As churches try to become better stewards of the finances entrusted to them they are turning to technology to help them out. There are many church management software packages out there that will help churches

manage their membership, events, and finances.

Managing church finances is important for a couple of reasons: (1) members work hard to earn money and they give it to the church in good-faith, and (2) money donated to the church can be deducted for tax purposes. If the money is not managed wisely and donors do not receive a donor statement saying how much they contributed at the end of the year, it becomes more difficult for donors to claim the deduction.

Good church donation software packages will help your church manage the different types of donations easily. For example, if a donor sends in a general contribution that can be used for anything, then the donation software categorizes this as unrestricted. However if a donor sends in a contribution-specific donation then the software will categorize the contribution as temporarily restricted. Once the contribution requirements have been met you can move the assets from temporarily restricted to unrestricted at the click of a button.

Another great use of church donation software is the automation of the donor statements at the end of the year. Churches generally send out an official statement at the end of the year to all of those who contributed during the year. The members then use this official statement to receive a deduction for tax purposes. Money donated to churches is tax-exempt. The creation of the letter for hundreds of different donors can be burdensome. However, donation software can quickly perform this process for you. Simply pull up the list of donors and select print donor statements.

Donation software for churches can be used to generate other handy reports. For example you can use it to show leadership how the church is progressing towards its goals and how the church administrators are doing with their budget. Any time during the year you can quickly pull up a report on how much money any given donor has contributed.

Church financial administrators need to guard donations closely. This money has been worked for and given without regret. In addition this money can be deducted for tax purposes spurring some contributors to give even more. Church donation software makes managing this process much easier.