Finding the Best Management and Church Accounting Software

Best Management and Church Accounting Software
Best Management and Church Accounting Software


Churches have a lot to manage. From multiple departments and teams to hundreds, if not thousands of members, there’s a lot to track.

Add onto that the need to track membership, attendance, coordinate weekly volunteers, and manage donations and finances, and you’ve got quite the workload. All while trying to disciple your congregation and serve your city.

Luckily, there are many different church management solutions, able to handle the details and make running a growing church smoother than ever before.

With the best church accounting software and management solutions, you can spend less time and energy worrying about the details, and focus more time on the reasons your church exists in the first place. 

What should you be looking for when it comes to church financial software? What are the best options for church management software? Keep reading to find out now. 

Main Areas of Church Management

As with any organization, there are many different areas to manage in order to keep your doors open and continue growing. The right software can help with each area. Here’s what you’re going to need help with. 

Membership

Church membership is at the heart of what you do as a church. Without committed members who feel as though they are a part of a family, then you don’t have a church.

Churches thrive when churchgoers don’t simply attend but become members. Committing to the membership means that your congregation will show up regularly, participate in ministry and events, and commit to tithing.

Membership tracking software for your church will help you to create individual and family profiles so that you know who is a part of your church, no matter how big or small your congregation.

It will store contact information and addresses so that you can keep members updated on church activity, as well as show support during times of need. It can also track skills, areas of interest, and roles in the church so that you know who to reach out to when looking to assemble teams.

Volunteers

Along with membership, churches rely on volunteers to perform foundational functions throughout the week. Without committed volunteers, you’d have to rely on paid staff to complete everything, which simply isn’t possible for most churches.

Volunteers need to be organized by department and scheduled on a weekly and monthly basis. Software that allows volunteers to set preferences, as well as coordinate replacements, will make your job way easier. 

Events

Most churches host plenty of events outside of a weekly service. This can be conferences or workshops, ministry events, training sessions, worship times, and much more.

Event management software is often a standalone product. But since it’s so vital to church life, it is often included in many church software options. 

You’ll need it to give members an easy place to register for the event, manage and track payments if necessary, track the budget of the event, create programs, and more.

Donations

Tithes and donations are the lifeblood of church finance. Without regular tithing from congregation members, you don’t have the finances to keep going as a church.

Donations are a unique form of income and need to be accounted for differently than income generated by a for-profit business. Donations need to be tracked by individuals or family so that you can produce giving statements for your members.

These statements will allow people to use their non-profit giving as a tax deduction. Church accounting software that can produce this automatically will make tax time a breeze for you. 

It also helps when your software makes it easy for members to donate online, through an app, or by texting.

Accounting

Of course, every church, just like any non-profit or business, needs effective online accounting software. This will allow you to track income and expenses, manage budgets and departments, generate reports, and process payroll.

Since church employment status for your team members is often unclear, it helps to use software specifically designed for churches that can help process salaries and taxes the right way. This prevents fines and headaches down the road.

The Best Church Accounting Software and Management Solutions 

There are many different companies that produce church-specific software. Some are focused primarily on accounting while others focus on member or event management.

Yet, the best church management software can do it all, creating a one-stop platform to manage every department. Here are the most popular options. 

Icon Systems

Icon Church Management software is an all-in-one solution that will make your team rejoice. The software is web-based, making it easy for anyone on your team to access it from any device.

Use it to manage church membership and create family profiles. Set up text and e-giving options and easily track donations and create giving statements. 

You can also use it for mass communication, sending out email updates with ease. The church accounting software is IRS compliant, managing taxes without worry. 

It’s an all-in-one solution that is flexible, allows for multiple users, and maintains affordability. 

Aplos

Aplos is one of the most popular options for churches of various sizes around the world. It’s used as accounting software in many nations.

It offers true fund accounting and offers a full bookkeeping platform. You can also use the platform to outsource some basic bookkeeping tasks if you don’t want to handle them internally.

Aplos can do almost everything. The only thing it is missing is payroll processing. However, it integrates with other payroll services, such as Gusto, for a full accounting product. 

It’s extremely reliable, as it was originally founded by a CPA and executive pastor who was frustrated with the available software options at the time. Today, small churches can manage their church with Aplos for less than $30 a month. 

As your church grows, your plan can grow with it, so you are never overpaying for your software. You can start a free trial to see if it’s right for you.

The Right Software Enables Excellence

Managing your church’s finances, departments, and members takes a special team of people. And it also takes intentionally created software that empowers your team to do its job with excellence.

Don’t scrape by with software not intended to work for churches or non-profits. Invest in the best church accounting software if you’d like to improve your church’s effectiveness.

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