July 28, 2022
What is a Transaction?
Have you seen one of our services pages and wondered: “What is a transaction?” Or, “How do I know how many transactions my ministry does in a month?”
If you haven’t visited our pages on the levels of service Miller Management can provide, let’s catch you up. A “transaction” is how we both set your price for outsourcing our services and choose the best level of service to provide for you.
So, as you can see, it’s a pretty great question to ask!
Short Answer
Essentially, a transaction is each event that hits your bank statement. These things could include a payroll direct deposit, your monthly automatic payment to your internet provider, and the reimbursement check to the volunteer. Those are all transactions going out of your bank account. We also want to see what is coming into your account – your weekly (or monthly) deposits – all count as transactions as well.
Long Answer
Let’s break it down.
Do you fit into the under 50 transactions per month group?
Let’s say your church employs three full-time staff and five part-time staff, and you follow a monthly pay schedule. That would count as 8 transactions each month. No matter if you are producing physical checks or direct deposit.
You also make weekly deposits to your bank from your Sunday offering collections. That would count as 4 transaction per month. (We are not ignoring you 5th Sunday, you just don’t help in our example; but we will come back to you, promise.)
Additionally, there are a few recurring vendors you pay each month; the credit card company, phone & internet, trash services, donation to a local ministry, benefits for your employees, and your Amazon credit card (shoutout to subscribe & save). Those would each count as a transaction, equaling 6 more towards your total.
Plus, there are the random weekly reimbursements that come up, love offerings scattered throughout the year, special projects that drop in your lap that you can’t say no to. Not to mention fundraising, outreach, missions work, and children’s programs. And (we didn’t forget you) those months that have 5 Sundays, so they create additional transactions just by being there.
Now, of the recurring transactions that you can count on each month, we are up to 18. That gives you plenty of room for special projects or miscellaneous items to come up each month and still be under 50.
In this example, Miller Management’s Level 1 service is where you would best fit.
Does your organization hit 50 transactions before the month is over?
Now, if you read the section above and could NOT related to the very low numbers I was using in my example, we have a space for you.
Maybe your ministry requires a staff of ten just to run a Sunday morning, not to mention the day-care during the week. And you could easily write twenty reimbursement checks a week and still have more next week. Plus, there are several bills coming through your inbox whether digitally or snail mail. (Do people still buy stamps?)
If you are dreaming of only having one credit card to balance every month. And are dizzy by the amount of automatic giving coming in. Then not to worry.
While you are hitting 50 transactions before the month is over (or maybe even the week?) then Miller Management’s Level 2 service is here to help.
Next Steps
Whew, my friends, I’m a little stressed out for you just typing all of those examples! In our next post, we will break down the service levels and your responsibility versus Miller Management’s responsibility more fully. But if you can’t wait until then, here are a few places you can visit first.
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