Valentine’s Day has been around for a while. It’s unclear how it started or how it morphed into a commercialized celebration of love. Some say it started as a Christian feast day; others think it’s a folk tradition celebrating the advent of spring. Regardless, love is typically the first thought someone has when they think of this day.
With Valentine’s Day coming up, we’ve been thinking about ways to show love to others. When giving, you can share the love with your church by covering the cost of your gift.
What Is Cover the Costs?
Cover the Costs is an optional feature that you can use while making a gift using either the Rock Gateway or the Giving Platform. When giving, you can check a box to help lift the financial burden for your church. As the church leader, you can also view how much was covered with each gift during reconciliation.
Why Do We Do This?
Any time you make a gift online, there will be processing fees involved. We give churches the best deal possible, but we can’t get rid of every fee. For these unavoidable fees, we give you the option to cover them for your church. This way more of your gift can reach the right destination.
Where Do These Fees Go?
While we have talked about interchange before, there is still some mystery surrounding where these fees go. To make their products more appealing, card brands such as Visa or Discover will offer benefits like cashback or rewards to cardholders. What they don’t tell you is that the merchants, or in this case churches, are the ones actually paying for those benefits through interchange.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this system when it comes to for-profit businesses. But churches are not the same as businesses. Donations are a gift, and churches should not be penalized for accepting them.
How Is It Calculated?
We’re glad you asked! ACH gifts have the lowest cost to give; it's simply 0% + 30¢.
Credit card gifts are a little different since there are over 400 different rates, depending on the card. The average we see across all our ministry partners is 1.75% + 30¢.
It’s Up To You
None of this is mandatory. It's entirely up to you to decide if you would like to cover the fees. Your church leader has the option to enable this feature for either ACH, credit card, or both.
For more information on how to enable Cover the Costs for your organization, check out this help article. If your church is not using My Well Ministry and wants to learn more, you can get started today.
