1) Is my information secure? We have setup this site with Our Sunday Visitor and they ensure that the information they collect is secure as any online financial transactions. Your account is entered and maintained by you and CAN NOT be accessed by staff. The only information provided to staff is names and contribution amounts to what fund.
2) Can I give only once and be done? On the home screen you will see an option called "Quick Give". This will use your account information only once as you request and then no further account information will be stored except this individual transaction.
3) To which funds can I designate my contribution at this time? Currently, you can designate your contribution for the following funds at St. Mary Parish: General Offertory, Gala, School or Parish Foundation (not for school payments), and Capital Campaign.
4) Is there a cost to this online option? For each transaction the parish pays a minimal fee. This comes out of the actual contribution and is not charged to your personal account. The entire amount of your offering is still tax deductible even though the fee is deducted from it. NOTE: overdraft fees and over-charges are still assessed by the banks involved with the transaction and these are not deductible. This is your personal responsibility to not incur these fees. The church may be required to charge you for overdraft or over-charge fees.
5) What about the collection basket? If you wish to place something in the basket to signify your offering, you may write a note on an empty envelope indicating you gave online and the amount, and place these in the collection basket. It is not required, however. Information about who gave and what amount was made is automatically sent to the church so that we may record your contributions. You will see these contributions on your year-end statements.
6) What is the benefit of online offering? First of all, for those who are in the habit of doing things online, this is a great option which adds convenience and saves the time of writing a check and filling out an envelope each week. Secondly, you can now receive reward points or miles for your credit card contributions to the parish. Finally, when we are away from the parish for vacations and work, we can set it up that our home parish always receives our tithing. Overall, it provides us an opportunity to be faithful stewards. An experienced pastor once said “people might be on vacation, but the bills of the parish are not!”
For further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the parish bookkeeper, Nancy Spedowski (nspedowski@stmarybr.org).