eCatholic Year in Review 2020: Teamwork makes the dream work

Jan 7, 2021 by

Josh Simmons

As we reflect on a year for the history books, our team is in awe with gratitude for all that you do and for the opportunity to serve you!

What. A. Year. When 2020 began, I had no idea what a roller coaster ride it would be; but then again, none of us did. However, the turn of the calendar year has provided yet another occasion to reflect and rejoice in each step that eCatholic has taken to serve you and help the Church fulfill her mission.

Read on to learn about some of the eCatholic highlights that you may have missed in 2020!

Spirited new products and features

1

MassTime™  - Faithful alerts so Mass won't be missed

One of the best moments of 2020 was the launch of our new feature: MassTime™. To date, our MassTime™ button is one of the fastest adopted, free features on parish websites. I was thrilled at how many parishes in the eCatholic family embraced it so quickly.

During a time churches were encountering rapidly-changing liturgy schedules, MassTime™ made it easier for parishes to clearly communicate when, where, and how the celebration of Mass was to occur. This feature’s floating button allows your website visitors to instantly find their parish’s Mass times, and when activated, the intuitive alerts create a special pop-up feature that informs guests when Mass times are imminent.

Get started: Watch the MassTime™ webinar for easy step-by-step instructions to install this free feature that has been a game changer for so many eCatholic websites. 

2

Boost Offertory program - Meaningful stewardship invitations

Digital communication became more essential than ever in 2020, especially now that the active faithful were asked to worship from their homes. Therefore, the timing was perfect to launch our eCatholic Boost Offertory program, free to eCatholic Payments customers. This stewardship service helps parishes make meaningful, beautifully branded invitations to parishioners to make the switch from sending in envelopes to quick and easy online giving.

We witnessed excellent success from the program! After only 30 days (upon completion of the program) participating parishes saw online giving increase by an average of 39 percent and recurring giving increased by an average of 57 percent!* Imagine what your parish could do with that kind of a boost.

*Participating parishes are subject to individual results. Average number results in this blog are as of Sept. 4, 2020.
 

3

eCatholic Payments - Solutions and improvements abound

Your feedback has always helped us to refine and enhance our products. Last year, thanks to you, we made some pretty stellar improvements to our eCatholic Payments platform.

Our Development Team worked hard to introduce Reconciliation Mode - an easy way to reconcile bank statements with info found directly in the eCatholic Payments Center. No more switching between payment programs. We also activated recurring donation email receipts and credit card expiration notices for admins.

Learn more: For more details on all of these Payments improvements, you can read our July Release Notes.

Refined style and a user-friendly website experience 

1

5 new FREE themes - Even more design possibilities

Our design team never fails to impress, and last year they hit the ground running to create five free website themes, available to all eCatholic customers. It was certainly a benchmark year for themes, with our team churning out these new favorites:

• Turin - A versatile and modern design to help your website stand out!

• Cascia - A refreshing balance of sleek features and sophisticated style.

• Moser - Our most inspired design with unique style.

• Tabor & Sinai - Twin themes that rethink the homepage feature region.

Tabor and Sinai website themes with prebuilt Catholic option "Monstrance 1".

Making the switch: All of these themes are now available in your website’s Design Studio. If you’d like to activate one today, here’s how.

2

HTML Buttons - Clicking made simple

Another one of our most popular features from 2020 was the introduction of HTML Buttons. Customers have been asking for this feature for a while, and we were pleased to release it in July. It was like celebrating Christmas early, as many of you began using HTML buttons immediately.

Add HTML Button: Give a new look to basic linked text on your site with these step-by-step instructions for adding HTML buttons to your website.

Working hard, like never before 

1

Increased web traffic and product support

While facing a global pandemic, our eCatholic family needed more help than ever. So our Support and Service teams jumped right in, helping you update and launch new sites, setup and introduce live streaming, and activate online giving! We were blessed that in the thick of a quarantine, we were able to work right alongside you in order to bring the faith into thousands of homes across America.

I’m so proud of our teams, both up-front and behind the scenes, as they worked tirelessly to maintain quick communication and support for our customers, all while making sure our servers were running strong. The Support team saw a 41 percent increase to the amount of email replies sent, while our Development team managed a record-breaking increase to our site server traffic, due to live-streamed Masses on eCatholic websites across the globe. They were long days, but your determination to provide for your flock kept us going!

2

Record number of custom website designs

Last year, we were happier than ever to create and complete a record number of custom website designs. While our Custom Design team launched a total of 54 custom-built websites in 2020, we couldn’t have done it without you. Our customer’s stories and mission is what truly inspires our team through every step of the process.

Before and after photos of the custom website design for the Diocese of Knoxville.

We were so inspired by our Custom Design team’s hard work in 2020, we even wrote a whole blog post about the process. Check it out here.

Teamwork truly makes the dream work! #InThisTogether

Well, 2020 was a year unlike ever before. However, despite our best efforts to write it off, there are so many people from last year who should be recognized and thanked! Your daily efforts to serve your local communities in order to keep the faith alive, provided moments that inspired us and memories that humbled us as we faced unforeseen and unimaginable times with one another.

I like to remember one of my favorite stories from Scripture where Peter was asked to walk on water (Matthew 14:22-33). Reflecting on this while thinking about the year ahead and new storms we may need to weather, I have hope knowing that together we can accomplish the unthinkable for the Kingdom of God, despite what the rest of the world tells us, as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.

From everyone on the eCatholic team, thank you.