20 years of Sundays: A reflection from our founders

Jeff Berg — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:05:01 GMT

Hi there!

We’re Jeff and Aaron, co-founders of Planning Center. This week marks the 20th anniversary of Planning Center, and we’re deeply grateful for what this occasion represents.

For our churches, that’s 20 years of Sundays and the moments in between: baptisms, friendships made through small groups, and all the ministry moments big and small, seen and behind the scenes.

For us, it means two decades of choosing churches over investors, the long game over the easy exit: building and shipping one feature at a time, listening carefully to your needs, growing at a deliberate pace, and staying true to who we are.

These are the reasons we're still here, still independent, and still building for the future.

2006 was a different world

Before there was Planning Center, there was just a problem.

I (Jeff) was working at a church, overseeing graphics, web, and the internet (yes, all three). Every week I’d update spreadsheets and manually retype run times every time the order changed. At a big church like that, it was a massive headache. So I thought, “There has to be a better way.”

I (Aaron) was on staff at the same church, burning CDs and uploading MP3s for people to learn music, which was its own challenge. We both felt the same pain, and that intersection was where Planning Center started.

The first version was just a drag-and-drop order of service with timing. It was simple, but it solved our problem.

Then we added the accept and decline buttons—a single click that let a volunteer confirm or decline without logging in. That little feature changed everything.

We quickly learned other churches had the same challenges and wanted the tool we’d made, but sharing software was a lot harder in 2006 than it is now.

So we did what we could and worked with what we had: showing people at conferences and visiting churches to help them get set up. If someone suggested a feature, we’d even try to code it that same day.

Little did we know, we were building the DNA of our company that would follow us 20 years later: ship fast, serve well, and keep pushing forward.

A commitment to our customers: never being acquired

Two years ago I (Jeff) wrote a letter outlining our commitment to independence. The short version? Planning Center is not for sale, and we never will be.

Although this was a stance and commitment we had already made to ourselves, this was my first time putting it out into the open. And honestly, we were afraid people wouldn't believe it.

We watched other companies make similar promises and then slowly back away. Each one had good reasons. Each one probably meant it at the time. But once the circumstances changed—once they took an investment, or a number got big enough, or things got hard enough—the promise went out the door.

Our customers love our products in a rare way. They trust us with their ministry work, and we never want to lose that.

I don't think any other company would ever see the value that I see in Planning Center.

I wrote that letter to make it harder to go back on my word, to raise the stakes. Two years later, I have no regrets.

Being independent is a value, not a status

We're people who like to solve problems. And one of the hardest parts of staying independent is learning how to say no (to features, to markets, to opportunities) so that the yes-es actually mean something.

In order to have a good yes, you have to have a whole bunch of hard no's as well.

In our early days, we launched a product called Smart Events. It wasn’t church-specific, but it allowed anyone to handle registration for their events. It worked…kind of. But it wasn't right. So we tore it down and rebuilt it specifically for churches as Planning Center Registrations. That was the moment we finally had words for what we were actually doing: Help churches help people.

Staying independent has given us the freedom to pivot, to make calls that need to be made, and to ensure we realign to the right things.

20 years with churches, and what we’ve learned

We now serve tens of thousands of churches and have the pleasure of hearing from them often—at conferences, through social media, in emails.

What strikes us is that what they say isn’t only about specific features (though it often is). Instead, our customers praise our software as a whole and see that we’re not trying to squeeze them for every cent. That might sound simple, but we believe it’s the result of a conscious choice we’ve made over and over again.

We like to think about Planning Center as a building: We provide the infrastructure, a place for people to come, but we’re not the ministry. You’re doing the ministry. Our goal is to stay out of your way so you can get to the most important work.

Twenty years of serving churches has also taught us how genuinely different churches are from each other. We’re still surprised by it: the range of contexts, styles, and sizes, the number of creative ways people use our products. We want every church to be able to use Planning Center according to their own needs, and they've taught us how to make that possible.

What they've also shown us is that they value how we build, not just what we build. No sales team. No outside investors. No exploitative pricing. They're not just bought into the software; they're bought into the way we operate. That kind of trust isn't something we take for granted.

