Changing the Game: integrating faith formation registration, payments, and communication

When Dan Veto stepped into his position as Director of Religious Education at St. Anselm Catholic Church in Ross, California, the method used for faith formation registration looked like it does at many parishes. It was a complicated mixture of multiple sign-ups, spreadsheets, reminder software, paper checks, and cash—all of which required separate tracking and extensive manual effort, and resulted in numerous unpaid registrations.

“The non-integrated approach—if you’re dealing with more than a dozen families—becomes sort of unwieldy if you don’t have a large parish staff,” Dan said. “It took an unbelievable amount of time to match lists and spreadsheets and track down people who hadn’t paid or weren’t receiving communications, etc.”

Having experienced firsthand the consequences of stringing together numerous disconnected tools, Dan said he wanted an integrated platform—everything in one place—and Flocknote was the easy choice.

“The full integration is key,” Dan said, referring to Flocknote’s all-in-one approach with Signups, payments, and communication that all work together. “The integration is critical, and for me, game-changing.”

While looking for a good fit for his parish, Dan still wanted to be a good steward of parish financial resources:

“The fact that the payment platform is integrated with the registration process takes any expense concerns off the table,” Dan said.

Dan says that Flocknote’s integration of Signups with payments means that everyone who is not in need of financial aid pays at the time of registration—no more chasing people down to ask them to find their checkbook and remember to bring it to class.

“We had a good 10 to 15 percent of enrollees who hadn’t actually paid their registration fee simply because they slipped through the cracks of our disconnected process. Using the Flocknote integrated platform eliminates these missed payments immediately and goes a very long way toward paying for the platform,” Dan said.

But the integration Dan was searching for doesn’t stop there. With students registered and fees paid, Dan can now use Flocknote to easily organize his classes and communicate with families throughout the year. As an extra bonus, because the Confirmation program at his parish uses Ascension’s Chosen: Your Journey to Confirmation, he leverages the communication templates specifically for that program included in the Flocknote Library.

Dan says he would encourage anyone considering using Flocknote for their faith formation registration to take a look at how it could help them accomplish their goals.

“I’ve found it to be a time saver and immensely helpful in the work that I do,” Dan said.