I sat down with Vance Roush, the founder and CEO of Overflow, to talk about the future of church giving. And honestly, this conversation changed the way I think about generosity in the church.
Vance is a former executive pastor turned tech founder who built Overflow to help churches unlock the 90% of wealth that most ministries never tap into.
If your church is only accepting giving through credit cards and bank transfers, you are leaving a massive amount of generosity on the table.
The Overflow Origin Story
Vance shared how Overflow started from a deeply personal place. He was serving as an executive pastor at a church in Silicon Valley, and he noticed a huge gap in how churches were accepting donations.
He told me, “I got a revelation. 90% of wealth in America is stored in this asset class that we never talk about in church. We typically point people exclusively to give from their checking and savings.”
That asset class? Stocks, crypto, ETFs, and other non-cash assets.
Most people in your church who work in tech, finance, or even just have a 401(k) are sitting on appreciated stock. But their church only gives them the option to give via debit card or ACH transfer.
Vance realized this was a massive blind spot. He launched Overflow in July 2020 to bridge that gap.
Why Stock and Crypto Giving Matters for Your Church
Here is what blew my mind during our conversation.
When someone donates stock directly to a church, two incredible things happen:
- The donor pays zero capital gains tax on the appreciated stock. Instead of selling the stock, paying taxes, and then donating what is left, they give the full value directly to the church.
- The church receives the full amount because as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, when the church liquidates that stock, they also pay no capital gains tax.
Vance described setting up stock giving at his church and the results were staggering. He told me about one church that sent a single email to their congregation about stock giving.
“I thought we were going to raise maybe tens of thousands of dollars. Within 3 days, 32 people responded to that one email and we raised $1.1 million.”
That is not a typo. $1.1 million from one email in three days.
And this was not a mega church in Silicon Valley. Vance emphasized that normal churches across the country are seeing real results with stock and crypto giving.
Does This Really Work for Normal Churches?
I asked Vance this question because I knew pastors watching would be thinking the same thing.
He told me about churches in the Midwest, in the South, in rural areas that are all seeing significant gifts come through Overflow. It turns out that stock ownership is much more common than most pastors realize.
If someone in your congregation has a retirement account, a brokerage account, or receives stock options from their employer, they can give through Overflow.
And the process is simple. The donor goes to the church’s Overflow giving page, selects the stock or crypto they want to donate, and submits it. Overflow handles the liquidation and transfers the cash to the church.
The church gets a dashboard where they can track gifts, thank donors, and manage the proper documentation.
Tap to Give: Bringing Back the Sacred Moment
One of the coolest things Vance showed me during our conversation was the Overflow Tap device.
It is a small physical device that you can place at the end of a row, in the lobby, or at the welcome center. People just tap their phone on it and it takes them straight to a giving page.
Vance shared something powerful about why this matters for worship. He said, “Did you know actually that giving is one of the most sacred acts you can do? Because nobody knows what you gave. People know that you raise your hand. People know that you sit in the front row. People know that you’re taking notes. But in a service, no one knows what you gave.”
He believes the rise of technology in the church should enhance worship, not replace it. The Tap device brings giving back into the worship experience instead of relegating it to a recurring autopay that people set and forget.
And the Tap device is not just for giving. Churches are using it for connection cards, event registration, salvation responses, and more.
How AI Is Changing Church Giving
This part of our conversation really got me excited.
Vance shared how Overflow is using AI to help pastors better understand and disciple their givers. Their platform can analyze giving patterns and provide insights that help church leaders have better conversations with their congregation.
For example, the AI can identify when someone’s giving pattern changes, when a consistent giver stops giving, or when someone might be ready to take a next step in their generosity journey.
This is not about manipulating people. It is about stewarding relationships well.
As pastors, we already pay attention to who shows up on Sunday, who is serving, and who might be struggling. Vance argues that having data about giving patterns helps pastors care for their people more effectively.
The $30 Trillion Wealth Transfer and What It Means for Churches
Vance brought up something that every pastor needs to hear.
There is a massive wealth transfer happening right now. Baby boomers are passing down an estimated $30 trillion in assets to younger generations. Much of that wealth is in stocks, real estate, and other non-cash assets.
If your church can only accept cash, checks, and credit cards, you will miss out on this generational shift.
Churches that position themselves to accept stock, crypto, and other asset types will be the ones that benefit from this transfer. And the churches that ignore it will wonder why giving is declining even though attendance is steady.
Why People Don’t Give (And What Pastors Can Do About It)
Vance had a really honest take on why many people in the pews are not giving.
A big part of it comes down to friction. If it is hard to give, people will not do it. If the giving page takes too many clicks, if the options are limited, or if the experience feels outdated, you are losing potential givers.
But beyond friction, Vance also talked about the importance of teaching on generosity. He said many churches have stopped regularly preaching about giving because they are afraid of how it looks.
His advice? Make giving easy, teach on it consistently, and offer more ways for people to be generous.
A Simple Strategy That Can Unlock Six Figures in Giving
Vance dropped a practical gem that any pastor can implement right away.
Corporate gift matching.
Many people in your church work for companies that will match their charitable donations. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and hundreds of other companies have matching programs.
He told me, “If you email your church three or four times between November and December reminding them of their corporate gift matching benefit, give them three lines that they can forward to HR about your church and the community work that your church does, then you will unlock significant giving. When I was doing it as executive pastor for our church, every single year over six figures in giving from Google matching, Apple matching, and so on.”
All the donor has to do is take their giving receipt, submit it to their company’s HR department, and ask them to match it. Most companies match up to $10,000 or even $20,000 per employee.
This is free money that your church is likely leaving on the table right now.
Why Churches Are Switching to Overflow (And Seeing a 9% Bump)
I asked Vance about migrating from another giving platform to Overflow, because I know that is one of the biggest hesitations pastors have.
He shared something that really surprised me. He said, “What was once seen as a bug is now the feature. People actually sign up for Overflow now to migrate. After 8 weeks of transferring those hundreds of recurring givers to Overflow’s platform, consistently over 9% pop in recurring giving.”
Why does this happen? Because when people migrate their recurring gift, they often realize they set it up years ago and never updated it. They have gotten raises, bonuses, and salary increases since then. The migration process gives them a natural moment to increase their giving.
On top of that, when the pastor announces the migration from the stage, it prompts people who were not yet recurring givers to sign up for the first time.
What Pastors Should Do Next
If this conversation resonated with you, here are some practical next steps:
- Explore stock and crypto giving. Visit overflow.co to book a demo with their team and see how it works for your church.
- Set up corporate gift matching reminders. Create a simple email template that your congregation can forward to their HR department.
- Evaluate your giving experience. Is it easy for someone to give during a service? On their phone? On your website? If there is friction, you are losing generosity.
- Teach on generosity consistently. Do not shy away from preaching about giving. Your people want to be generous. They just need to be invited into it.
- Consider how you are reaching new people. Growing your church means growing your giving base too. If you want help with using Facebook ads to reach new church guests, that is exactly what we do at ChurchCandy.
Vance and his team at Overflow are doing incredible work to help churches unlock generosity. I am grateful he took the time to sit down with me in Houston and share all of this.
If you want to learn more, head to overflow.co to book a demo.
And if you want to keep learning about how to grow your church, check out my conversation with Pastor Sherman Dumas on how he attracted 300 guests on launch day using Facebook ads.
What is one change you could make this year to increase giving at your church?
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