Looking ahead: we’re not stopping

In some ways, we're more in our groove than we've ever been. The systems, the people, the company infrastructure, it’s all here. Our team is doing the best work we’ve ever seen, and our core values aren't just words we’ve passed around to make ourselves feel good. They actually permeate how our team makes decisions, how we treat each other, how we treat our customers. That's hard to build and maintain, but we’re still up for the challenge.

So to every admin, pastor, worship leader, children’s director, and beyond who has ever logged into Planning Center and will log on today and again tomorrow, we want to say this directly:

Thank you.

Thank you for trusting us. For using our products and, in doing so, giving us the freedom to build Planning Center the way we've always believed it should be built.

There's not a day we’re not in awe that this is the work we get to do, and you’re the whole point of it all.

Thank you for being on this journey with us: 20 years of Sundays. Now here’s to all the ones still ahead.

Jeff Berg & Aaron Stewart

Planning Center Co-Founders

11 new features made to save you time

Jon Aleixo — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:30:19 GMT

Hi, there! 👋 I’m Jon. It’s been raining here for what feels like weeks—the sky’s bleak, and we’re all cooped up indoors.

Being stuck inside does make you think about your time differently. Specifically, all the things piling up you wish you could get to faster. (Two baskets of laundry, I see you.)

Rain or shine, we’re releasing things left and right to help you in your day-to-day ministry work. Here are 11 new features we made to save you time through it all:

Volunteer replacements

Finding a replacement volunteer used to mean chasing down a declined request, sorting through who's available, and manually updating the plan. With volunteer replacements in Services, declining volunteers now handle that entire process themselves! They pick an eligible teammate, confirm they've already asked them to cover their serving slot, and the plan updates automatically.

See how it works!

Bulk management

If you manage lists, workflows, or forms in People, you know how much time gets lost clicking through each resource one at a time. A redesigned table for lists, workflows, and forms now includes sortable columns, persistent filters, and a "Needs attention" view so you can spot what needs fixing at a glance. Bulk actions let you grant or revoke access, archive, or delete multiple resources in one step.

Learn more

Donor memos

If your church uses Giving to process checks, you've probably had to go back after batch entry to add donor memos and internal notes one by one. Now you can capture both right in the batch entry form by logging what a donor wrote on their check and add your own internal context without ever leaving the batch entry flow.

See where the memos go

New scheduling preferences

When volunteers don't have a good way to communicate their availability, it often lands on a team leader to figure out. Two new scheduling preferences give volunteers clearer options: "Once a quarter" for those who serve a handful of times a year, and "Unavailable" for anyone needing a break from one specific team without leaving it entirely. Fewer gaps to chase down, fewer conversations to initiate, and auto-scheduling that handles the frequency so you don’t have to.

Learn more

Gender-specific chat conversations

If your church has been running gender-specific group chats in a separate app, you can now bring them into Planning Center! When creating a new conversation in a group, a gender filter lets you limit it to members who share your gender so, for example, a women-only conversation stays women-only automatically, even as new members join. No more creating a separate group or using a separate chat tool just for that.

Internal notes for registrations

Context about a registration often surfaces after the fact, like a note from a check-in conversation, a special accommodation flagged over the phone. Now you can capture that directly on the registration as an internal note, visible only to your team.

See how it looks

Smarter duplicate mergers

Merging duplicate profiles in Giving now shows you what's at stake before you confirm. If the profile being removed has saved payment methods, active recurring donations, Text2Give enabled, or pending bank verification, you'll see a clear warning so you're not caught off guard by interrupted giving later.

Clearer roster check-ins

A subtle but impactful update to roster stations: confirmed and unconfirmed spaces are now visually distinct enough that volunteers are far less likely to accidentally check someone out. Unconfirmed boxes are darker, their checkboxes are blue, and confirmed attendees now have a clear section label.

Learn more

Recurring event requests

Requesting a recurring event used to mean submitting (and approving) each one separately. Now requesters can set a recurrence pattern right in the event request form, covering daily, weekly, monthly, and annual schedules.

See it in Calendar

Church Center dashboard

The new Church Center Dashboard pulls everything you need to see into one place: an overview of how your content is being used, quick access to navigation and pages, one-click creation for new pages and sermon episodes, and shareable Church Center links. Whether you're launching for the first time or just doing weekly maintenance, it's a faster starting point.

