Parish Guide

Online Offertory — How It Works

Give to a specific Mass's collections from your phone — the same as the basket. Both collections, every Mass, tallied automatically.
A simple, step-by-step guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave

At a glance

Many parishioners no longer carry cash. Online Offertory lets them give to the collection at a particular Mass right from their seat — by scanning a small QR card in the pew or tapping Give → Give to a Mass on the parish website. Just like the basket, each Sunday Mass takes two collections: the 1st for parish support, and a 2nd for a special collection the office schedules. Every gift is attributed to that exact Mass, so the office can see what came in at each one.

1 · Scan the pew QR (or Give → Give to a Mass)→ 2 · Pick 1st or 2nd collection→ 3 · Amount & frequency→ 4 · Pay (saved card = one tap)→ 5 · Tallied to that Mass
One QR per Mass — printed once. Each Mass time (e.g. the 10:00 Sunday Mass) gets a single, permanent QR card. The system fills in this weekend's date automatically when someone gives, so you print the pew cards once and they keep working every week.

The two collections

Every weekend Mass offers the same two collections a parishioner would meet with the basket:

1st · Parish Support

Your parish's operating offertory. Always available — keeps the lights on, the ministries running.

2nd · Special Collection

A scheduled cause. e.g. Holy Land, Peter's Pence, Retirement Fund for Religious, St. Vincent de Paul — set per weekend by the office.

Demo mode today. Online Offertory runs on the parish's Payments connection. Until live card processing is switched on, checkout uses Stripe test cards (no real money moves) — exactly like sacrament and Mass-offering payments. When the parish goes live, the same flow takes real cards and deposits straight to the parish. Nave never stores card numbers.

Part A · For parishioners

How to give to the Mass you're at, choose a collection, save your card, and set up recurring giving — all from your phone, in your own language.

Use case 1 · Give at the Mass you're attending

Who: Anyone at Mass.   Goal: Give to today's collection without cash.

  1. Point your phone camera at the QR card in the pew (or open the parish website → Give → Give to a Mass and pick your Mass).
  2. You'll see your Mass — e.g. "Sunday · 10:00" — with this weekend's two collections.
  3. Choose an amount, then pay. Done — no envelope, no cash.

Result: Your gift is recorded for that exact Mass, the same as dropping it in the basket.

Use case 2 · Choose the 1st or 2nd collection

Who: Anyone.   Goal: Direct your gift to parish support or the special collection.

  1. On the give screen, tap 1st · Parish Support or 2nd · [this weekend's collection] (e.g. Holy Land).
  2. Want to give to both? Give once, then tap Give again and pick the other collection.

Result: Your gift lands in the right collection, and the office can total the 2nd collection across all Masses to remit it.

Use case 3 · Save your card for next time

Who: A signed-in parishioner.   Goal: Skip re-typing your card each week.

  1. When you give, leave "Securely save this card for next time" ticked.
  2. Next time you give, your card shows as "Visa ••4242" — just confirm the amount and you're done.
  3. Prefer a different card that time? Tap "Use a different card."

Result: One-tap giving on every visit. We never store your card number — only the card's brand and last four digits for display; the card itself is held by the payment processor.

Use case 4 · Set up recurring giving

Who: A parishioner.   Goal: Give automatically each week or month.

  1. On the give screen, choose Weekly or Monthly instead of One-time.
  2. Pick your amount and collection, then confirm.

Result: Steady support with nothing to remember. (Recurring giving completes once live card processing is switched on.)

Use case 5 · Stay private & get a receipt

Who: Anyone.   Goal: Give without showing your name, and keep a record.

  1. Tick "Give anonymously" so your name isn't shown to staff.
  2. Add your email to receive a receipt.

Result: You give the way you're comfortable — named or anonymous — with a receipt for your records.

Part B · For parish staff

The office turns the feature on, prints the pew QR cards, schedules each weekend's 2nd collection, and reads what came in — all from Admin → Online Offertory. (It rides on your Payments connection — see the Giving guide for connecting Stripe.)

