CHURCH ENVELOPES
Custom Church Envelopes - Why Churches Use Them
Custom church envelopes are known by many other names, including tithing and offering envelopes, custom church offering envelopes, giving envelopes, and custom tithe envelopes, among others. Whatever these custom printed envelopes are called in your congregation, however, custom church envelopes are perfect for giving and offerings during church services and fundraising activities.
Custom church envelopes are specifically designed for use in churches.
As the name implies, you can design and add custom printing to the envelopes to reflect the name of your church or congregation, as well as the collection details.
With their small size, custom church envelopes can easily fit in most pew holders and standard church bulletins. They can also accommodate checks and dollar bills without folding.
Custom church envelopes are available from your local Christian bookstore like Saving Grace Christian Bookstore.
How Custom Church Envelopes Came to Be
Before diving into the origins of custom church envelopes, it is a good idea to touch on the history of tithing or church offerings first.
When did giving donations to the church start?
Giving donations and offerings to the church during worship service has not always been a tradition, although it has long been encouraged among members of the congregation. However, offering a regular amount of one's money as part of worship (and then on to baskets, collecting plates, tithing and offering envelopes...) was first established in the United States in the nineteenth century.
Why? How did churches survive if people didn't give every week? Surprisingly, many churches (Congregationalist and Anglican, to be specific) were reliant on government financing. If the churches were state-approved, tax dollars aided in keeping the doors open and paying the preachers.
Churches had to get inventive as the separation of religion and state became more stringent. Churches needed to discover ways how to raise funds quickly.
The tithe challenge and custom church envelopes were born.
Nothing is quicker or easier than asking members of the congregation to put money in a basket or collection plate. We've been passing the plate for ages, even with the arrival of all kinds of gifting techniques like custom printed envelopes. It's become a custom.
It's a physical, concrete gesture that connects individuals to the sacred moment of giving. It's also difficult to look at the plate and not think about giving back to your community. Perhaps this contributes to its staying power.
If you Google the word "tithe," you'll find a plethora of articles on why or why not to ask people to contribute, as well as how to ask them to give more. There are numerous strategies and causes for them. Tithing and offering envelopes are one way churches have attempted to make this easier and more secure. It can assist givers in keeping their money organized and securing check information.
Custom church envelopes emerged as a mechanism for churches to maintain a record of monies for distribution, contact lists, giving reports, and tax deduction forms at the end of the year as church accounting systems became more complex.
Why Use Custom Church Envelopes
Churches that rely entirely on donations must discover strategies to not only appeal to donors but also to make sure that all their resources are used optimally to prompt donations on a regular basis. Following are some of the reasons why giving envelopes encourages your members to contribute:
01
Custom church envelopes serve as a call to action.
Custom printed envelopes are a physical reminder of the members' financial obligations to the church. Aside from directly soliciting gifts from your community, using custom church envelopes as a donation method is a fantastic call to action that maintains the concept of giving alive in the minds of people, whether it's during a fundraising event or a weekly service.
02
Custom church envelopes promote donation consistency.
When giving envelopes are introduced into a church community's giving mechanism, members are prompted and are more inclined to donate on a more regular basis. The more people who use custom church envelopes and feel accountable to give, the more donations the church can rely on.
03
Custom church envelopes offer the ideal branding opportunity.
Custom church envelopes allow you to put the logo and name of your church front and center, so it's the first thing potential members notice when they open the giving envelope. You can also concentrate on other parts of the design to ensure that they properly promote your congregation.
04
Custom church envelopes help improve the credibility of your church.
Custom printed church envelopes will help you boost the reputation of your church, and show how proud you are of the community, since the material quality, shape, size, typeface, and message you choose will be representative of your church. Custom church envelopes allow you to generate a remarkable first impression on your members and improve the reputation of your brand.
05
Custom church envelopes support the congregation’s future.
Church leaders who teach the habit and act of sharing are only assuring their ministry's future. Using contribution tools on a regular basis can assist in encouraging donations and enhance willingness to donate, ensuring that your church community is financially secure.
Many church leaders may think about introducing youth-giving envelopes as a donation method as well. This can be a good educational tool for youngsters to learn their commitment to the church and the influence gifts have on the community from an early age. Sharing habits are more likely to carry on into their adulthood.
06
Donations through custom church envelopes are tax-exempt.
Offerings to a church that bears a nonprofit organization status are tax-free, and the church is obligated to keep records of donations and issue annual receipts so that the contributors can deduct them from their taxes. To comply with IRS regulations, most churches keep custom church envelopes as tangible donation records.
Donations given by check with the donor's name and address will most likely be properly credited, but using a custom printed envelope is beneficial to a church's bookkeeping.Custom printed church envelopes will help you boost the reputation of your church, and show how proud you are of the community, since the material quality, shape, size, typeface, and message you choose will be representative of your church. Custom church envelopes allow you to generate a remarkable first impression on your members and improve the reputation of your brand.
07
Custom church envelopes offer privacy in giving.
Aside from being just the right size for checks and bills, custom church envelopes allow members to donate privately. They can confidently seal the envelope with their contributions without other members of the congregation knowing how much they actually gave as donations. Giving envelopes also offer contributors with additional assurance if they are concerned about keeping information on checks private or concealing the amount of their donation to the church.
08
Giving envelopes help the church track member attendance.
Another way custom church envelopes can help is if they contain a space to write a name or, even better, print names on them, so the church can take attendance. This is accomplished by printing the donor's name or providing a space for them to put in their name or any information the church requires on the back. Because everyone who puts money on the plate is more likely to go to church, data entry personnel can enter data about church attendance as well.
Final Word
Custom church envelopes, regardless of how they are called in your congregation, offer a lot of benefits both to the church and its members. These custom printed envelopes make monitoring the cash flow of your church convenient and manageable.
For your requirements of custom church envelopes, visit your local Christian bookstore, Saving Grace Christian Bookstore. We offer high-quality custom church envelopes, as well as other high-quality custom printed products in collaboration with a reliable printing company.
