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Church Management Software Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
- » What is the meaning of church management?
- » Before Choosing a Good Church Management Software
- » Questions to ask a vendor when buying best Church Management Software
- » What are the benefits of Church Management Software?
- » What are the features of Church Management Software?
- » How much does Church Management Software Cost?
- » Conclusion
A software application makes the world a better place and the same goes right with churches as well. A Church Management Software can let your church survive and thrive through many tools. This guide will help you to select the best church management software (ChMS) that will better address your needs. It will help you to figure out the right software that will enable you to spend more time with your ministry and less time with paperwork.
» What is the meaning of church management?
By definition, church management refers to handling all of the activities and processes required for smoother operations of the church. These processes include managing church finances, members, staff, and volunteers to planning for events and potential risks. Apart from that, organizing schedules and maintaining church assets and facilities also come under church management.
» Before Choosing a Good Church Management Software
With the availability of a large number of options to choose from, anyone can be confused while selecting a good Church Management Software. Hence, we have compiled the most important points one should remember before going for any particular Church Software. So, let’s check them out now.
› Based on Needs:
Understanding the Church’s needs is equally important to that of choosing a good Church Software to work. When you have adequately listed out the points which you require in the software, the task becomes comparatively easy. Thus helping to choose you from a myriad of choices without churning your head.
› Based on Price:
The Church Management Software comes at different prices, mostly differing from each other depending upon their facilities and tools. Hence, one should calculate a user-friendly budget first and then explore the various available software within the price to avoid pressure on the expenditure.
› Based on the Number of People:
The total number of people who will be using the Church Management Software also has a more significant impact on the type of Church Management Software you are going to use. Hence, running an analysis of the total number of users can prevent last-minute headaches.
› Based on Extensions:
Another essential factor is the use of extensions. Many Church Management Software supports a wide range of extensions, which also come with a heavy hiring price. Thus, if you need a customizable Church Software, you may have to pay a hefty amount as your subscription charges.
» Questions to ask a vendor when buying best Church Management Software
1. How long does the church management software implementation take?
2. What kind of resources would I receive after making the purchase?
3. Will the price change in case we expand in the future?
4. Is the software adaptable enough to fulfill the church’s future demands?
5. Does the solution provide easy integrations with other tools that I already use at the church?
6. Is there a one-time fee or monthly/annual billing?
7. How does the management and tracking of volunteers and events work?
8. Does the ChMS include calendars for better planning?
9. How does the software simplify communication, both between my team and with the members? Can I send out mass emails and messages?
10. Are there real-time updates?
11. What about the security of data? What standards do you follow?
12. Is there an integration with social media?
13. Does the system support online giving?
14. How secure and effective is the child check-in function?
15. Would the solution provide analytics and reports?
16. What all features can I customize? Do I need to pay extra for customizing the software?
17. Is the software compatible with mobile devices?
18. Do we need to undergo special training sessions before we can start to use the system?
» What are the benefits of Church Management Software?
It becomes quite challenging to manage the growing number of people for any faith institution, as manual screening can lead to mistakes and hence, give rise to confusion and dissatisfaction among the masses. Here, using a Church Management Software can effectively help in reducing the growth and expansion of such problems.
So, let’s now talk on the numerous benefits a church management software can bestow upon its users.
› Eliminating Pen and Paper-based method:
Following the pen and paper-based processes to list out all the vital Church records and data increases the risk of potential mistakes. This is because a single Church can also house a large number of people as its disciples and hence, maintaining a 100% legitimate and mistake-free data can take both long time and use of more resources to complete.
› Accessibility:
The Church Database software also streamlines the job for the admin as it collects and gathers all information in a single place, such as calendar events, upcoming meetings, functions, and more. This, when shared with the approved circle members, can notify them in real-time for the future community meetings and more.
› Financial Reports:
What can be better than a Church software which not only helps in managing the Church and its activities but also provides a detailed report on the financial expenditures as desired? With the handy and fully-customizable financial statements, one can easily keep a track on the weekly and monthly spending and plan out a more effective way to increase mass participation while simultaneously ensuring lower expenses.
› Personalized Intimations:
The Church Management Software also comes with personal intimation facilities which are the most elegant way to keep your Church members notified in case of an upcoming function, community meeting, or even a funeral. Moreover, the software also supports mass intimation through emails which saves a lot of time as compared to designing and sending every email individually.
» What are the features of Church Management Software?
Specially designed to reduce the workload on the faith institutions, Church Management Software comes with many unique features which sets them apart from any other management software. So, to have a complete understanding of how to implement and utilize the various elements of the Church Software, let’s have a brief look at the numerous features of the software.
› Membership and Events Management:
With the church bookkeeping software, the faith institutions can keep a track on the total number of believers attending the Church with their times to reduce the dropouts by helping them resolve their issues beforehand. Similarly, the software also comes in handy during organizing events by lending a hand in noting down important details like payment processing, tracking, and reporting, etc.
› Finance Tracker:
The in-built finance tracker also helps the admins or managers to track the total expenditure, uploading every single financial bill in a unique place, adding donations by people and noting revenues all in a single location. Being a handy feature, it allows higher officials to keep a track and verify the bill’s authenticity, thus, preventing any potential frauds.
› Communication Tools:
Furthermore, various Church Software also comes with communication tools which help individuals to send intimations via emails, SMS, or pop-ups to a group of people at a single time. As a wider audience is reached through in a single instance, the communication tools help increase mass participation as well as gain followers to the Church.
› Check-in and Child Security Management:
Nowadays many church management software also comes with check-in and child security management to help you track the entry and exit of the Church members including children which acts as a safe layer concerning the safety of the members. Being ready to use and user-friendly, these trackers can be turned on to manage the activities efficiently for specific meet-ups and locations.
» How much does Church Management Software Cost?
The pricing of a church management software starts at the lowest monthly subscription of $4. There are also some free versions available with limited features. Some free versions of church management include Bitrix24, CCIS Church Management Software, and ChurchTrac, etc. To get the premium feature, you need to pay a monthly subscription ranging from $5 to $39. ChurchTrac charges $5, CCIS Church Management Software offers premium at $30, and Bitrix24 has a pricier side with $39 per month.
If you don’t want to be involved with the hassle of a monthly payment, then you can buy ACS and Power Church Plus Software, which charges $280 and $395 for a lifetime Subscription. You can also avail the SaaS model of the Power Church Plus Software with a monthly subscription of $39.95 and a yearly price of $455. Other popular church worship software like Breeze ChMS, CCIS, Faithful Steward, charges $50, $30, and $20 per month respectively.
CCIS Church Management Software and Faithful Steward offer web-based platforms with a monthly price of $29.99 and $20 respectively. However, you have to pay an additional $20 as an activation charge if you choose Faithful Steward.
All churches have their specific requirement based on the number of followers, donors and the amount of work they execute daily. A church management software comes with various features and benefits, and for that, you have to shell out some extra money as well. While some software with essential elements offers free services, they don’t provide the same user-friendly interface or security which are required in this current scenario. Rest, the choice is yours.
» Conclusion
With the emerging challenges and issues while running a church or any faith-based community requires the assistance of modern technology. All the product features and benefits we are discussing in the preceding sections are enough to clear your confusions about the usage of the Church Management System. It’s better to realize the crucial aspects of current technology and adapt it to empower our existing technology.
The good thing is that most churches around the world are understanding it and seeing the productive output. Managing your vital resources, finances, along with addressing a myriad of operations is impossible to handle manually. Partnering yourself with technology can help you eradicate all the operational errors and assist you in running your community with full optimization.