See how it looks

Deeper background checks with Checkr

With Planning Center's Checkr integration, you can order a background check directly from People, bringing an important part of your volunteer management alongside your other work, in one place. The Checkr integration also has two new optional add-ons: a federal criminal search catches felonies and misdemeanors that don't always surface at the state or county level, and an alias search runs records under maiden names and nicknames so a name change doesn't create a blind spot.

Learn more

Whether you're buried in Sunday prep, managing a growing congregation, or just staring down a to-do list that never seems to shrink, these updates will free up a little more of your day. We're always looking for ways to make Planning Center work harder so you don't have to!

Get VBS-ready: Vacation Bible School checklist

Savannah Frye — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 17:21:06 GMT

It feels like we took down the Christmas tree, blinked, and it’s already summer. Longer days, beach vacations, time at the pool… and the week kids ministries work the hardest: Vacation Bible School.

Your VBS week is probably right around the corner, so here’s a quick checklist to help you avoid the most common technical snags we see every year. Before all those kids come running through the doors, just take a few minutes to ask yourself these questions. A little prep now means fewer surprises on day one!

1. Are your Check-In stations using WiFi or Bluetooth?

Both work great, but pick one and turn off the other. Lots of printers let both run at the same time, which can cause connection issues that can be hard to diagnose during check-in.

2. Are you moving or relocating your Check-In stations for VBS?

Speaking of WiFI, if you're setting up stations in a room or building other than your usual spot, your printer may connect to a different WiFi network or be too far from the router. Test your connection at fast.com (you want at least 50 Mbps), and if you can swing it, put your stations on a dedicated network so nothing else competes with that speed during check-in.

3. Have you integrated Registrations and Check-Ins?

When you integrate Check-Ins with your signup in Registrations, a few magical things happen:

The assignment types you create in Registrations become folders in your Check-Ins event
The assignment areas become locations within those folders

Set this up correctly before VBS starts and your check-ins will run smoothly.

Need more help with the Registrations and Check-ins integration? Watch this video to learn how to correctly sync your Registrations with your Check-in events.

4. Are you adding new stations for VBS–or pulling old ones out of the closet?

Either way, check out our setup guides to help you get those stations configured correctly from the start. Sometimes printer factory defaults aren't the best settings for connecting to your WiFi, and a few simple tweaks can make a big difference before the first kid walks through the door. We also recommend checking that the operating systems on all your devices are up to date!

5. Is your multi-day event set up correctly in Check-ins?

The most common VBS Check-Ins mistake we see? Adding a separate time for each day of the event. This lumps everything into one giant session instead of creating a fresh one each day, and it's difficult to untangle once kids have already started checking in.

The best way to avoid this is to make sure you select Daily/VBS as your event frequency in Check-ins and add one check-in window. Check out our VBS guide to double-check your setup.

6. Have you resolved incomplete registrations before the event?

One way to ensure check-ins run smoothly is to resolve any incomplete registrations before the event starts. Attendees with incomplete registrations won't be able to check in at a self-station, but will instead be required to use a manned or rostered station, which can hold up the line.

7. Do you have a plan for last-minute registrations?

It’s always exciting to welcome people to VBS, so create a plan in advance to handle any walk-in registrations.

The fastest move is to check them in at a manned station so they get to their group right away, then circle back to register them afterward. But if you'd rather get them properly registered first, keep a device with Registrations open and add them on the fly, or post a QR code at the door so parents can register their kids themselves.

8. Are you using grade-based or age-based selection types in Registrations?

The Registrations integration can only use the information already in a person's profile to determine if they fit any grade, age, or gender restrictions, so using the right grade label for the time of year matters more than you might think.

Make sure you don’t promote grades while your VBS signup is actively accepting registrations. Doing so will cause issues with previously applied selection and assignment restrictions, and untangling that in the middle of snack time is no fun for anyone.

Instead, make sure you either:

Promote grades after you start VBS registration and use Grade Last Completed for your labels OR…
Promote grades before you start VBS registration and use Grade Entering for your labels

9. Have you tested your Check-In experience before VBS starts?

Testing is easier than you might think. Just jump into Check-Ins, set your event time to today's date, and test away! When you're done, make sure to set your date back to the first day of your event and delete any test check-ins you made.

