Tithing is going high-tech.
Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern is now soliciting online donations from its student and associate members. Approximately 30 percent of Sheil’s donors are contributing money through its website, said Teresa Corcoran, director of operations at Sheil.
“People in their twenties and thirties are paying for most of their things online,” she said. “Sheil has been one of the early places to be on board with it.”
The center is hoping to raise $40,000 for 2011 but, more importantly, hopes to have at least 300 donors, Corcoran said. Currently, Sheil has 236 donors.
The online system has been in place since October 2009, but Sheil leaders are still bargaining with credit card companies to get group rates on their donations, she said.
The campus Catholic center is pushing the website’s pledge system this year even more than before, most likely because non-profit institutions nationwide have been struggling since the recession, said Francisca Rebelo, Weinberg senior and vice president of the Sheil Steering Council.
The system makes donating more convenient and consistent, drawing in more donors, she said.
“Whenever the collection basket is passed on Sunday, I reach into my pocket and realize I don’t have cash. I know I’m not alone in that,” she said. “This system will move Sheil into the 21st century.”
People can make one-time pledges or register to make weekly or monthly donations. Donors can also choose to have certain amounts taken from their bank accounts on a regular basis.
Members are able to personalize their donation routines, which means students can give based on what they can afford, said Weinberg senior Luis Espinoza.
Having concrete numbers from donors also gives Sheil staff members a better idea of what the annual budget will look like, he said.
“It never catches you by surprise, because you know you made this commitment,” he said. “It’s a good way of knowing that you’re actually going to be donating. You’re not relying on that dollar or two at Mass.”
Sheil is not the only one going digital. Catholic churches such as Saint Joan of Arc in Evanston are offering online donation systems to parish members.
Father James Kehoe said the tithing process has changed radically since he was a young churchgoer.
“I’m old enough to remember when people thought it was avant-garde to donate using envelopes, rather than using cash and checks and putting them in the collection basket,” he said.
Tithing online doesn’t change the meaning of the act, he said.
“The change is totally mechanical. It’s a methodology change,” he said. “In no way does it reflect anything else.”
