Card Swipes in Church Make Giving Easier

More and more religious instutions are using credit cards to collect donations at houses of worship. One big player is a service called ParishPay, which works with many Catholic churches and a few synagogues to help sign up worshipers to pay via credit or debit card or automatic payment from their bank accounts. Nearly 1,000 institutions have joined the service, and it claims a 20 percent to 30 percent increase in giving by individuals who enroll.

Another is SecureGive, which has kiosks in churches, Hindu temples and some zoos and hospitals, too.