If anything looks off during testing, you can reach out to us for help before your event so we have time to get it sorted before the kids arrive.

10. Do you know where to find help if you get stuck?

Printer acting up? Hit the Troubleshoot button in Check-Ins printer settings.
Check out our Plan your VBS article for more best practices.
For anything else, email us at support@planningcenter.com.

We're here for just about any curveball VBS may throw at you. As for the missing goldfish? Good luck, and we’re rooting for you. 🐟

5 ways to manage your facilities with Planning Center Calendar

Jon Aleixo — Mon, 11 May 2026 15:23:51 GMT

As a facilities manager, you do a lot to help things run smoothly at your church. Things can be pretty straightforward and look like they took no coordination at all—like setting up a room for an event—until something goes wrong. A double-booked fellowship hall, a setup crew with no direction, a last-minute email asking for a few chairs and a monitor. It adds up fast.

Planning Center Calendar has features built specifically to take that friction off your plate. Here are five things worth making sure you're actually doing.

1. Block out rooms and resources before conflicts happen

When the gym floor is getting refinished or the sanctuary is being redecorated, block those dates out in Calendar. Blockouts automatically prevent conflicts. So if someone tries to book a blocked room, it simply won't be available to request. No back-and-forth or explanations needed. You just set it and move on.

💡 “A little organization best practice: try creating a facilities calendar for your maintenance, blockout, and facilities events!" - Michael, Calendar Product Manager

2. Assign conflict resolvers for tricky situations

Not every scheduling conflict is a hard no—sometimes it just needs a conversation and more understanding. Calendar lets you assign specific people as conflict resolvers for your rooms and resources. When a conflict comes up—like the knitting club wants the fellowship hall on the same Monday evening as a recurring Bible study—the conflict resolver gets notified and can reach out to see if the groups can be flexible with location and timing. The right people handle it, and it doesn't all land on you.

3. Give your facilities team a setup diagram

With room setups, you can attach floor plan diagrams directly to events. You can even create shared setups that apply across multiple rooms, or room-specific ones for spaces with unique layouts. Share the setup with your facilities team with a link to the event, with a printed report, or through the Planning Center app. Then your team can see exactly how the room should look and get to work. No guessing whatsoever!

4. Use event request forms for room reservations

Two features that work best as a pair: event request forms and room reservations.

The event request form means people give you real information about their event needs before anything lands in your inbox. Once an event is approved and created, staff or volunteers can formally request the rooms and resources they need, which keeps everything visible, trackable, and routed through an approval process.

💡 “If you are a multi-campus church, make sure you are using our multi-campus setup so you can see events across all your campuses!” - Channelle, Product Specialist

5. Control what gets confirmed with approval groups

Approval groups let you assign the right people to approve booking requests for specific rooms, resources, or event request forms. Only one person from a group needs to approve a request, and you can assign multiple approval groups to a single room if necessary. Whether that's one approver for the whole building, or different people for different spaces, you can set it up to match how your church actually operates.

All of these features are available in your Calendar account right now! A few minutes of setup today can save you heaps of scrambling later on.

Rehearse on the go: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are here

Jon Aleixo — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:06:27 GMT

Over 600,000 people use the Service mobile app as their rehearsal companion. You're listening to audio tracks on the way to work, running through song arrangements during your commute, and showing up to rehearsal more prepared than ever. We love to see it!

The only problem? There hasn’t been a way for you to safely rehearse in your car without looking at your phone.

So, we’re thrilled to announce that Planning Center Services now supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, bringing your rehearsal playlists right to your car's dashboard, fully hands-free.

What it looks like

Once your phone’s connected, you'll have three simple sections right on your interface:

Now Playing: A familiar view of song title and artwork, playback controls, a repeat option, time stamps/progress bar, and song metadata, like key, meter, and BPM
Current Playlist: Your upcoming plan's playlist, front and center. This is where you'll land by default, because it's usually what you need most.
Upcoming Playlists: A look ahead at your future scheduled plans and their playlists, so you can start preparing early.

No fumbling with your phone or glancing down at a screen. Just easy access to what you need at eye level, right from the driver’s seat.

