From doing good works in your community to providing enriching experiences for your congregation, finances are a key part of how any church operates.
As a church leader, you’ve got a lot on your plate, and most days, money management might be the last thing on your mind. But it’s important to realize that a fundamental aspect of building trust within a church community is financial transparency.
How often do you offer financial transparency to your members? If your response is quarterly or even annually, it may benefit you to make some changes.
Why?
Because when members see how their contributions are making an impact—fulfilling the church’s mission and helping neighbors in need—they’ll feel a stronger connection to your work, greater confidence in your organization, and higher motivation to support your mission.
Here’s the good news—with the right tools and processes, enhancing your transparency can be effortless. If you want to start 2025 off on the right foot, start by making sure you have the right systems in place to automate tracking and reporting throughout the year.
Here are 5 great ways to add more transparency to your church finances in 2025:
1) Streamline Your Systems
Does this scenario ring a bell?
After a service, someone comes up and asks you how the church is doing financially, or maybe they check in on the outcomes of a recent mission project. You offer up a general answer and promise you’ll get back to them with more specific numbers soon. Then, you have to carve out time during the following week to gather and piece together bits of discombobulated data so you can provide a clear and cohesive response.
If this sounds a little too familiar, know that you’re not alone! Nearly every church leader has found themselves in this kind of predicament at some point in time.
But when you have streamlined systems in place to keep track of your accounting, you can easily provide transparent financial reporting to any member of your congregation at the drop of a hat. Instead of scrambling to pull together a few disjointed Excel spreadsheets, some hastily-scrawled notes, and a couple of crumpled up receipts, use a smart software to manage all of your accounting needs in one simple program.
This way, you can respond to that church member’s financial inquiry in minutes instead of days—along with any other questions that come your way.
2) Use the Same Program for Giving and Reporting
Want to avoid messy imports, frustrating inconsistencies, and pesky glitches between your reporting and giving programs?
The simplest solution is to use software that can seamlessly handle both. With everything happening in one interconnected platform, tracking donations and managing accounting becomes effortless.
One Church Giving is an ideal solution that blends user-friendly features for your church members with advanced backend reporting functionalities for your administrators.
Our online platform provides a secure and convenient way for the members of your congregation to donate at any time (and even set up recurring gifts at whatever frequency and amount feels right to them). Plus, the integrated reporting tools included in our software provide you with valuable insights into giving trends, helping you tailor your stewardship efforts and maximize engagement.
Learn more about how churches that accept tithing online are increasing overall donations by 32%.
3) Regularly Review and Report Your Finances
One of the best ways to increase the transparency of your church finances is to pull and review your reports regularly.
Once you’ve done that, don’t wait until your next member’s meeting to make them readily available to your members. Provide a status report on a regular basis.
You could accomplish this by sending an email with a summary of your financial status attached or simply by letting people know the information is available upon request. Easy accessibility is key here—and that’s where technology can be your best friend.
(P.S. When you keep your accounting transparent all-year-round, maintaining the integrity of your financial records becomes simple instead of stressful.)
4) Provide Follow-Up for Special Giving Requests
Whether it’s a call for a special building project, a mission trip across the ocean, or providing tangible items for a local family in need, it’s important to provide an update on what your congregation’s generosity has accomplished once their dollars have been put to use.
A peer-reviewed study that examined thousands of nonprofit organizations found that the organizations that transitioned from being not transparent to transparent with their finances enjoyed a 53% increase in total contributions after just one year.
People are more willing to give when they can clearly see how their money is being used to make a difference.
So whether you deliver these updates during Sunday morning service or directly to those who donated via email, the action of following up is a crucial final step that you can’t afford to forget.
5) Hold Open Door Financial Meetings
There’s no better way to improve financial transparency than to invite others to come “behind the curtain”. Giving the members of your congregation a front-row seat to how your church distributes funds and makes financial decisions will help them feel more engaged with your efforts. It’s a good idea to dedicate a portion of these meetings to addressing any questions your members may have with clear, thoughtful answers.
One Church Giving’s smart communication capabilities make it easy to plan key events like these financial meetings, send targeted invitations to specific groups, and schedule reminders to ensure everyone stays informed and engaged.
As a church leader, stewarding the resources of your church well includes intentional transparency—but it’s also about giving yourself the peace of mind that comes with financial clarity.
Streamlined software designed to help churches optimize their operations can help you enhance your transparency with confidence and ease. A good church management software (ChMS) will:
- Make financial management easier and more efficient
- Transform your congregation into a community that feels truly involved with your work
- Potentially increase the amount and consistency of donations that flow into your organization
One Church Software is an all-in-one solution that has helped hundreds of churches (and counting) improve their financial transparency. Make 2025 the year that you finally take full control of your church finances with One Church Software on your side—try it out for 30 days completely free of charge.