What the Fee Savings Calculator actually does

Why we built it at all

When we started building Ekklesia, we knew the hardest sell wouldn't be the visitor tracking or the roster management. Those are nice to have. The hard sell was always going to be the giving platform. Churches have already got a system. They've got habits. They've got relationships with whoever they're using now.

What we heard, over and over, was the same question: 'How much is this going to cost us?' Not in pounds. In givers. In donations that walk out the door because the process is clunky, or the app doesn't work on their gran's phone, or the Gift Aid paperwork takes three months.

That's when we realised we needed to show them the math. Not the glossy math. The real math. What happens when you switch? What do you actually save in the first year, the second year, the third? And because every church is different, we needed to show them three different scenarios.

How it actually works

You enter two numbers: your current annual giving, and your current payment processing fees. That's it. The calculator then runs three migration scenarios across a three-year projection.

Scenario one assumes you keep your current giving flat. Scenario two assumes a 5% year-on-year growth because donors find the iOS app easier, or the public donor page (no login required) means more one-time givers slip through. Scenario three assumes 10% growth, which we've seen in branches where the finance pastor actually promoted the new platform to the congregation.

What comes out the other side isn't a sales pitch. It's a line graph. It shows you the cumulative fee recovery across those three years. It shows you when you'll recoup the switch cost. And because we've built Gift Aid reclaim directly into the system with HMRC Charities Online integration, it also factors in the Gift Aid you'll recover automatically. No manual spreadsheet. No waiting four months for a reclaim.

That finance pastor who ran it three times? He was checking whether the growth assumptions were real or optimistic. They were real. He'd seen his own data in the numbers.

What it reveals that spreadsheets won't

Most churches try this with a spreadsheet. They model their current fees, they multiply by growth assumptions they half-believe, and they get a number that feels like guessing. The calculator does something different.

It separates three real costs that actually leak money. One: the percentage you lose because your giving process is too hard (donor abandonment). Two: the percentage you lose because givers forget to tick the Gift Aid box, and you never recover it. Three: the transaction fees themselves, which vary wildly depending on whether someone's using Pay by Bank, Card, or a monthly standing order.

By year three, those three things compound. We've seen branches move from 2.8% total fee burn to 0.4%. That's not because we charge less. It's because the system is simpler, Gift Aid is automatic, and more donors actually complete the journey.

The calculator shows all three moving parts. A resident pastor or finance pastor can see exactly where the savings come from. It's not magic. It's process.

Why the three scenarios matter

We didn't include three scenarios because we like options. We included them because churches are honest with themselves differently depending on the scenario.

Flat growth (scenario one) is what happens if you do nothing differently. You just turn on the new system and let it work. Most branches see at least 5% growth (scenario two) because the friction drops. Some branches, the ones where the finance pastor or resident pastor actually tells people about the iOS app during offering time, see the 10% growth (scenario three).

What matters is that a decision-maker can pick the scenario that matches their church's culture. If you're not big on pushing new platforms, scenario one is honest. If you've got a tech-forward congregation, scenario three isn't a dream. It's what we've actually measured.

The calculator doesn't tell you which scenario you'll hit. That part depends on you. On whether you mention it during announcements. On whether the finance pastor actually promotes it to the prayer team. We've learned that the tool works best when the church decides how hard they'll push, and then sees what that effort is worth.

What happens next

Once you've run the calculator, you've got a number. A three-year cumulative recovery. That number is usually the starting point for a proper conversation. Because what happens next isn't automatic. You've still got to migrate your donor data. You've still got to train the team. You've still got to get the Gift Aid settings right with HMRC.

The calculator shows you it's worth doing. It doesn't do the work. That's where the rest of the system comes in. The public donor page that your 87-year-old members can actually use. The native iOS app with Pay by Bank and Card options. The four-stage Request to Purchase approval chain, so your finance pastor doesn't get surprised by spending. The 6-stage establishment ladder, so you know who's ready to be trained on giving.

What the calculator actually does is make a hard decision easier. It takes 'should we switch?' and turns it into a number you can trust.