Online and Contactless

If you have any questions about connectivity, please contact Harry Neary for more information.

Online and Contactless

To keep your church's giving healthy, it’s a good idea to ensure that there are several ways for your church members to give, including online giving and mobile giving. Don't be put off if you don't have an internet connection or a smartphone, there are new solutions that can help you get round these issues. 

The right technology can increase donations by making giving easier. All Saints Church in Enford found that contactless donations were quickly overtaking cash donations in their collection baskets. Other churches are receiving donations from visitors and tourists, at coffee mornings, fetes, fairs, as well as from those celebrating weddings and baptisms.

Online and contactless giving are just ways to increase giving. Investing in these new methods now will help your church grow into the future. 

Scroll down the page or click to visit each section:

• Getting Started with Contactless
• QR Codes and Online Donations
• Getting Connected
• Considering Broadband
• Weak Broadband

Getting Started with Contactless

The Salisbury Giving Team recommend focussing on the devices that are tried and tested by the National Giving Team.

Read about these in this short Introduction to Digital Devices. 

• Introduction to Digital Devices (Word Document)

In 2022 we ran a webinar to answer questions about the different types of contactless devices and ways to start online giving. 

• Watch ‘Introduction to Digital Giving’ webinar from the National Giving Team (Access Passcode: 92*GLFRY)

Before you purchase anything, register with Parish Buying, so that you can take advantage of the special prices the Church of England has negotiated on your behalf. 

• Register with Parish Buying  

QR Codes and Online Donations

If you aren’t ready for contactless, you can still take online donations in church using QR codes. You don’t even need a website to do this. By registering with GiveALittle and SumUp you can create online appeals and QR codes that can be scanned by a mobile phone. QR codes can be printed on posters, postcards, pew sheets, donation envelopes and bookmarks, so if you have no mobile phone signal inside encourage people to take the literature home – or outside.   

The Giving Team has a step by step manual to help you set up with SumUp and GiveALittle. Request a copy by emailing Anna Hardy (anna.hardy@salisbury.anglican.org) or Harry Neary (harry.neary@salisbury.anglican.org).

• Creating a QR Code using GiveALittle (PDF)
• Tips for creating and using QR codes (PDF)
• Examples of QR codes from around the Diocese (PDF)
• Integrating GiveALittle with Stripe to make QR codes better! (PDF)

You can also add a giving button to a Facebook page, or to your A Church Near You page. 

• ACNY Checklist (Word Document)

Getting Connected

You don’t need broadband in church to get connected to the internet. Many churches in the Salisbury Diocese (including Stourpaine and Stourton Caundle) have created a WIFI hotspot in church through a simple router and SIM card. This enables you to use the internet connection for more than just contactless giving, and doesn’t require a faculty.

• Getting connected June 2023 (PDF)
• Connecting a CollecTin More to a Wifi hotspot (PDF)

Considering Broadband

Don’t rule out broadband without investigating it; might not be as expensive as you think. Local providers Wessex Internet are offering churches connection for £49 and then £1 a month, wherever they are installing broadband already (June 2023).

There are many churches already connected to broadband internet, and it’s not just the larger town centre churches, or those who are streaming services. Redlynch (in Lover) has broadband and as well as operating a Payaz card machine, it also runs the Hive Thermostat enabling the Churchwarden to control the temperature of the church from home. Offering the internet in church might open up the space for community groups, or help make your QR codes effective. Getting a broadband connection in church falls under a B-List faculty.

Weak Broadband

Some of our churches have broadband in the vestry, or an office space, but find it doesn’t extend into the main church space. If this is a problem you are facing, read about your options to extend or boost your WIFI.

• Extending Wifi (Word Document)

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