Designing your church offertory envelopes

Church envelopes, often referred to as offering envelopes, are paper envelopes that are used to give tithes or donations to their churches. Offertory envelopes are one of the most effective fundraising tactics for churches as they encourage systematic giving by inviting every member to participate and work together as part of their community. They are ideal for those who give to their churches on a weekly or monthly basis and are traditionally boxed in numbered sets with Sunday dates printed on each envelope.

Church offertory envelopes have been a staple in regular giving schemes for church goers for over 100 years. However, despite the introduction of modernised systems to facilitate regular giving, church envelopes remain a traditional and important aspect of almost every church programmes for encouraging successful participation. It is known that parishioners prefer physical donations at the end of service as they like to be seen contributing as part of their church community. Offertory envelopes are the ideal system to encourage this as they protect the donator from revealing the amount they are giving but still facilitate the visual aid of physical church offering for the donator.

In this blog, we discuss the best design options for getting the most out of your giving scheme and how ‘branding’ can help encourage donations.

In keeping with our environment and sustainability framework, our envelopes are made from 100% recycled materials that have been sourced from sustainably managed forests and include features to benefit the collection process. All of our collection envelopes have our Zip Pockets technology which enable easy sealing and . During production, we make small intermittent incisions on the flap of the envelope before the paper is transferred on to the folding process. Zip Pockets prevent bank notes and cheques from being ripped, whilst also allowing the collector a quick and hassle-free way to open each envelope quickly.

The first thing to consider on your envelopes is of course, the type and colour of your envelopes. We have a range of single donation and regular collection products that can be utilized independently or simultaneously. As an example, Liverpool Cathedral have a regular giving scheme for regular worship but also have a stack of Gift Aid envelopes near the entrance for guests to donate during their visit. Our standard envelope colour range is blue, green, yellow, pink and white with our boxes being available in blue, green, yellow and pink. These options can both be alternated or rotated through annually to provide a visual indication of the change in year. All weekly giving envelopes come numbered for recording purposes and are printed with the date for each Sunday of the year.

The next thing to consider for your envelopes is the bespoke text which is printed at the top of the envelope. As standard, we provide 4 lines of headed text that can be printed to your specification. These headings are often printed with 1. church name, 2. town, 3. church diocese, and 4. registered charity number. Once the main church details have been decided on, you can then choose from a stock or custom verse which are commonly printed on the middle of the envelope, to the right of your chosen image. If you do not have a custom verse in mind then we have over 20 popular stock verses for you to choose from.

Finally, your envelopes can be printed with either a single colour or a full colour image. Similar to our verse options, you are able to upload a file (png, jpg or preferably pdf) or select from one of our stock image range. We have 14 full colour stock designs (C#) which have been created by our studio designers to give a more modern and dynamic presentation to the envelope. However, our long running single colour stock designs (D#) are available for a more simple and traditional presentation for images.

If you are a smaller parish or your requirements are slightly lesser, we also have a range of cost-effective solutions with less print options available. You can take a look at our Economy Boxed Sets of Sunday Envelopes or Stock Boxed Sets which are aimed to help churches such as yourself. These are still fully customisable for text and verses but are limited in choice of envelope colour and design options.