Most churches are only tapping into about 10% of the generosity sitting inside their congregation. That was one of the biggest takeaways from my recent conversation with Vance Roush, the Founder and CEO of Overflow, on the ChurchCandy Podcast. Vance has been working at the intersection of technology and generosity for years, and what he shared completely reframed how I think about church giving.
If you are a pastor trying to figure out how to fund your vision, grow your ministry, or simply keep the lights on, this conversation is packed with practical strategies you can start using right away.
The Origin Story Behind Overflow
Vance Roush started Overflow because he saw a massive gap in how churches were collecting donations. Most giving platforms only accept cash, checks, and credit card donations. The problem is that the majority of wealth in America is not stored in cash. It is stored in stocks, crypto, real estate, and other non-cash assets. Vance built Overflow to help churches and nonprofits accept these types of gifts, and the results have been staggering.
What stood out to me most was how Vance connected his faith to his work. He did not just build a fintech company. He built a tool designed to unlock generosity for the Kingdom. That kind of mission-driven approach is exactly what I love to see in the church tech space.
Why Stock and Crypto Giving Matters for Churches
One of the most eye-opening parts of our conversation was when Vance explained that 90% of the generosity available to most churches is locked up in non-cash assets. Think about your top givers. Many of them are business owners, professionals, and investors who hold significant wealth in stocks, index funds, and cryptocurrency. When a church only offers a way to give via cash or card, it is leaving the vast majority of potential generosity on the table.
Vance shared that churches using Overflow have seen six-figure gifts come through almost immediately after enabling stock and crypto giving. These are not gifts that would have come through the normal offering plate. They are net-new donations from people who wanted to give but never had an easy way to do it through their church.
For pastors leading growing churches, this is a huge opportunity. You do not need to preach more sermons about tithing. You simply need to remove the friction and give people more ways to be generous.
Real Results from Real Churches
Vance shared some powerful testimonies from churches that have adopted Overflow. One church sent out a single email to their congregation letting people know they could now give stocks, and 32 people responded. The church raised a significant amount from that one email alone. That kind of result does not happen because people are being pressured. It happens because generous people finally have a channel to give in the way that is most natural for them.
This is a pattern I see over and over in church growth and digital strategy. When you make it easier for people to take action, more people take action. Whether that is visiting your church for the first time or giving their first major gift, reducing friction is everything.
Tap-to-Give and the Future of the Sunday Experience
We also talked about Tap-to-Give technology, which is one of the more exciting innovations happening in church giving right now. Instead of passing a plate or asking people to pull out their phones and navigate to an app, churches can set up NFC-enabled giving stations where people simply tap their phone to give. Vance explained how this removes yet another layer of friction from the giving process.
Think about it from the perspective of a first-time guest. They walk into your church, they are moved by the service, and they want to give. But they do not have your church app, they do not know your website, and they definitely are not writing a check. With Tap-to-Give, they can contribute in seconds without any setup. That is how you capture generosity in the moment.
How AI Is Changing Church Giving
This was probably the part of the conversation that surprised me the most. Vance walked me through how Overflow is using AI to help pastors understand their givers better. Instead of just looking at a dashboard of numbers, pastors can use AI-powered insights to identify trends, understand giving patterns, and even disciple their givers more effectively.
For example, AI can flag when a consistent giver suddenly stops giving, which could be a signal that something is going on in their life. Instead of that going unnoticed, a pastor can reach out and check in. That is not just good fundraising. That is good shepherding.
AI can also help churches personalize their generosity messaging. Rather than sending the same giving email to everyone, churches can tailor their communication based on where someone is in their giving journey. A first-time giver needs a different message than someone who has been tithing faithfully for ten years.
The $30 Trillion Wealth Transfer and What It Means for Your Church
Vance also talked about the massive generational wealth transfer that is already underway. Over the coming years, trillions of dollars will pass from Baby Boomers to younger generations. For churches, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge is that younger givers do not give the same way their parents did. They are less likely to write checks or set up recurring bank transfers. The opportunity is that they are willing to give in other ways, through stocks, crypto, donor-advised funds, and digital payment methods, if the church makes it easy to do so.
Churches that position themselves to receive gifts in these modern formats will be in a much stronger financial position over the next decade. Churches that keep doing things the old way will likely see their giving decline as their aging donor base transitions out.
Why People Do Not Give (and What Pastors Can Do About It)
One of the most honest parts of our conversation was when Vance talked about the real reasons people do not give. It is not always about a lack of generosity or a lack of faith. Sometimes it is about trust. Sometimes it is about convenience. And often it is simply about not being asked in the right way at the right time.
Vance encouraged pastors to think about giving less as a financial transaction and more as a discipleship journey. When you help people grow in generosity, the financial results follow naturally. But if all you do is ask for money, you will burn out your congregation and limit your potential.
This is something I have been passionate about for a long time. At ChurchCandy, we help churches reach more people through digital advertising, and I have seen firsthand how the same principles of removing friction and meeting people where they are apply to both outreach and giving.
How to Get Started with Overflow
If any of this resonated with you, Vance made it clear that getting started with Overflow is straightforward. Churches can begin accepting stock and crypto donations with minimal setup, and the Overflow team handles most of the heavy lifting on the backend. You do not need to be a financial expert or a tech wizard to make this work.
The biggest thing holding most churches back from increasing their giving is not a lack of generous people. It is a lack of modern giving infrastructure. Fixing that is one of the highest-leverage moves a pastor can make.
Final Thoughts
My conversation with Vance Roush reinforced something I keep seeing across every area of church leadership: the churches that are willing to embrace new tools and strategies are the ones that are growing. Whether it is using digital ads to reach new visitors or adopting platforms like Overflow to unlock generosity, the common thread is a willingness to innovate for the sake of the mission.
If you are a pastor or church leader, I would encourage you to watch the full conversation above and then take one step this week. Maybe that is exploring stock giving for your church. Maybe it is setting up Tap-to-Give for your next Sunday service. Whatever it is, do not let another week go by leaving generosity on the table.
What is one thing your church could do this week to make giving easier? I would love to hear your thoughts.
About The Author
