Questions and Answers

As followers of Christ, our giving is an act of worship and a demonstration of our faith and reliance on God. As we give, God uses these funds to make disciples here in Glen Allen and around the world.

John Piper explores more of why we give here: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/toward-the-tithe-and-beyond

Your giving to the SMRBC budget goes towards making disciples of all nations. It supports the ministries of the church as well as outreach around the world. 10.5% of all budget giving goes beyond our church into outreach giving such as the Cooperative Program, church planter support, Pregnancy Resource Centers, and more. You can get an up-to-date version of the church budget at any time by contacting the church office. You can also get regular reports of budget spending at any of our bi-monthly business meetings.

SMRBC completed construction in 2019 on a two-level multi-purpose building. The downstairs hosts our Student Ministry as well as two large adult classrooms, while the upstairs area has a large multi-purpose room and attached commercial kitchen. The building has already been a great place for ministry.

Through your faithful giving, the church was able to pay for well over half of the contruction costs as they arose, but at project completion the church still retained a construction debt of just over $1 million. Your gifts towards the Reaching In Love are helping us quickly pay off this debt and focus on new and ongoing ministry.

The Acts 1:8 Offering is an SMRBC offering to support missions at the church, state, national, and international levels. Below is a breakdown of how funds given to the Acts 1:8 Offering are distributed:

• 65%: Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions
• 20%: Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions
• 10%: Vision Virginia offering for SBC of Virginia State Missions
• 5%: SMRBC Mission Trips Fund

There are people in your community and around the world who desperately need help. Send Relief provides a way for you to respond directly to these needs in lasting, meaningful ways while sharing the hope of the gospel. It includes projects such as the Global Hunger Relief Fund, International Refugee Care, Disaster Relief, and many more targeted areas of ministry and care for needs around the world.

If you wish to give to a particular project within Send Relief, be sure to include a note in the Memo Field to designate your gift such as "Global Hunger" or "Ukraine Crisis". You can learn more about Send Relief and its projects at their website: https://www.sendrelief.org/

The list of giving options in online giving reflects our most common designations for gifts, along with periodic special gift options. Members may occasionally choose to give to a fund or ministry that is not listed in these common choices. In that case, simply choose the “Other” option in the online giving list and write in the memo field the name of the ministry of fund you would like the gift to be applied to.

One-time gifts without creating an account can only give towards one fund at a time. However, if you set up and log into your online giving account, you can choose multiple funds to give to in one transaction. In addition, creating an account and logging in saves you from having to reenter your information every time you give.

Giving by check, cash, or online bill pay through your bank has very minimal costs to the church. Online giving does generate processing fees for the church. SMRBC pays 2.9% + 0.30 per credit/debit card transaction and 1% + 0.30 per ACH/Bank transaction.

For example, a $100 gift by credit card would net $96.80 for ministry usage after the church pays the $3.20 of fees, while a $100 donation by ACH/e-check would net $98.70 after the church pays the $1.30 of fees.

Givers through Tithe.ly also have the option to “cover the fee” when giving. Choosing this option will add the fee to your total gift (a $100 donation by credit card would actually charge the card $103.20), and that fee would go directly to pay the fee, leaving the full $100 to go towards the ministries of the church.

Givers through Tithe.ly have the option to “cover the fee” when giving. Choosing this option will add the fee to your total gift, and that extra amount would go directly to pay the processing fee, leaving the full gifted amount to go towards the ministries of the church. When givers cover the fee, the church records a charitable gift reflecting the amount given before the fee.

For example, if a giver chose to “cover the fee,” a $100 donation by credit card would actually charge the card $103.20, and that $3.20 would go directly to pay the fee, leaving the full $100 to go towards the ministries of the church. In this case, the church records a charitable gift of $100.00 that would be reported on your annual giving statement.

Whenever a member first gives, the church assigns an “envelope number” to that member, usually with a set of matching envelopes. This will let a member easily give and receive a giving record at the end of the year for their taxes. When giving through Online Bill Pay through your bank, you can use this envelope number as the requested “Account Number.” When giving online at SMRBC.org or through the Tithe.ly app, you can list this envelope number as your “Member ID.” This will aid us in recording your gift and giving you an accurate gift record at the end of the year.

To get a set of envelopes, simply contact the church office. They will be happy to arrange giving envelopes for you!

All financial information is encrypted and stored by Tithe.ly’s banking partner to PCI DSS Level 1 compliant standards. PCI DSS Level 1 compliance is a set of rules stated by credit card companies and audited by an independent third party. It is the highest possible rating one can get in the electronic payment processing industry. Additionally, Tithe.ly forces HTTPS for all transaction services using TLS.

We would certainly not encourage anyone to go into debt to give. Our online giving allows members who are averse to credit cards to give using ACH transfers from their bank or by using a debit card.

However, we also recognize that many of our members choose to use credit cards for most or all of their regular financial transactions and manage their finances responsibly in that way. This system will allow those members to easily give to the church as well.

If you have more questions about giving, we're happy to help! You can give us a call at the church office, email our financial assistant Stacey Rexrode directly at srexrode@smrbc.org, or use our online connection form to send us your question.