Ask anyone who counts the collection after a service and they'll tell you the same thing: there's less cash in the plate than there used to be. It's not that people give less. It's that fewer of us carry cash at all.
Most communities have tried to keep up. A card reader in the foyer. A bank transfer reference on the noticeboard. A link to a fundraising site that takes a slice of every gift and sends givers marketing emails. Each one helps a little, and each one is another thing for a volunteer treasurer to reconcile at the end of the month.
What we think giving should feel like
We started Givana with a few simple beliefs.
- Giving should take seconds. Tap a card, scan a code, or open a link. No account, no app to download for the giver, no form longer than it needs to be.
- Communities should know what they're paying. Fees should be published, predictable and small, and the community should decide whether givers cover them.
- The money belongs to the community. Gifts go into the community's own Stripe account and on to its own bank. Givana never holds the money.
- Treasurers deserve better tools. Every gift, fee and payout should line up, so the monthly reconciliation is a check, not a puzzle.
- Every tradition gives differently. Churches, mosques, temples and synagogues have their own words for giving, and their own rhythms. Givana should use your words, not ours.
What that looks like
Givana gives your community three ways to give, all from one dashboard:
- Online Giving: a giving page at your own link, ready for your website, your newsletter or a message to your members.
- QR Giving: a code for your noticeboard, service sheet or screen that opens your giving page on any phone.
- Tap to Give: contactless giving on a tablet or phone your community already owns, running the Givana app.
Behind them sits one dashboard for your team: every gift, every fund, every payout, and the reports your trustees ask for.
We're building Givana in the UK first, with a small group of pilot communities who are telling us what works and what doesn't. If you'd like to be one of them, get in touch.