Productive Day

It has been a wonderful day, I am such a task-oriented person, and a lot of tasks got done, so it was a good day for me :). The day began with some quiet computer work and then a trip to Forman Mills for tons of uniforms, I got to hang out with Trish during that, which was nice. I got the Hope House all cleaned up for tomorrow's God's Girls, finished prep for the Reading Rocks party and even began a "research" project that has been on our ministry back-burner for a long time now. I (along with Trish) am looking into setting up online donation options for supporters. In the past we have thought of this in the area of missionary support, to streamline things and make it easier for people (similar to auto bank draft). Recently I was inspired by another missionary family to think outside the box and possibly research this on a bigger scale, as far as accepting donations online (credit cards) for many different things in the future... anything from Miracle House donations, God's Girls sponsorship, Kids' Club sweatshirts, and Reading Rocks backpacks. It could also be used for our original intention, missionary support. As I research the details of this option, we have to take into account the transaction fee involved, which seems to range from 3-5% per credit card transaction depending on which provider we use. There are many details, many things that would make this a benefit to our supporters (such as immediate detailed receipts for tax deductions, email reminders, and a repeat giving option to help out monthly or quarterly supporters), and to us as a church. The reason I am writing about all of this is to gather opinions from you, people who read this blog! Many of you are current financial supporters, or have supported us in the past. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this, whether you think this is a direction we should go or stick with things the way they are. No guarantees on where we will go with this, just let me know any thoughts you have! You can leave a comment below or email me if you'd rather. Thanks for your input!