Use case 6 · Turn on Online Offertory

Who: Pastor or staff (Manage giving).   Goal: Make per-Mass giving available.

  1. Make sure Admin → Payments is set up and Accept online payments is on (today this runs as a test/demo connection).
  2. Open Admin → Online Offertory and tick Turn on online offertory at Mass, then Save.
  3. A "Give to a Mass" card now appears on the public Give page.

Result: Parishioners can give to any Mass's collections from a pew QR or the website.

Use case 7 · Print the pew QR cards

Who: Parish staff (Manage giving).   Goal: Put a giving QR in every pew.

  1. In Admin → Online Offertory, each Mass shows its own permanent link and QR.
  2. Tap Print pew cards, then use your browser's Print — one tidy card per Mass.
  3. Cut and place a card in each pew. Print once — the cards keep working every weekend.

Result: A durable, no-reprint QR in every pew that always points at the current weekend's collections.

Use case 8 · Schedule the 2nd collection

Who: Parish staff (Manage giving).   Goal: Set which special collection runs each weekend.

  1. In Admin → Online Offertory → Second collection schedule, each upcoming Sunday has a dropdown.
  2. Pick the collection for that weekend (e.g. Holy Land), or leave it as No 2nd collection.
  3. The 1st collection (parish support) is always there — you only schedule the 2nd.

Result: Each weekend shows the right 2nd collection to givers, and gifts are tagged to it for remittance.

Use case 9 · Manage the special-collections catalog

Who: Parish staff (Manage giving).   Goal: Keep your list of special collections.

  1. Tap Add standard USCCB collections to load the national set (Holy Land, Peter's Pence, World Mission Sunday, Retirement Fund for Religious, and more).
  2. Add your own diocesan or parish collections (St. Vincent de Paul, building fund, seminary…) with a name and short description.
  3. Hide any you don't use, or Delete one you'll never schedule.

Result: A ready list to schedule from — the standard collections plus anything specific to your parish.

Use case 10 · Read the finance report View finance

Who: Pastor / finance (View finance).   Goal: See what came in, by Mass and by collection.

  1. Open Admin → Online Offertory → Finance report (also linked from Reports).
  2. See totals for a date range, by Mass ("Sun 08:00 · 10:00 · 12:00…"), the 1st-vs-2nd split, and totals by special collection to remit to the diocese.
  3. Tap Export CSV for your books or to hand to the bookkeeper.

Result: A clear read of online offertory — what each Mass brought in, and exactly how much to send on for each special collection.

Quick reference

How does a parishioner give to a Mass?Scan the QR card in the pew, or open the website → Give → Give to a Mass and pick the Mass. Then choose a collection, amount, and pay.
What are the two collections?The 1st is parish support (always there); the 2nd is a special collection the office schedules for that weekend (e.g. Holy Land, Peter's Pence). Give to either — or both.
Do we reprint the QR codes every week?No. Each Mass has one permanent QR. The current weekend's date is filled in automatically at give-time, so you print the pew cards once.
Where do the special collections come from?A catalog you manage. Load the standard USCCB national collections with one tap, and add your own diocesan/parish ones. Schedule any of them to a weekend.
Is my card stored?Never the card number. Signed-in givers can save a card for one-tap giving — we keep only its brand and last four digits for display; the card itself stays with the payment processor.
Is it taking real money yet?It runs in demo mode (Stripe test cards) until the parish switches on live card processing under Payments — then the same flow takes real cards, deposited straight to the parish.
How do we know what came in at each Mass?Admin → Online Offertory → Finance report: totals by Mass, the 1st/2nd split, totals per special collection to remit, and a CSV export. Pastor / finance roles only.
What languages?The give and picker pages are multilingual (English / Spanish / Tagalog), so parishioners are guided in their own language.
The big idea: the basket, online. Online Offertory meets parishioners where they are — phone in hand at Mass — keeps both Sunday collections, attributes every gift to the right Mass, and gives the office a clean tally of what came in and what to remit.

Online Offertory — How It Works · A guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave