Better Expense Management for Religious Organizations

Many religious organizations think about payments from the revenue side. Between memberships, donations, bequests, and fees for youth groups trips, there is money coming in. It may be cash, checks, electronic payments, and even donations of securities. That can be a lot to manage. The result? Expense management for religious organizations sometimes falls to the wayside.

Expense management is important, though. Although it may seem there is never enough money for all the good work that you do, we’ve found that religious organizations can save money and time from more efficient expense management.

Keeping control of expenditures

As you spend money to do your work, your religious organization uses different platforms. You send payments to utility companies, cut checks for guest musicians, and send volunteers out to buy floral decorations for feast days. You may have a discretionary fund for helping members of the congregation in need. And, you still have to make sure that payroll taxes for employees are submitted in time. 

Also, most religious organizations are open and welcoming, but that can cause problems. Some criminals target churches. They figure that open hearts and and a focus on forgiveness will help them get away with outright theft. Many have open doors and visitors who are not members of the congregation, ranging from scout troops to food pantry patrons. Business-level expense management for religious organizations may seem contrary to your congregation’s culture, but it is key to being a good steward of donations. It will also free up time and energy.

How Bento for Business helps with expense management for religious organizations

Bento for Business offers payment systems for small businesses. Nevertheless, our clients report that our services work well for expense management for religious organizations and other non-profits. Our clients set up an FDIC-insured bank account that they can access through Visa debit cards, ACH payments, or Bento Pay, our email-based way to send money to vendors.

Bento’s Visa debit cards can be pre-set to limit how much money can be spent, where, and on what days. This can be a great way to work with volunteers. A religious education teacher can be given a card with a budget to spend at a warehouse store for snacks and supplies. A chaplain doing home visits can have a card to use at fuel pumps. These users can upload their receipts in the app, saving everyone the time and hassle of expense reports.

You can use Bento Pay to pay repair people or send stipends to visiting clergy, and Bento ACH can take care of paying the big bills like utilities and payroll taxes.

All of these payments are shown together by logging in to your Bento platform. You can see how much you are spending in each category to compare to your budget. This information can help you make better decisions. It all syncs with QuickBooks and other popular accounting software packages, to make your bookkeeper’s life easier, too. 

Bento for Business Visa Debit Cards

Bento for Business offers business Visa debit cards that can help with expense management for religious organizations. At Bento for Business, you can get started with a business debit card in as little as 60 seconds. With the easy-to-use app, you can change employee card limits and reload them 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Employees are also able to use the mobile app, eliminating the need for reimbursement forms. Furthermore, your money is kept in an FDIC-insured account at The Bancorp, our partner.

If you are the clergy or administrator of a religious organization or other non-profit organization and would like to get better control of your company finances, a small business debit card may be the perfect answer. Contact Bento for Business at 866.220.8455 to learn more or complete the easy form online. Sign up for a 60-day free trial today!