How Large Christian Tech Companies Make Money
Jon Edmiston is the Founder of Rock RMS, which is the people management system my church uses. I love how Jon thinks, and he is the OG in the Christian tech space. He has seen the space grow over the last few decades for better and for worse. He wrote this article, “Turning Tables in the Digital Temple,” on protectthetithe.com. It’s a challenging article about how Christian tech companies make money in the tithing space, and it is a good conversation to bring to the light.
I originally posted this on X, but here is my response to his article:
Good thoughts from @jonedmiston on tech & how we collect money via tithing charges: https://protectthetithe.com.
I do think this is a bit of retroactive judging... most of these companies were built in an area where it was hard to make this tech, & they were trying to prove a model to support ministries. They did take huge risks & got rewarded.
But I know these companies do have their moats today, & it's hard for others to compete. Again, these other companies have been around for a while & people still haven't switched. There are reasons people don't switch over & it's not just because of lock-in.
People don't switch platforms for just a little better, but usually for a drastic improvement, given the extra work. For example, what would it take to switch your phone brand? Just a little better... no. They say the new brand/platform needs to be 10x better to justify the change. This is the struggle with the conversation on this giving platform. Yes, the fees are cheaper, but is it drastically better overall for reporting, services, features, etc? Maybe not so black & white if you dig into it.
Also, most of these companies offer other services that the 'cheaper fee companies' don't provide. Usually, the 'more expensive fee companies' are better & offer more robust services that are highly integrated into everything else the ministry does.
I do love the transpapency point he makes. I totally agree, it's confusing how these companies' charges compare to other companies. I'm in this space & get confused. More transparency is essential.
I am concerned with the amount of private equity money in the Christian space & think we need to be cautious about how people profit in this space. An important thing to remember is that it does take a lot of money to build cool things, too. Ideally, the extra fee collection is going to revest into the platform & not pay-outs solely. This is why this article is so helpful right now. These brands have reputations for a reason, so what Jon is saying does ring a bit true...
I love challenging articles like this to drive for a better outcome. This is how the free market works. Thanks, Jon, for the thought-provoking thoughts.
Jon was kind to reply to my response.
I highly encourage you to check out protectthetithe.com.
