If you give to your local church how do you give (monetarily)? My Church for the longest time only had the collection plate and private donations, but 2 years ago they introduced a direct withdrawal program that would deduct an agreed upon amount every month, so you wouldn’t have to remember to bring your “envelope”, or if you missed Church for a week, you could continue giving.
At first I thought the idea was very crass, and I didn’t like it, but now after looking at how far behind I am in my givings for this year, maybe it’s not that bad an idea. My only issue with it now is that they only take the money once a month, and I like “hand massaging” my bills (i.e. figuring out which pay cheque which bill gets paid on), and I like the weekly payments to my church, because it spreads things out nicely. I may sign up for the monthly payments yet, but not just yet.
I have donated my time, which makes me feel good (but again, I am a little behind on that too). Remember if you want to give to your charity, money may not be the only thing that you can give.
Interesting idea, now if my Church put in a “White” ATM machine then I might not be as happy!
–c8j
I have also read news stories lately that some churches in the states are installing ATMs! You can give through debit or credit, perhaps even earning Air Miles for doing so.
My church doesn’t have an automatical withdrawal option, but even if they did, I think I prefer the envelope system. I like having the offertory as part of the service — it is a good reminder to us. I notice that some people put three envelopes in the plate when they come back from vacation. I don’t do this, but I make sure my giving over the course of the month comes up the amount that I have budgeted.