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Which Church Database Software Is Best For You?

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Published: Jan 7, 2022

Church database software is a niche but valuable service for a church. Data and database management is being utilized by organizations big and small to make everyday decisions that matter.

For instance, businesses use data to effectively decide their target market, product launch, features, etc. Political organizations use data to analyze how many people would support them and how best to reach out to them.

On the other hand, churches need to have access to data for very different purposes— to ensure that their church survives while 4500 churches are closing down in America every year. 

Why does data matter to a church?

Data is a growing necessity for almost any organization, and the same goes for a church. Harnessing the power of data— especially to further the word of the Lord and the faith is a significant step towards growing your church.

Here’s why a church database software and data is vital for the church:

1. Numbers matter

No, we’re not trying to say that a church must be self-serving and look at people as just another person filling a seat. However, the number of people you have actively engaged is essential for growing your church attendance, membership, and outreach. 

A church database software will help you analyze numbers— number of active members, inactive members, new visitors, people to follow-up with, first-time donors, repeat donors, etc.

2. People’s needs matter

Another meaningful way in which data can help a church is by giving you the means to analyze what is working for members and what could be improved.

For example, if your data consistently shows a fall in attendance by young people, you could quickly identify the cause and work to rectify it by finding out what young people want.

3. Make better decisions

Data helps you make more intelligent, efficient, and better decisions. Determining where to invest your money, which initiatives to choose, deciding which church event idea will benefit members is all possible through data.

Now that we’ve learned what data can help churches do, let’s explore how a church database software can help you manage data.

Here’s what a church database software can do for you

For many churches, it can be surprising to discover the amount of data they have available. Worse still – the processes through which the data has been stored and managed make it tedious and difficult to update, modify, and analyze it continuously. 

A church database software brings all your data together on one platform, quickly pulling out any information you need at the click of a button! We’ve listed a few features that a church database software offers and how that can help you.

1. Maintain membership records

To begin with, church database software helps you maintain membership records and know how many members are currently engaged with the church. For example, you can track metrics such as recent donations, last communication date, or church attendance.

It also helps you maintain updated records of members who might have moved away, stopped attending, might have passed on, and those still attending church. This way, you can strategize and actively reach out to those who can still be retained.

Maintaining updated records and regularly cleaning your membership list helps take stock of your church attendance and growth plan to make decisions accordingly.

Read Also: How to Clean an Existing List & Maintain Clean Contact List 

2. Track new visitors and follow-up

So you hosted a fabulous church event, and tons of people showed up and looked positively inclined towards regularly attending your church.

However, it has been a week or two, and you’re still not seeing the kind of new member sign-ups as you had hoped. Here’s where your church database software can help you.

You can arrange for a registration kiosk during your next big event where a church volunteer could enter visitor information onto your database software. Alternatively, you could also ask visitors to sign-up for the event by sending you an SMS with a shortcode on a registered mobile number. Their details will automatically be saved into your system.

With those details in hand, you can keep track of new visitors and build follow-up plans through text messages or calls to reach out to them periodically. Nurturing a continuous relationship with visitors increases your chances of seeing them at church! 

Read Also: Building A Perfect Church Visitor Follow up Strategy for Your Church 

3. Segment your lists

List segmentation is an excellent feature that a church database software can help you with! 

It can help you filter your contact list to reach out to specific members. For example, if you want to reach out to church members with children between the ages of 8-14 to join the church choir, you can segment your list and reach out only to them.

Similarly, you can also segment your contact list to reach out to members who have not attended church in the past few months and design an outreach strategy specifically for these members.

Read Also: 13 Strategies To Grow Your Church Attendance In No Time 

4. Plan your outreach

These days, most church database software is not just about record-keeping and managing platforms but goes much beyond that.

For instance, a good church database software can also actively contribute to your outreach strategy by enabling communications via different channels such as calls, text messages, and emails.

Here are a few ways you can leverage your database software for effective outreach:

  1. Share text messages or email invites for events.
  2. Follow-up with visitors through text message or calling campaigns.
  3. Divide members into small groups within the church and assign volunteers to reach out to each group to enable personal communication and consequently encourage well-being and participation.
  4. Encourage donations through SMS donation links, Press-1 campaigns, and email donation requests.
  5. Share monthly or weekly newsletters to stay in touch with members regularly. You can also share daily texts with important biblical teachings.
  1. Maintain participation records

Your church database software can maintain a record of the kinds of activities your members have participated in.