Getting started with Apple Carplay and Android Auto

As worship leaders and musicians, we believe the tools you use to serve your church should make your life easier—and in cases like this, safer. Supporting CarPlay and Android Auto is one small way we're honoring the time and effort you pour into what you do.

If you're already using the Services mobile app for rehearsal, you're ready to go. Just connect your phone to your car via CarPlay or Android Auto, and you'll find your rehearsal playlists waiting for you.

Happy rehearsing! 🎵

💚The Services Team

Announcing the Planning Center app: All your ministry work, now in your pocket

Jon Aleixo — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:18:51 GMT

We all know that being in ministry doesn’t just happen at a desk.

You’re in a meeting when a scheduling request comes in. You’re greeting on a Sunday morning when you remember to follow up on a workflow. You’re finally on the couch for the evening enjoying your favorite show but need to mark some tasks complete.

In every instance and more, you’re doing the same mental gymnastics: Is this urgent enough to drop everything and find my computer? Or, I can’t forget this before I’m able to open my laptop again.

As a high-capacity staff member, it’s not realistic for you to be tied to your desk/table/wherever you can find a place to work. We see you.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce the Planning Center app! The software you already know, now in your hands—no matter where you are or where you’re going.

What’s inside the Planning Center app

If you’ve been using Planning Center for a while already, either as a staff member or high-capacity volunteer, don’t worry—we’re not asking you to learn a whole new set of features. Instead, you’re getting a better way to access everything you already know and rely on.

Here’s what you can expect from the new app:

All your admin notifications, all in one place.

It’s easy to get lost in email or stay heads-down in one part of Planning Center when you’re knocking out tasks. Maybe you’re finalizing the chair count in Calendar for the youth night when you get added to a last-minute “food prep” task list. But you missed the notification in Home… and now there’s no food.

Now, the Planning Center app has you covered! All of your notifications across your products are front and center. If it matters to your ministry, it shows up here: schedule requests, workflow updates, form submissions, and much more.

Your Home dashboard goes with you.

The first thing you’ll see when you open the Planning Center app is your Home dashboard—a quick, clear overview of everything that needs your attention. From there, you can use widgets to go right to different products.

Browse any product.

Open Registrations, Calendar, Check-Ins, Giving, or any other product directly inside the app, so you can work in the products you need to, exactly when you need to.

Check on an event registration, submit a facilities request for tables, or edit a Sunday school classroom location—all from your phone. Expect the same powerful Planning Center experience, easily accessible from wherever you find yourself.

Check off tasks.

Complete tasks and keep collaborating on tasks lists with your team, whether you’re meeting in a coffee shop, hustling on a Sunday morning, or driving to the store to restock on goldfish for the 5th time this month. (Just kidding, we recommend hands-free driving.)

Ready to take Planning Center with you?

We’ve never been as excited about introducing more ways for you to use Planning Center on the go.

Just visit your app store of choice to download the app now.

Frequently Asked Questions

New customers will now manage payment settings in Planning Center

Emily Jiles — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:09:13 GMT

Starting this spring, new customers will manage everything related to donations and event payments right inside of Planning Center—no need to visit Stripe’s website.

Stripe will still process payments behind the scenes, but new customers won't need to interact with Stripe. Instead, Planning Center will provide everything churches need directly in our product: setup, reporting, support, and the lowest processing fees available.

By bringing the complete payments experience into Planning Center, we can focus on what we do best: building church-focused tools, providing support from people who understand ministry, and keeping the best giving and event rates on the market.

Current customer? Nothing to see here.

This is a technical change for new customers, one that lets them get up and running with Planning Center without a secondary Stripe dashboard. Current customers still have everything needed to process donations and event payments in their existing Stripe and Planning Center accounts.

As we help new customers get set up with giving and event payments in Planning Center, we’ re also working to expand what’s possible for all churches!

Processing fees are still the lowest available.

Our processing fees are 2.15% + $0.30/transaction for credit cards and 0% + $0.30/transaction for ACH bank transfers. (Fees differ for those in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.)

Processing fees are a real cost for churches, and especially impact smaller churches with lower volume. By bringing the payments experience more fully into Planning Center, we're in a better position to continue offering the lowest possible cost for churches.

