Questions for church web administrators re: $$

[calemjess]

I have done a website for our church on a volunteer basis for several years and to be honest it lacks the "WOW" factor that I have wanted it to have due to the church's web presence not being a high priority.

However, this has recently changed. I have been approached to manage the website by using a CMS program which would enable the ministers to update their portions easily so they want a website administrator to make sure everything gets up and going smoothly.

I am very excited about this and of course excited that the church is offering to pay me for my services. I am to type up a proposal of what I would like numerically.

My question without getting too personal is how much should I ask? I figure the best thing to propose is an hourly rate.

This would be on a part time basis. And to make matters more complex they want me to do some financial reports etc and work in some secretarial/accounting type work as well.

They have already had on proposal from an outside source ( a non-church member) and he is proposing $40.00 per hour.

I just found this board and it already has provided so much information. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

[xhtml]

Howdy Kim;

Based on what I've seen, $40-$50 an hour for "web site maintenance" (which is what I'd call this) is pretty much the going rate these days. You sure don't find folks doing secretarial type duties pulling down those kinds of bucks!

I'd under bid the outsider (just a tad), but don't short change yourself. Personally, if you've already done the web site for these folks, you should have first option regardless. You've already saved them who knows how much by doing the site on a volunteer basis! You might be shocked to see what a "professional" would have charged them for a site identical to the one you've done.

I'm sure David can give you more info on the various Content Management Systems than I could. You didn't mention which CMS they are going with, so that would be a help, but the main issue seems to be the money.

Like the nice clean look of the web site too. Wow isn't always best. It's about content and getting your message out - not just how it looks.

[chrisb_ebc]

I get paid a flat $300 a month. I would gladly still volunteer at my church. But its nice getting that paycheck too. I am also doing more then just websites. I am interacting with our school ministry and working with them on logo design, brochures, etc. As well as with the church. We just purchased a projector and will be running the media for the church services too. I'd agree with Ed. shoot lower, but don't short change yourself.

[Faithhb_lutheran]

When deciding how much to charge consider these things.
1.) Even though I am getting paid is this still ministry work?
2.) How much is my insider knowledge of the church worth?
3.) How much is my time worth?
4.) How much realistically can the church afford?

In your situation you might want to bid a flat fee (which churches love) or a rate just under the outsider. Also since it seems like they have more work they want you to do set your hourly fee like this $x/hr off site $x+5(Number depends on your commute)/hr on site. This way they aren't calling you every time the printer got turned off or something dumb like that. It will save your time and make them more efficient in the long run.

[ckvkkeek]

I'd actually refuse any compensation.

[Websquad]

I'd like to get paid $1 a year as an employee, to be covered under the church's liability unbrella.

For the past 10 years, development and maintenance has been without pay; for the past 7-8 years I've paid for web hosting. I don't mind, because I view the job as an area of ministry, and I have a backup team of like-minded individuals to support my efforts. The only expense the church pays is the annual $250 fee for the search engine company that runs our local site search feature.

[Faithhb_lutheran]

I actually know of a few churches that have those types of employees, mostly musicians, where their salary is whatever covers there insurance. Now that would be a sweet deal.

[flutem3]

I'd actually refuse any compensation.

Why?

Carol

[ckvkkeek]

Because there are a lot of other people that do their work free for the church... what makes me any better then them?

Plus God gave me the gift of being a geek, so this is one way to give back to him.

[flutem3]

I was just curious about what you would say. I am a volunteer as well. Unfortunately for the church, I am no geek. Instead, I am a JGIT (Junior Geek in Training). I would then hopefully know what I am doing. However, with all of you as teachers, I am learning.

And I enjoy doing working on the website which is even better. It is not a chore. If I felt that way, I wouldn't do it. It is the "widow's mite" so to speak because right now there is nothing else I can give from a distance.
But it is great fun and a great adventure. And I have reconnected to my church through it and have read the Bible much more in the process. Can't beat that. In my attempt to give, I have received much more as seems to be the case frequently. :)

Carol, JGIT

[calemjess]

Thanks for the input. I will definitely consider the things mentioned here when writing up my proposal. :)

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Kim,

Glad we could all help.

Clarence,

Then should we not pay the pastors? The bible talks about supporting those in full time ministry. ( I'm not sure where that is I will try to find it when I get home.) Those that give an extremely large part of their time to ministry need to eat also.

[donm1021]

Kim,

Glad we could all help.

Clarence,

Then should we not pay the pastors? The bible talks about supporting those in full time ministry. ( I'm not sure where that is I will try to find it when I get home.) Those that give an extremely large part of their time to ministry need to eat also.

Kim,

The scripture is found in Luke, chapter 10 I believe. "the workman is worthy of his hire".

While there may be many in the church that volunteer their talents in the church and do not expect any pay in return, there are still others who while offering their talents and skills for the good of the ministry, still have bills and needs - and use their skills and talents to take care of those needs.

