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Planning Center Help

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Getting started with Giving

See also:

Welcome to Giving! Now that you've completed the Giving setup, this article will help get you prepared to receive donations and learn more about Giving.

The first person who sets up a Giving account has administrator permissions and can access all areas of Giving. See the permissions article to find information about additional roles.

For an introduction to the main concepts in Giving and what you can do as an administrator, see the Introduction for administrators article.

Prepare Giving to receive donations

Start by following these steps to prepare your account to receive donations:

  1. Set up additional users 

  2. Create additional funds 

  3. Adjust your giving settings 

  4. Enable the Church Center mobile app 

  5. Publish the Giving page on Church Center 

How do I decide which plan to choose?

Here are some tips for choosing which product plan is best for your church:

  • Typically, about 17% of churchgoers donate. So, to get your average number of monthly donations, multiply [your weekly attendance] x .17 x 4.3 (average weeks in a month). For example, a congregation of 1000 would receive approximately 731 donations a month (1000 x .17 x 4.3 = 731).

  • Any donation counts as one donation, no matter which payment source is used. For example, if you process 500 physical donations, it's the same price as processing 200 physical donations + 300 online donations.

Share your donation form

Your account is now ready to go, and donors are ready to give online.

You can find the link to your donation form on your Church Center page in Giving. If enabled, you'll find download links for the Church Center mobile app here as well.

You can share the link to your donation form (Church Center) from your church’s website, social media page, or even in an email newsletter.

Learn about Giving

As you get familiar with Giving and all it can do, it is highly recommend to take some time to watch the Planning Center University Giving videos. These courses are a great way to learn more about the available features.

You can also learn more by reviewing the online documentation found in the help center.

Get help and support

Any time you have questions, Planning Center's support team is here to help! Use the ? question mark icon in the toolbar to open the Help and support sidebar.

From here you can:

  • Search online documentation for an instant answer to your question. The toolbar also suggests help articles based on the page you are currently viewing.

  • Access getting started resources or jump into Planning Center University (PCU). You can also connect with other Planning Center customers in the customer communities and see what's new by checking out the changelog.

  • Connect with a support agent for one-on-one help. You can email them directly from the toolbar, or schedule a phone call if you prefer.

Depending on which Planning Center product you're using, you can also contact support directly from the corresponding mobile app:

  • Services/People: Tap your profile icon in the top right, then tap Help to access help articles or open a ticket with support.

  • Check-Ins: Tap the ⚙️ settings icon in the bottom right, then tap Contact Support to open a ticket with support.

  • Music Stand: Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left, then tap Help to access help articles or open a ticket with support.

Organization administrator requests

The following Support requests can only be made by organization administrators:

  • Data removal or corrections you can't make yourself (undo old CSV imports, iCal imports, etc)

  • Gain access to anything that was created and managed by someone else in the account

  • Restore or fully delete a canceled account

  • Request access to Giving (if there are currently no Giving administrators in the account)