In 2024, the diocese is changing the way assessment and episcopate fees are managed by moving away from spreadsheets and into a database system.
The information below explains the changes and improvements, how to access the system, and some features you may wish to use.
Each church will be invited to create an account in our Realm database via email.
The default email address used to invite each church to create an account will be the church’s main public email address (usually the one listed on your website). This will also be the email that receives emailed statements. If you would like us to use a different email address for your church, please email us with the name of the church and the email to use. You do not have to create an account, but you are encouraged to do so in order to take advantage of the feature described below. Note: each church must have a unique email address, and it must be different from any other account login in our system (so clergy email addresses will not work as they already have accounts in our system).
Once you receive the diocesan invitation and have set up your church account in Realm, here’s how it will work.
Annual assessment and episcopate fees will appear in our database as “pledge campaigns”, and the annual amounts for each church’s fees will be recorded as “pledges.”
The diocese will email a “pledge statement” to each church each month showing the status of payments that serves as a reminder to make the monthly payment and includes a link to pay online.
You may also log into your account at any time to view activity — the payments that have been made, see the balance due, or to make payments toward each of the pledges (fees).
Payments can be made online using the link provided in the monthly, emailed pledge statement, or by logging into your account, and will be instantly applied to your account. You will have the ability to set up recurring online payments. (Payments made via postal mail are still an option as well. As always, 1/12 of the annual amount is due each month.)
Here’s how to navigate and make a payment once you log into your new Realm account.
Login and click the Giving tab on the left side. You will see any payments that have been made this year on the center of the screen and you will see the balance of your current “pledges” on the right side of the screen. You can make a payment by clicking the blue +Give button at the top.
Questions?
If you have questions about this process please contact Sherri Quint, Accounting Manager. For questions about using Realm to access your account, please contact Wendy Kopera, Database Administrator.