If you are the pastor, the administrator, or the volunteer who ended up in charge of giving, this is what to look for, then seven platforms churches use, and the questions that come up every year.
What to Look For in Fundraising for Churches
A small church does not have someone whose job this is. Whoever runs giving is doing it between everything else, so the setup has to be simple and it has to stay simple when the next person takes over.
You can set it up yourselves
If getting started needs a developer, a sales call, or an implementation window, it will not happen this month. Look for something a church can build and go live with on its own.
Recurring giving
A member giving fifty dollars a month is steadier than the same amount once a year, and it is easier to say yes to. Monthly giving is what smooths out the summer and the weeks nobody is in the building.
Pledges you can collect over time
Building funds and capital campaigns run on commitments, not single gifts. You want a member to be able to pledge now and have it collected across the months rather than all at once.
Giving to specific funds
Members give to the thing they care about. The building fund, missions, benevolence, and general giving should each be their own option on the same page, so the money lands in the right place without anyone sorting it later.
Giving records for year end statements
Every January somebody has to produce statements. If gifts are recorded against the giver with totals and pledges, that is a report. If they are not, it is a week of work with bank statements and a spreadsheet.
Being able to text the congregation
Email gets missed. A text gets read. CoreCause includes SMS Outreach, so you can message the congregation and link straight to the giving page.
Taking gifts in person
Not everyone gives online, and plenty of gifts still happen on a Sunday or at an event. Being able to take a card on a phone closes the gap without buying hardware.
Give your church a giving page in your own colors.
Book a short demo and we will walk through funds, recurring giving, and taking offerings in person.
The 7 Best Fundraising Platforms for Small Churches in 2026
CoreCause
CoreCause gives the church its own giving page, in the church colors with your logo on it. Members land on something that looks like the church, not a payment form from a company they have never heard of. A church can build it without a developer and have it live the same week.
You can run more than one fund from the same page. The building fund, missions, and general giving can each be their own line, so a member picks where their gift goes and it lands in the right place. Giving can be one off, monthly, or set up as a future pledge collected over time. Every gift is recorded against the giver with lifetime totals and pledges, so year end statements come out of the giving records instead of the bank statement.
SMS Outreach lets you text the congregation when a campaign opens or a deadline is near, and link straight to the giving page. Givers are never prompted to add a tip on top of their gift. There is no platform tip, ever. When fee coverage is on, givers can cover the processing fee.
On a Sunday you can take offerings in person through CoreMobile tap to pay, which turns a phone into the card reader. Someone taps a card, a phone, or a watch and it is done. More than 400 churches and nonprofits use the platform. See CoreCause for churches.
Tithe.ly
Tithe.ly provides online giving for churches together with a set of church management tools, covering giving, member records, and related church software.
Setup is handled by the church through the browser.
Givelify
Givelify is a giving app used by churches and nonprofits, with giving available through the app and through a web link.
Members give from their phone.
Pushpay
Pushpay provides church giving together with engagement and communication tools, and is generally sold to churches with staff running it rather than volunteers.
Onboarding is handled with the provider.
Subsplash
Subsplash builds church apps and websites with giving, media, and content in the same place, so giving sits inside the app the church already publishes.
The giving piece is one part of a larger platform.
Zeffy
Zeffy provides donation forms, ticketing, and campaign pages aimed at nonprofit organizations, including churches that are registered as nonprofits.
Everything runs in the browser.
PayPal
PayPal is a payment account with donation buttons and checkout links. Many churches already have one, so there is nothing new to open.
The donation link can be shared anywhere.
| Platform | What it is |
|---|---|
| CoreCause | Branded giving page, designated funds, recurring and pledge giving, giving records for statements, SMS Outreach, and in person giving through CoreMobile tap to pay |
| Tithe.ly | Online giving together with church management tools |
| Givelify | A giving app for churches and nonprofits, with a web link |
| Pushpay | Church giving with engagement and communication tools |
| Subsplash | Church apps and websites with giving built in |
| Zeffy | Donation forms, ticketing, and campaign pages for nonprofits |
| PayPal | Payment account with donation buttons and checkout links |
Platforms change what they offer. Check the current terms on each one before your church signs up.
If Your Church Takes Giving Through Square or PayPal Right Now
Plenty of small churches start here, and it works for taking money. A card goes through and the money arrives. What it does not do is the church part.
You get a transaction list, not giving records. A payment account tells you an amount and a date. It does not keep a record against the member, so when statements come around in January you are matching names to deposits by hand.
Funds have to be sorted afterwards. There is no way for a member to say their gift is for missions or the building fund, so somebody works it out later from memos and memory.
Recurring giving is on the giver, not the church. If a member wants to give monthly they have to set it up themselves and remember to keep it going, and you have no view of who is giving regularly and who quietly stopped.
A giving platform handles those three things by default. If your church is already taking card gifts and just needs the records and the funds around them, that is the gap it closes. More on that in our comparison of church fundraising software.
Online Giving for Small Churches on a Tight Budget
A small church budget is the reason this decision gets put off, so it is worth being plain about what actually costs money. Every online gift carries a processing fee, because moving money securely costs something, and that is true on every platform.
What differs is whether the platform adds its own cut on top, and whether it asks your givers for one. With CoreCause, givers are never prompted to add a tip on top of their gift. When fee coverage is on, givers can cover the processing fee, and when they do the full amount they intended reaches the church.
The other budget question is what you have to buy. A giving page needs no hardware, and taking offerings in person runs on a phone somebody already owns, so getting started does not start with an equipment order. See how churches take gifts in person.
How to Choose for Your Church
Work through it in this order and the answer usually falls out.
Who is going to set it up? If the answer is a volunteer on a Tuesday evening, rule out anything that needs an implementation call.
Do you need funds? If the building fund, missions, and general giving all need to be separate, that has to be built in rather than sorted out afterwards.
What happens in January? If you send year end statements, you need giving recorded against the giver from day one, not reconstructed later.
Will you take gifts on a Sunday? If yes, check what taking a card in person involves and whether it needs hardware.
Who takes this over next year? Church volunteers change. Pick something the next person can pick up without a handover document. Monthly giving is the part most worth getting right early, and there is more on that in starting a monthly giving program.
The Bottom Line
If your church wants one place that handles the branded giving page, designated funds, recurring and pledge giving, the giving records behind year end statements, texting the congregation, and taking offerings on a Sunday, CoreCause is where we would start. You can set it up yourselves and be live before the weekend. See CoreCause for churches, how it compares to Tithe.ly, or how CoreCause works.