Questions? Some quick answers.

What we learn from new customers will shape what comes next, and we'll keep you updated every step of the way. Here are some things we can confidently answer today!

Can I switch now if I’m an existing customer? Not yet. We're starting with new customers and will share more about when existing customers can transition.
Are there any new features that we don’t have in Stripe? Not yet, but we want that! With our new technical foundation there is a possibility for us to build new features.
Will processing fees be higher? No. We're committed to keeping fees the lowest available on the market for churches: 2.15% + $0.30 for credit and debit cards, and 0% + $0.30 for ACH bank transfers. (Fees differ for those in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.)
Are there any additional fees? There are always fees associated with international cards, ACH bank transfer failures, and so on—no changes here. These are costs that current customers are already responsible for. For new customers, the only difference is that Planning Center will be applying these fees, not Stripe. (See here for a full list of these one-off fees.)
What happens to my current Stripe setup? Nothing. Existing customers keep their current experience until we're ready to offer the transition, and we'll communicate about that well in advance.
Stripe still processes payments, so what's actually different? The experience around setup, reporting, and support now lives inside Planning Center rather than requiring a separate Stripe dashboard. For churches, that means simpler onboarding, better visibility, and support from a team that can see the full picture.

Why Stripe? Our trusted partner for 11 years.

Planning Center started working with Stripe 11 years ago. Since then, we’ve partnered with them to help tens of thousands of churches across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia process billions of dollars in donations.

Because of Stripe:

It’s easy for donors to connect their bank to your church thanks to Stripe.
Stripe maintains relationships with banks and financial institutions so that a donor from any bank or credit union with any card can get their donation to your church.
Planning Center, your church, and donors can process and give. International and national law is complex, and Stripe knows how to navigate it. Stripe ensures all organizations (nonprofits and businesses alike) stay compliant with evolving financial regulations.
Your donor’s financial information is protected by Stripe’s fraud detection system. They offer an unmatched level of protection against card scammers in an online world rife with fraud.

That's not work we want to reinvent.

So while Stripe does what they do best, we’ll stay focused on our core purpose: helping churches help people!

We're excited about this next step for our customers and our system, and we're looking forward to sharing more.

💙 Planning Center

Express giving: The fastest way for guests to give to your church

Emily Jiles — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 20:09:42 GMT

No login. No app download. No typing in card details.

With express giving, guests can donate through Church Center using Apple Pay or Google Pay in as little as 10 seconds.

After they arrive at the donation form, all they have to do is:

Enter their gift amount
Select Apple Pay or Google Pay
Confirm the payment (double-click side button, touch ID, passcode, face ID, etc.)

That’s it.

Whether giving from their phone after scanning a QR code, tapping an NFC link, or using the embedded form on your site—the entire experience happens securely through their phone’s wallet!

Express giving is an optional setting with guest donors in mind. It’s only available on the new and improved donation form. If your church hasn't switched yet, now’s a great time to make the move!

One note: Express donations skip donors past regular donation steps to make it as fast as possible to give. So if someone chooses an express donation, they won’t see the "cover the fee” option as it requires another step and we want to keep it fast!

Automatic profile matching for express givers

When someone gives through express giving, we'll match the email and name from their phone wallet and record the donation to their Planning Center profile.

If they're brand new, they'll get a profile!

Either way, our goal is to keep each individual’s information in the right place. If a duplicate does slip through, you can merge the profile.

Works with QR codes and NFC tap-to-pay

Has anyone else skipped checkout because Apple Pay wasn’t available? It’s very rare not to have a quick pay option these days, and donating to a church shouldn’t feel harder than buying a cup of coffee.

So make sure your donation form is easy to find so people can use this express giving option!

You can download a QR code we made for you from your Church Center form and put it everywhere:

Print it in bulletins
Put it on the announcements screen
Set it up on a bulletin board or an easel in the foyer
Print it on stickers and place them on the back of seats

You can also program NFC tags quickly and easily using Links so people can tap a physical tag.

And that’s it! Express giving will make it easier for people to give, with a little less hassle.

💛 The Planning Center Giving team

*Google Pay is only available on the web (mobile and desktop) and through express giving. It is not supported yet in the Church Center app.

