Giving FAQs

Have further questions? Email give@foothill.church

How do I give to Foothill Church?

There are several ways to give to Foothill Church.

By cash or check. Place cash or check in a Foothill Church giving envelope. Envelopes are also postage-paid and you are welcome to take them home and mail them to the office at any time.

By Text. Using a smart phone, text any dollar amount to 84321. There will be a quick, self-guided process to connect your phone to Foothill Church Center, your donor account, and your chosen payment source. After the initial setup, simply text a dollar amount to 84321 for future donations

Online. Please go to our giving page and click the “Give Online” button to set-up a one-time or recurring gift using your bank account or credit/debit card.

Foothill Church Center App. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play to give using your bank account or with your credit/debit card. You may give a one-time gift or set up a recurring gift.

What is the preferred way of giving to Foothill Church?

Giving directly through your bank account is our preferred way for contributors to give. Foothill Church pays the least amount of processing fees with this method.

Is it safe to use my bank account number or my credit/debit card?

Yes. Foothill Church takes the safety and security of your information very seriously. No credit card or banking information is kept beyond initializing your authorized gift. All hard copies of giving records are stored securely with limited access.

Foothill Church is also PCI compliant and is tested quarterly to ensure the utmost security.

We’ve outsourced the text-to-give, Church Center App, and online giving process to the professionals at Planning Center. The following statement is from Planning Center’s explanation of security:

Like any merchant that handles credit card payments, Planning Center must comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS, or PCI for short). Planning Center is a Level One compliant merchant. Our Attestation of Compliance documentation is available upon request at support@planningcenter.com.

In practice, we go well beyond what basic security frameworks require. For example:

Instead of scheduled and narrowly scoped penetration testing required by these security frameworks, we conduct ongoing penetration testing through HackerOne‘s open bounty program.
We use local 2-factor-auth (hardware keys, fingerprint scanners, etc) for any employee accessing customer data in the course of providing customer support.
Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies only to customers within the EU, we hold to this standard for all customers even though 95% of them are in the US.

For more about PCI compliance levels, check out this guide from Stripe. Learn about all the ways Planning Center protects your privacy and secures your data on our Security page.

How do I change the default payment method that is currently set up on Text-to-Give, the Church Center App or my recurring gift?

You can make any change to your account by logging into your Foothill Church Center account and navigating to the My Giving portion of the site.

How will I receive a Giving Statement?

All giving records are stored securely in Foothill Church Center. Giving Statements are generated on a quarterly basis and can also be found in the Foothill Church Center app upon generation.

Gifts are typically recorded and listed in your Foothill Church Center profile on the following schedule:

Foothill Church Giving Envelope – 1 business day after Sunday services.

Credit/Debit card – received 2 business days after the transaction is processed.

ACH/Bank Account – received 6-7 business days after the transaction is processed.

In order to receive giving credit for IRS/Tax purposes, all cash or check gifts must be received or postmarked by December 31st of that tax year. All gifts using your bank account or credit/debit card must be processed by 11:59 pm of December 31.

Does Foothill Church pay fees when I give using my credit/debit card?

Yes. Foothill Church pays the following fees based on the amount of individual gifts:

0.30¢ per transaction through your Bank Account (recommended)

2.15% + 0.30¢ per transaction with a debit/credit card

Can I designate my gift?

No. Any giving at this time goes towards our Rooted Ministry Plan.

Foothill Church is ECFA Accredited. What is the ECFA?

ECFA stands for Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ECFA-certified churches are committed to upholding the Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship™, drawn from Scripture, and are fundamental to operating with integrity. Accountability to God is vital, but people form their impressions of both people and organizations by looking at the outward appearances (1 Samuel 16:7). The seven standards can be found on the ECFA website: ecfa.church/standards