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| Question: |
What is E-Giving? |
| Answer: |
E-Giving is short for electronic giving. It is an automatic transfer program which allows you to
make contributions without writing checks. |
| Question: |
What are the advantages of E-Giving? |
| Answer: |
It saves time and work! It helps the church stabilize its budget. Surveys have shown that it
can enhance the total amount of gifts to your organization. Members or supporters may donate
while on vacation or on a business trip anywhere in the world. |
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| Question: |
What does ACH stand for and what is its function? |
| Answer: |
It stands for the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network. It is highly reliable batch-oriented
electronic funds transfer system governed by the NACHA OPERATING RULES. The rules provide for the
inter bank clearing of electronic payments for participating depository financial institutions. The
Federal Reserve and Electronic Payments Network act as ACH Operators, central clearing facilities
through which financial institutions transmit or receive ACH entries.
ACH payments include:
Direct Deposit of payroll, Social Security and other government benefits, and tax refunds
Direct Payment of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utility bills and insurance premiums
Business-to-business payments
E-Checks
E-Commerce payments
Federal, state and local tax payments.
The number of ACH payments originated by financial institutions increased to 8.05 billion in 2002,
up 13.6 percent from 2001. These payments were valued at $21.7 trillion. Including payments
originated by the Federal government, there were a total of 8.94 billion ACH payments in 2002
worth more than $24.4 trillion.
EFT is an abbreviation for Electronic Funds Transfer
Distinction between ACH and EFT:
We need the ACH authorization form completed in order to set up the Electronic
Funds Transfer.
The church's ACH authorization form gives E-Giving the right to place funds into
or credit the church’s account with money donated to them.
The member ACH authorization form gives E-Giving the right to withdraw funds out of or debit the
members' checking or savings accounts. |
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| Question: |
How long have you been providing the service? |
| Answer: |
We signed our first organization up in June of 2004. |
| Question: |
Do you have references from others who are currently using the service? |
| Answer: |
Please refer to our testimonial page. |
| Question: |
How long has your company been in business? |
| Answer: |
Our Company was established in 1915 and we have been providing a quality product second to none since
then. Our E-Giving service has been in development since 1999 and in full service since June of
2004. |
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| Question: |
What do we, as the administration, need to do to get started? |
| Answer: |
Complete an ACH form and FAX it to our E-Giving FAX number
(1-304-387-5259). We will provide you with a link to access the service
as well as a user name and password to log in. Select the options of your choice from the
administration log-in, and when you are ready, announce it to your members. |
| Question: |
What do we, as a member of the organization, need to do to get started? |
| Answer: |
Members need to first get directions to the web site from the organization’s administrator.
Next, they need to click the "Not signed up yet" link on the login page to complete a
short member profile. At this point they can use the system for credit or debit card transactions.
However, if they want to take advantage of the electronic fund transfer option they must complete a
member ACH form. When it has been completed, they will be authorized for EFT's. They can then go
back into the system and enter their EFT specifics. |
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| Question: |
We do not want to use credit cards. Is there a way we can only allow debit
cards or electronic fund transfers? |
| Answer: |
Yes, our service allows the administration to designate which means of giving their membership
has the ability to use. The use of credit cards is an option of the administration. |
| Question: |
If there is a credit card charge, how does the charge appear on the payee's statement? Is it to
E-Giving or Church or Organization Name? How would the person who makes a charge recognize where the
charge went from the description on their statement? |
| Answer: |
The charge appears as E-Giving. E-Giving combined with the date and amount on their statement
should be all they need. |
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| Question: |
How much interface do you expect us to have with the web site on the set up end? |
| Answer: |
The church administration’s job is to do the initial setup and then update
any options if there are changes in the future. These will be minimal if there are any. This is
done by designating the settings, the options or features they would like to utilize. Choices
range from page
color
to giving options. Our system is very easy to work with and we will assist
you if needed. |
| Question: |
Can we transfer our current ACH files and contributions to this service? How would their contributions appear? (We currently transfer two files per month and have been doing that for about 8 years. We have about 30 people who use the church ACH service for contributions.) |
| Answer: |
No, you cannot transfer ACH rights. These members would merely have to accept the ACH
Authorization agreement from their main menu page to be eligible or authorized to enter donations or
payments from their checking or savings account. |
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