You can know the following from this:

  1. Your most popular church activities.
  2. Your least popular church activities.
  3. The different types of members and their social groups.
  4. Which activities to continue investing in and which ones to stop.
  1. Track donations and gifts

You can search and track gifts, find detailed donation information, view deposit summaries, and more through donation tracking on your church database software.

It helps you navigate complex church finances and takes some administrative stress out of the picture.

These features on a church database software make it an excellent investment for you. Boost your administrative processes and focus on your growth plans by finding a church database software that can help you tackle the exact issues you’re facing.  

We’ve collated a list of software that we think will be great for you!

Top 6 Church database software to explore

1. CallHub

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CallHub helps your church engage with members, visitors, and guests with complete ease through its powerful communication software. However, CallHub also doubles up as a church database software through its integrations with different CRM systems. Easily manage your database and record information through CallHub.

Here are some noteworthy features to explore on CallHub:

  • List segmentation: Segment lists to reach out to specific church members easily. This keeps your communications highly relevant and ensures the continued interest of members.
  • Communication channels: CallHub enables outreach to your church members through autodialers and text messaging software. Schedule calling campaigns, voice broadcasts, and SMS outreach quickly.
  • CRM integration: CallHub integrates with CRMs such as NationBuilder, Zapier, Databank Connect, etc., so that you do not have to move between multiple platforms. Import and export data between us and the CRM.
  • Maintain clean lists: CallHub helps you maintain updated records by removing DND contacts, inactive members, bad numbers, etc.

Pricing: CallHub’s pricing starts at a $0 pay-as-you-go model and can be customized to the enterprise level depending on your campaign’s unique needs.

2. ChurchInfo

ChurchInfo is a free church database management software that helps churches track members, families, groups, pledges, and payments. 

Here are some noteworthy features of ChurchInfo:

  • Free hosting on churchinfoservices.com
  • They build new features for your church on a priority if you request it.
  • Easily accessible support team.
  • Volunteer tracking by creating volunteering opportunities in the community and assigning it to volunteers.
  • Tracks pledges and payments with automated follow-up.

Pricing: ChurchInfo is a free church database software.

3. Tithe.ly

Tithe.ly is a church management software built to engage your community, help your administrative team, manage resources and equip your team with features to grow your church. 

Tithe.ly features have the following functionalities:

  • It helps you split members into small groups and manage them effectively.
  • You can plan service efficiently by coordinating volunteers, arranging songs, and creating plan sheets.
  • It helps you organize church events and payments.

Pricing: All of Tithe.ly’s apps can be accessed at $99/month, and they charge a $149 setup fee.

4. SimpleChurch CRM

SimpleChurch CRM helps you organize, connect and minister your church – all from one platform. 

SimpleChurch has developed helpful features as a church database software, such as:

  • A cloud-based, mobile integrated platform.
  • Efficient management of administrative tasks to streamline church processes through their calendar tool, giving platform, and more.
  • Helping members stay connected no matter where they are through the MinistryOne app.

Pricing:  SimpleChurch CRM charges according to the number of church members you have, starting from $35.13/month.

5. Easy Tithe

Easy Tithe is primarily a church giving software with database management features that can address your church’s requirements.

Easy Tithe’s features include:

  • Managing donors and tracking donations.
  • Identifying individual giving patterns.
  • Organizing data and viewing a range of custom reports by person, transaction, fund, and date range.
  • Running custom reports, creating an unlimited number of forms, and managing donor information.
  • Managing invoices and other payments.

Pricing: EasyTithe charges $49/month for small churches and $69/month for larger churches.

6. Blackbaud church management 

Blackbaud CRM is designed to help churches effectively manage people, gifts, communications, events, and more – all in one place.

Blackbaud’s notable features include:

  • Engaging community members through email outreach programs.
  • Managing volunteers for different programs and running background checks to recruit only the best.
  • Checking in on children and keeping them safe through intuitive check-in features.
  • Viewing community engagement trends over time to make effective decisions through their ‘congregation summary’ feature.

Pricing: You can request Blackbaud CRM’s pricing here.

Conclusion

Church database software has grown beyond only effectively managing church data. The latest software available today includes features that help churches do much more while they focus on growth and management.

Choose from the list of top 6 database software we have picked for you to begin your church management journey effectively. You can begin today by trying out CallHub with a free 14-day trial.

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

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