Your 2025 in Planning Center

Jon Aleixo — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 20:40:49 GMT

2025 was a year of service, connection, and generosity—and you and your community made it all happen.

Last year, Planning Center churches created millions of service plans, scheduled volunteers in many roles (over 102 million!), rehearsed worship sets, and welcomed countless people through your doors. Week after week, you showed up to make the life of your church run smoothly and give people a place to belong.

You stayed connected, sending emails (more than 600 million) to keep your community informed, managing workflows to keep people from falling through the cracks, completing tasks that kept projects moving forward, and organizing events that brought people together.

For all the time and effort you put in, your community responded. So many people used the Church Center app to stay engaged with your church, gave generously to support your mission, filled out forms to help you organize information, and registered for over 6 million events that deepened the relationships within your community.

Want to see your personal impact? Log in to your Planning Center account to see your 2025 roundup!* There might be an extra surprise in there, too. 😉

Your dedication to serving your community inspires us and drives everything we make. Thanks for trusting us and letting us be on the journey with you. Here’s to a wonderful 2026! 🙌

*Reach out to your church’s Planning Center admin to enable your 2025 roundup if you can’t see it.

Year-end donation statements: 8 essential tips for a smooth tax season

Emily Jiles — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 21:32:27 GMT

Tax season is here, and that means it’s time to prepare donation statements for your church! While this annual task might feel routine, it can be a meaningful touchpoint with the generous people who make your ministry possible. A well-organized statement process shows your donors you value their support and helps them navigate their own tax preparation.

We know this season can feel overwhelming, so here are eight essential tips to make the process smoother and help you finish strong.

1. Check for duplicate profiles

Sometimes donors accidentally create multiple profiles. Take a quick moment to review and merge any duplicate profiles. This ensures each donor receives a complete and accurate statement of their giving history.

2. Watch out for uncommitted cash and check batches

Uncommitted batches can hide donations from showing up on statements. Do a quick sweep to make sure everything’s been properly processed!

3. Include all donations, including nondeductible

All monetary donations through credit/debit card, ACH bank transfer, or cash and check will automatically be included on the statement. You can also choose whether to include qualified charitable donations (QCDs) and donor-advised funds (DAFs).

Your statements will include the donations within your specified date range and can’t be filtered by specific funds, payment sources, payment methods, or membership types.

4. Pay close attention to the received dates

Donation dates matter more than you might think. For a donation to be included in this year’s statement, it must be received on or before December 31, 2025 for churches in the US and Canada.

Bonus tip: You can manually set the received date for batched donations to fall on or before December 31. ACH and card donations, though, are automatically dated when initiated and can't be back-dated.

5. Send joint statements

Donors can receive joint statements if their profiles are linked. Just keep in mind that only two profiles can be joined, so it might not capture every household member.

6. Point donors to Church Center when statement download links expire

It might be a good idea to let your donors know that links to download their statements are only active for 14 days. After that time, donors can still access their statements but the original download link they were sent will redirect them to log into their Church Center profile to get their statement.

7. Edit or delete statements with mistakes

You may want to edit or delete a statement you realize has mistakes on it, like if you accidentally included a pledge progress or chose the wrong date range.

The good news is that you can! It just takes a few clicks. With the Edit Statement button you can change the statement date range, or delete the statement completely. Nothing is set in stone until the statement is sent out.

If only the printed portion of a statement has been generated, you can edit that statement and then regenerate it. You’ll just want to click the Edit & Regenerate button on the print page, and then click Edit Statement in the top right corner.

8. Provide corrected statements easily

Sometimes there can be errors on statements—it happens! Rest assured that when you fix something, the correct statements are easily accessible to your donors. Here’s how, based on the country.

For U.S. churches. Your donors can simply download the most up-to-date statement directly from their Church Center profile!
For Canadian churches. Original statements can be downloaded in Church Center, but corrected statements have to be generated from the admin side of Giving, reference the original statement, and then sent outside of Giving.

We want you to feel supported with everything you need this statement season. Our support team is just a quick email away at support@planningcenter.com or through the ? in the toolbar. They’re ready to help you navigate any challenges that pop up.

We wish you a merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and a smooth statement season!