ECCU Blog

According to a new survey published by the Barna Group, 79% of evangelicals have donated money in the past year, compared to 53% of born again non –evangelicals. Of those evangelicals who give, 66% give to their churches and 28% give to other non-profit organizations.

 Evangelical Christians are also the faith group that donates the most: 26% donated $2,500 to $5,000, and 6% donated over $10,000. This compares with a national average of 7% and 1% respectively in these amount categories.

 So the survey says that evangelicals do in fact donate more than others. Does this surprise you? Would you expect this?

 If we follow Jesus’ teaching, we should be the giving the most, because we understand that we have the most to be thankful for in the gift of God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice. Plus, we understand that we are to be shrewd stewards of the resources we’ve been given.

 A question we should all be asking: “Am I a generous giver regardless of what the survey says?”

I was sitting at a luncheon where Frank Sommerville, a leading nonprofit attorney, was providing an update on legal and tax issues. He brought up a 2012 tax court case where the IRS disallowed contributions in the amount of $25,171 because the church contribution tax receipt didn’t contain the right disclaimer.

In the case, Durden v. Commissioner, U.S Tax Court Memo 2012-140, the IRS disallowed this contribution. The critical disclaimer on the donors’ receipt was missing the phrase, “No goods or services were provided in exchange for these donations except for general religious benefits.” The case went on to say the omission could not be corrected by a new receipt issued after the taxpayers had filed their tax return.

At my church, we changed our software system this past year, but unfortunately the default message on our contribution receipts didn’t include this IRS required disclaimer. So before we printed and sent our year-end receipts, we made sure we changed the wording to include this disclaimer.

How about your ministry? Does your donation receipt contain this disclaimer? If not, your donors’ contributions can be disallowed by the IRS.

Enough said. Okay, time to go check your donation receipts!

Have you ever tried to look at a website on your smartphone only to be frustrated because you can’t really navigate the site easily? With more than one billion smartphones now in use worldwide, nonprofits are reporting that up to one third of their web traffic is coming from mobile devices. So how easy is it to navigate your ministry’s website with a mobile device?

According to the Network for Good and PayPal, these eight tips can make your website more mobile friendly.

 Make it snappy.

Keep your website’s page load times under five seconds—under three is even better for mobile delivery. Remove anything that makes your pages stall or fail to load.

Minimize data entry.

Whether it’s on a donation form or a newsletter sign-up box, try to minimize the amount of typing your visitors have to do. It’s already a best practice on a desktop (they’ll be more likely to fill out your form or complete the action they’re trying to take), and it’s absolutely critical for mobile users, since typing a lot of information can quickly become a drag on even the smartest of phones.

Your copy must be short and sweet.

Remember: Online visitors don’t read, they skim. Reduce the amount of text you have on each page and break up longer blocks of text with headings. Use an easy-to-read font size and type. Choose shorter sentences and clear calls to action instead of long paragraphs.

Focus on one high-quality image.

Images can help quickly communicate a story or call to action, but make it your mission to focus on one high-quality photo rather than using multiple images on a page. More images will take longer to load and won’t look good on a smaller screen.

Remove the roadblocks.

Website roadblocks can make your site virtually unusable on a mobile device. Reduce your dependence on Flash, JavaScript, pop-ups, or other animations for best results—most mobile devices can’t correctly display content in these formats. Swap them out in favor of static images and clear, compelling copy.

Keep relevant content front and center.

Don’t force mobile users to scroll across three columns and all four corners of your site to find what they’re looking for. Make it easy to access the key pages of your site by placing them prominently near the top and center of your page.

Make links and buttons easy to use.

Review your links and buttons: Are they large enough to click on from small screens without zooming? Be sure to provide enough space between links or buttons to prevent a wayward thumb from clicking on something by accident.

Keep it simple.

A simple, clean design is a good idea for any site, whether it’s accessed on a desktop browser, tablet, or smartphone. Embrace the use of white space, clear the clutter, and narrow your visitor’s focus to one or two clear calls to action. This improves the usability of your website and removes unnecessary distractions .

For the complete article and a corresponding e-book on this topic, visit Network for Good.

Taxes have gone up and we are all concerned about the potential negative impact on giving to our ministries. Should we be bracing for lower donations, or is it possible the tax code changes could actually be beneficial?

To find out, let’s take a look at several provisions in the new tax code.

Tax Rates. The tax rates went up for the highest income earners, as you can see here. 

Before looking at an example of the new tax rate’s impact for a high income earner, let’s look at another provision.

Itemized Deductions. Itemized deductions for higher income earners has a phased out provision. Coupled with the higher tax rate, this sounds like it will create a double blow to our largest donors. Here are the details on this phase-out provision: Singles with incomes over $250,000 and couples with incomes over $300,000 lose the lesser of 3% itemized deductions above this threshold or 80% of allowable deductions.

This can all be confusing, so here is an example of the impact the changes in tax rates and itemized deductions will have:

Under the new tax code, a couple with an adjusted gross income of $650,000 and itemized deductions of $75,000 will lose $10,500 in itemized deductions because of the phase-out limitation of itemized deductions while the taxes paid by this couple will increase $30,608 over 2012 rates.

This sounds like it could have an equally negative impact for our ministries since donors now have less incentive to give. But before we jump to that conclusion, let’s keep going with this example to see the potential impact if this couple were to increase their giving.

If this same couple donates an additional $10,000 to your ministry, their taxable income would decrease by $9,700, thus saving taxes paid  at the higher rate of 39.6% or $3,841. This is a $341 increase in tax savings for the additional $10,000 gift compared to 2012, when the top tax rate was 35%.

(To see all the details and calculations behind this example, click here.)

Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. 

So how can you effectively disciple people who have significant financial resources in matters of generosity and stewardship? How can you engage their hearts and help them catch a vision for your church’s mission? 

ECCU is hosting a Generis luncheon seminar, How to Disciple, Encourage, and Engage the Wealthy People in Your Church, on Thursday, October 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Those who attend will learn from experts like Richard Watts, author of Fables of Fortune: What Rich People Have That You Don’t Want, and Generis Vice President Gerald Farley. They will discuss: 

• Who the wealthy are in your congregation.
• Why they often stay hidden.
• What they need that they don’t already have.
• How to encourage wealthy people to invest more of their financial resources in ministry. 

ECCU will host this free event for senior pastors and executive staff, which includes lunch, at its headquarters in Brea, California. To register, contact Sheri Kohlmann at 714.420.5092 or sherik@generis.com.