Managing church and ministry details can take a good amount of time. If the administrative software and tools are integrated and all work together within a complete church management solution, your church staff will be able to further the church’s mission with much less operational burden.
Ease-of-use consistently ranks as the most important purchase criteria for church software among faith-based organizations. Integrated church management software (ChMS) is one critical way to simplify church operations. With a complete ChMS, you’ll have access to everything you need for your ministry to run smoothly. From tracking people and finances to organizing your worship flow and more.
What exactly is complete church management software?
Church management software (ChMS) is computer technology created specifically for the church, so administrators, pastors, staff, and volunteers have the necessary tools to engage their community, stay organized, and expand as membership grows.
With a complete ChMS that integrates with other church software, staff will be able to streamline the behind-the-scenes administrative work. Rather than having siloed platforms for membership, online giving, accounting, communications, content management, and security, a complete church management solution cohesively ties all the tasks into one system. This means fewer logins and passwords to remember, and more importantly, all the tools work together. A simple way to put it is that these programs “talk” to each other. Information is synched automatically, so inputting information doesn’t have to be done more than once.
This blog is going to look at one aspect of complete church management—accounting. A good church management system is designed with online donations, accounting, and pledges in mind. People can go online, make their commitment known, connect their debit card, and donate without friction.
Integrated Accounting Software
Fiscal responsibility, especially for churches, is essential. Having accounting software that can handle the unique finances of a church is necessary to maximize ministry opportunities and remain compliant when tax season occurs. The software found in a complete ChMS includes features like tracking tithes and offerings, pastor and staff payroll, and calculation of necessary taxes. It also makes reporting easy, as well as viewing pledges and sending giving statements.
Below, we will discuss three ways that integrated ChMS and accounting are beneficial.
#1 Incorporate Financials with Your ChMS
Having a church accounting system integrated with your ChMS and your online giving is critical. It will help streamline all the complicated processes with managing church finances and save your team valuable time by having one system in place for multiple functions.
Reduce the number of errors caused by manual data input. Reconcile contributions and receipts with online giving and accounting. Track your members and their donations in one, easy-to-use system.
#2 Stay on Track with Your Budget
Budgeting is a crucial part of successfully stewarding finances. With a church accounting system integrated with your ChMS and giving platform, your general ledger will be able to do true fund accounting and track where funds are coming in and how they are being used.
Pledges help churches plan wisely. They’re used to help estimate the budget based on what amount people commit to give. Plus, you can incorporate a pledge section directly on your giving form. From there, people can easily set up recurring giving that aligns with their pledge frequency—weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.
With a cloud-based accounting platform, donations are tracked in real time. This will help your finance team gain a better idea of how to anticipate increases or declines in giving.
#3 Easily Send Giving Statements
Providing giving statements to donors can help update your congregation about the progress of your church’s vision. You get to emphasize the mission and impact that your organization is having on the community. It’s a comprehensive way to show how donated funds are being used. It’s also a great opportunity to thank donors. Build greater trust with churchgoers by showing transparency with your church’s operations and finances.
Because church accounting, online giving, and member data are all a cohesive part of the complete church management system, collecting reports for giving statements is simple. You’ll also be able to easily track who has given what amount and then send them an update to their address or email on file.
Church Management and Accounting
Your church staff works hard to serve the people in your church and community. Now, you can make it easier for them with a complete church management system.
Elexio will streamline your processes to free up more capacity for ministry to take place. If you want to see how integrated ChMS and church accounting can help your church, contact us today!