I know of many churches, ministries, that have tried to do things as cheaply (is that a word?) as possible, and used those within their ministry who were not qualified to do the work, and ended up with "less-than-desired, but not less-than-bargained-for sites", I mean what did you expect for free?

There are however on the other hand many professionals within the body that also will volunteer their services for the good of their churches ministry - but I am a firm believer that the church should not expect or impose that on the professional within their own body, nor make them feel guilty because they did not offer their services to them for free.

I don't expect my pastor to study all week, pray, and visit my family when needed for free? He/She is worthy of their hire and should be compensated... yes, God will take care them... but how does he do that? Through you and I.

I guess my short answer is...

The workman is worthy of his hire... expect to pay for their services, but be highly blessed and thank God for them when they offer their services to you at no charge.

[ckvkkeek]

Donnie,
You hit the nail on the head.

But at most I spend 4 hours a month on my church's website, and it gets updated much more often then most church web sites.

The person that runs the childrens ministry spends at least twice that doing her ministry.

The lay leadership group spends at least 4 times that per month running the church.

What makes me any better than them? I firmly believe a church that is ran by unpaid servants that have great desire to do it, is better than a church ran by paid servants that have great desire to do it.

One of my big issues with my last church is that they paid a guy $125/month for a real bad website. And he was very possesive of it, so it was impossible to get the bad parts fixed.

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Clarence,

You have a good point but what I think that Don was trying to get at was that the church shouldn't expect people to do any of those jobs for free. I believe that churches need to think more strategically when it comes to the positions it fills. Most churches just come up with them as they go instead of doing the smart thing and planning for the need ahead of time. If churches did this they could also plan for some reimbursement for those positions or decide that they needed to be volunteer only. either way I would put money down that if churches planned their structure out they would have a better product with happier workers.

[ckvkkeek]

If a church pays all of these people then a church is going to be to strapped for cash to do much more than pay folks.

Church is the ultimate volunteer organization. Once we get away from that, I fear for that church.

The facts are that the average church is less than 70 members. And this isn't accurate because of the countless house churches that are starting to pop up.

But I fully understand all of this is just my opinion.. there is no biblical basis to pay or not pay a webmaster.

A worker is worth his wages, but even Peter worked as tent maker to not be a burden to the church.

[Faithhb_lutheran]

True peter worked as a tentmaker he also slept at peoples homes, so "you got an extra bed?".

The whole idea of christian fellowship is that we continually support each other in everything that we do. If someone does a service for the church they should be given a fair wage ( note that I didn't use the word paid, as their wage doesn't always have to be money, our sunday school teachers put in an hour every sunday 52 weeks a year plus countless hours in planning and they get a reward, public recognition of their service and installation every year.) The verse " the workman is worthy of his hire" and others like it are the basis of motivation. Make people feel valued and appreciated. That can be done a lot of ways but in today's society it is usually with cash.

I would agree with you that most churches today would have a problem with paying everyone, but is that because they shouldn't be paying the people or that the church isn't functioning as it was supposed to. See Acts 4:32. Although this extreme version of fellowship is later refined the principle is what we must look at. If the church lives as a community of believers and everyone gives whatever they can and takes no more then they need you wouldn't see one rush voter's meeting to talk about the budget.

submitted IMHO

[srmcatee]

Wow, Paid!!!

I do my churches site for free. I use Ecclasia by ChurchLedger.com.

You can see our site at http://broadway.churchledger.com.

ps. I own and operate Ecclasia, not to be a plug. But it costs a whole $5/month and is easy to administrate. It is all based on Xoops and has a few custom modules we at ChurchLedger have written. All open source, and you can download it all for free, or develop your own modules and we'll load them on the site for you.

Getting compensation from you own church is tuff. I operate ChurchLedger.com as a Ministry and personally involve myself in all aspects of that ministry.

I hope this helps. You might try and give x hours free per month, and charge for anything over that. Just an idea.

[McDLT]

I volunteer my services for free and I don't even attend that church anymore. I was also doing the sermon powerpoints (but when I went for a 3 week vacation, they finally got someone else to do it). Although now I'm doing the bulletins.

I don't mind volunteering. The thing that is frustrating is that they were paying someone else to do basic secretary work, but as the church went through some issues they couldn't afford that anymore, so now I volunteer some of the stuff.

It really does depend on your church's situation. If the church leadership doesn't take the website very seriously, paying someone will definately get them more motivated into checking it out and supporting it.

Just some thoughts.

[CPC Melissa]

Tough Question.

I volunteered to create, and maintain both of our churches websites. I've had to make some changes to make them more "maintenance-friendly".

However, I use cheap software and templates so I am not coding by hand nor using extraordinary amounts of time doing it.

On the other hand, several other churches in my area have approached me about doing website stuff for them. I would charge a nominal fee in that case, because it is not for my particular church. I have a full-time job so creating new sites could take up all of my limited free time.

As others said, depends on the church's situation. My church does not pay me, but they do pay the hosting fees.

[ckvkkeek]

I actually do charge a church outside of my local one for their site.

As you stated, its not my home church....