Old First now has the capability to accept pledges and gifts online, and you can track your own giving through our online system, Realm.
Online Pledging
As we previously announced, you can now submit pledges online, by logging into your Realm account, clicking on the Giving tab, and clicking Pledge. Any active campaigns will appear in a pull-down menu. (Currently the 2015 Stewardship Campaign and the Capital Campaign are the only options).
As you make gifts toward your pledge, regardless of whether those gifts come to the church as physical checks, transfers from your bank account, or online gifts (described below), you’ll be able to see precisely how much you’ve given to date on the pledge, and how much you have remaining. You’ll also be able to print reports for yourself at any time.
Online Giving
We also can now accept gifts online, either by credit card or as ACH transfers from your banking account. Again, if you log into your Realm account and click on the Giving tab, you’ll see a button marked Give.
We’re pleased to offer this capability as it may enhance our fundraising efforts with folks outside of our church.
That said, we’re asking members and close friends not to use the online giving capability through Realm for your regular giving. The church pays a fee for every transaction we accept this way, and for credit cards the fee is a percentage of the gift. So we encourage you to use the online systems offered by your bank to set up recurring transactions for your tithes and offerings.
For special offerings or campaigns, though, you might find the online giving an easy way to shoot off an extra gift to the church. For example, we are introducing this new capability by inviting people to make their Christmas Offering this way. If it increases the likelihood that we receive those donations, we feel it’s worth it to incur the occasional fee.
If you have any questions about these services, feel free to contact me (you can find my number in Realm or by calling the church). And if you don’t have a username/password for Realm, email web@oldfirstucc.org.
– Jonathan V., chair, Administrative Standing Leadership Group
