue a donor tax statement?
At the end of the year, Faithlife Giving will automatically email givers a donor tax statement with the year-end donation amount. In addition to the automated messages, you can manually distribute giving statements.
How will my church know a gift has been made?
Members of the Finance Group will be able to view all gifts in real-time from within their Stewardship dashboard.
Does Faithlife Giving work outside of the United States?
At this time, Faithlife Giving can only accept credit/debit card gifts from inside the United States. Faithlife Giving is available only for customers within the United States.
Does Faithlife Giving support designated giving/funds?
Yes! With Faithlife Giving, you can create as many funds/designations as you need (e.g. mission, building fund, youth camp, etc.). These funds will appear to your givers when they use the giving form, making it simple for their generosity to go to the fund or event they want.
Do givers get a receipt?
Yes! Once a transaction is made, an email will automatically be sent to the giver’s email address with a receipt that provides the amount given and to which fund it was given.
What does the receipt copy state? Can we customize the receipt language?
A sample receipt is below. Members of the Finance Team are not able to customize the content of the receipt yet, but it’s coming soon!
Can the church issue refunds?
Yes! Please reach out to the Customer Success team in the event you need to issue a refund, and we will get the refund processed. Refund requests are processed within 48-72 hours.
How does Faithlife Giving handle ACH returns?
Credit and Debit Cards have real-time validation. ACH/eCheck transactions do not. In the event an eCheckiACH transaction is returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF), consumer did not authorize, or any other reason, a $2.50 fee will be charged in addition to the amount of the return.
How does Faithlife Giving handle chargebacks?
In the event a cardholder issues a chargeback, a $20 fee per chargeback will be assessed in addition to the amount of the chargeback. In order to avoid these potential fees, we recommend that you:
- Make sure the name listed on your donors bank statements is a name they will easily recognize.
- Include a contact phone number on your website for donor inquiries.
- Process requests for refunds in a timely manner.
What integrations are available with Faithlife Giving?
At this time, Faithlife Giving integrates with your Faithlife Church Group and Faithlife Sites. When you are approved to start to receiving gifts, you will see a “Give” button automatically appear on your Faithlife Church group, and you will be able to embed the Faithlife Giving form on any website builder, including Faithlife Sites.
In the near future, we plan to integrate Faithlife Giving with Faithlife Proclaim and Ministry Tracker.
Can givers opt-in to pay for the processing fees?
During Faithlife Giving’s early access period, this capability will not be available. However, our Faithlife Giving product development team is actively working on this capability. We will communicate in the Faithlife Giving Group when this becomes available.
Can givers set up recurring giving?
Yes! Givers that create a Faithlife account can schedule a recurring gift on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
Can I import givers and their history from my previous Giving tool into Faithlife Giving?
At this time, there is not a way to import Givers and their history from another Giving platform into Faithlife Giving. Givers will have to re-enter their credit/debit or banking information, and create an account if they wish to manage recurring gifts and view history when using Faithlife Giving.
Can I export giver information from Faithlife Giving?
Yes! You can easily export Giver details and amounts from Faithlife Giving in a .CSV file format.
What credit cards are accepted?
All major credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
What reports are available in Faithlife Giving?
Within the Faithlife Giving, members of the Finance Team group will be able to view reports such as total number of gifts, average gift amount, weekly giving average, daily giving average, moving average and gift amount by fund type. They can pull reports from the last 7 days, 30 days or month-to-date.
What is required to get started?
In order to get started, your Church must be a member of the Faithlife Giving group and fill out the onboard form. It is preferred that the main point of contact for Giving request to be a member of this group so that they he/she can fill out the necessary information in the onboarding form. Information, such as church’s legal name, address, Tax ID and banking information will be required in order to submit the onboard form.
Do givers have to create an account to give through Faithlife Giving?
No, givers can submit gifts as a guest if they prefer. However, they won’t be able to manage recurring gifts, view giving history or participate in the Faithlife Church group.
Does my church get a mobile giving app with Faithlife Giving?
No! Instead of your own mobile app, you will receive an unique URL that you can embed on your website or hyperlink in the communication channels you prefer. For those that want to give from within your Faithlife Church group, they can give directly from within the Faithlife app.
Is Faithlife Giving offered in other languages outside of English?
No. At this time, Faithlife Giving is not offered in any other languages outside of English.
Can Faithlife Giving be customized to match our brand?
Your logo and church name will appear on the Giving form - making it known that the giver has come to the right place to give to your church.
Why is it valuable to create more than one fund?
People tend to give more if they feel they can they give to a specific place where the funds go. We find that creating multiple funds gives them an opportunity to select which funds they want to contribute to as well as see other funds available to them in case they want to split or give more.
