A new way of giving to the church is rapidly replacing the long-standing tradition of the weekly collection basket at Mass. Electronic giving has been shown to provide financial stability for a growing number of parishes to continue their outreach during the current recession.

"This is not our parents' offertory," said W. Brian Walsh, president and founder of Faith Direct, a leading full-service electronic giving organization based in Alexandria, Va.

Electronic offertory programs allow parishioners to transfer funds automatically to their parish's bank account without having to write a check or come up with cash for the collection basket.

"All the data we have suggests that even the most active parishioners are only giving about 40 times a year," said Walsh in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service.

"Electronic giving has increased even during the recession because of the consistency," he said. "Even in difficult times, families want to stay committed to their churches, both spiritually and financially.

"They don't see tithing as a luxury, but as a responsibility, and automated giving is helping families make it a priority month after month," Walsh added.

Data from Faith Direct show that parishes who adopt electronic giving programs typically experience a 30 percent increase in giving.

Michael Schaefer, executive director of the Catholic Finance Corporation, regularly encourages parishes to utilize electronic offertory programs.

Catholic Finance offers financial advice to Catholic parishes, schools and organizations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as well as institutions across the country.

"When dealing with members of the baby-boomer generation or older, they usually do their business with cash, credit or check," Schaefer noted. "The younger generations do all their business using debit cards."

For parishioners who still want to put something physical in the collection basket, he said, kiosks could be installed in the parish to print transaction receipts of funds' transfers for electronic donors to place in the basket.

Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Ind., that produces more than 800 million offertory envelopes a year, will launch an online giving program in the near future.

"In the past, we would refer our customers to other organizations," said Vijay Jeste, product manager of Our Sunday Visitor. "Now, more and more people are becoming comfortable with online transactions."

The software developed by Our Sunday Visitor simplifies the incorporation of online giving. Parishes decide how they want parishioners to give money. Parishioners create a user name and password and enter personal information to begin their online donations.

The flexibility built into electronic giving programs puts the parishioner in control of the amount and frequency of contributions to his or her parish.

"Development or fundraising from the Catholic perspective is really about engaging donors as subjects rather than objects. It's not about looking at people as objects to try and get as much money out of as possible," said Kerry Robinson, executive director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management.

"We should treat them as subjects who are properly invited to contribute to something that is life-giving and meaningful," she said.

"Anything the church can do to make contributing to the mission of the church, whether it be financially, artistically, creatively or managerially, is a value. It's part of the mission of church because it's a way of engaging the faithful and the people of God, and the consequence of that, when done transparently and effectively, is that of evangelization," Robinson added.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati saw e-giving as a way for parishioners to be good stewards, said Leisa Anslinger, a former parishioner.

"We used e-giving and tied it to giving of our first fruits to the Lord. It was a practice that was slow to catch on at first, but as people grew to understand themselves as stewards, participation and giving increased," Anslinger said.

"I know from my personal experience that making a conscious decision about the amount of our weekly contribution was a turning point in the way my husband and I approached our stewardship of treasure and I heard many other parishioners make note of similar transformations," Anslinger told CNS in an e-mail.

Father Jan Schmidt, former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, introduced electronic giving at the parish. Father Schmidt, now pastor at St. Margaret of York in Loveland, Ohio, does not believe that electronic giving affects attendance or participation at Mass.

"Typically the people who will utilize this sort of format are the people who really care about the parish," Father Schmidt said. "They really think about what they're going to do with their money. They're giving is planned and it's proportionate. Their faith means a lot to them, and they want to give something back."