Church Windows

Awesome Church Management Software!

Kommentare: Church Windows has helped our church operations in so many ways. The reporting and budgeting options in Accounting have been especially helpful in financial planning and oversight. The payroll module simplifies all things related to payroll (direct deposit, taxes, W-2s, etc). Giving statements are easy to produce, as well as giving reports. People tracking is always a challenge, and the Membership module does so much to help. The support is fantastic, they know the program, and many of them also serve in their local church. Overall, Church Windows is an outstanding product!

Vorteile:

Our church has used Church Windows for many years. It seamlessly tracks people, giving, accounting, and payroll. Each module can be used by itself, or integrated to all work together. The support people are fantastic--friendly, patient, and easy to understand. Training is readily available through online video tutorials, brief online training sessions, workbooks, and the program help feature. The user-friendly software is great for beginners, offers many features for seasoned users, and versatile enough for church volunteers and employees alike.

Nachteile:

Nothing. I love everything about Church Windows!

Church Windows is a pretty good Church Management software, plain and simple.

Kommentare: As a younger individual who is able to use all of the tech that this program offers, most churches are not up to speed. let a lone up to the gathering point of contributions needed for the cost.

Vorteile:

Church Windows can help you track your membership, donations, accounting, and schedules. Highly supported and the team is available to help with anything you need.

Nachteile:

Sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. While all the features offered by Church Windows are magnificent, many churches will never need even half of the potential this offers. When you see the price tag that may become clear.

Time to move on from Church Windows

Kommentare: Church Windows has not kept up with technological needs of churches. There are superior CMS databases.

Vorteile:

Church Windows makes it easy to capture information about church members and visitors. I appreciate the integration between the different modules.

Nachteile:

There was a time when this was cutting edge software. Church Windows has relied on being the dominant force in the market, and as a result hasn't made improvements that more recent church database systems have. We have recently transitioned away from Church Windows because of this.

Amazing Customer Service

Kommentare: Overall, Church Windows is a great software and I could never say enough about the wonderful customer service. I can easily track day to day transactions and report to our Vestry board on a monthly basis. As we all know, churches run on budgets so it is important to be as accurate as possible every month to make sure we stay within the budget. Church Windows has been instrumental in showing us where we need to make cuts and where we can afford to grow.

Vorteile:

Customer Service is amazing. I never have to wait on hold and they call back fairly quickly with a knowledgeable rep. Everyone I have spoken to has been extremely helpful and kind.

Nachteile:

Having used software like Quickbooks my entire career, I am used to Intuit's ease of use. Pulling up the check register and being able to click right to the transaction. Church Windows is great and I can find everything I need and print any kind of report I would need but it's not quite as user friendly as I would like. I also don't like that payroll is in a separate icon and not built into the other modules.

Difficulty Converting to Church Windows

Kommentare: I would not recommend this system for someone who is not knowledgeable in terms of accounting systems. The biggest issue, in my mind, is the way the donation module has to tie into the accounting system. In other words the total donations for a week must be exactly what is deposited in the bank. This my be great from an audit perspective, but it makes for difficulty on a weekly basis. The support is excellent and the Church Windows staff patiently answer my questions.

Vorteile:

I like the features of Church Windows but the fact that the donations and accounting are integrated make it difficult to utilize on a weekly basis.

Nachteile:

We are currently using a spread sheet program to record donations and are using Money Counts for our accounting system. The membership and donations modules were fairly easy to implement but the accounting system is more difficult. We have spent two years implementing the accounting system and are not finished.

Time Consuming Set UP

Kommentare: I haven't been able to officially use it.

Vorteile:

I like how it is set up specifically for a church.

Nachteile:

I'm setting up the program on my own. It's difficult to put this together when there are other duties that need to be taken care of during the work day. I still haven't officially used it due to entering all the members in church windows. That part is time consuming. I'm still working on set up. I take 1 to 2 hours out of my day to do the entry. I didn't realize how time consuming this program was going to be. I have talked to some of the reps and they really don't help with set up.

Former User

Kommentare: 12 years' use by the parish to manage membership and donations. Key operators kept it going for first few years. Parish did not devote specific time at the outset to setting parameters of use. When the original users left organization, volunteers had to help newly-appointed users learn how to record data. After a two-year attempt to rectify, Parish Database team elected to search for and have settled on a Cloud-based replacement open for use by many more within the parish.

Vorteile:

High Level of adaptable detail in custom Donations reports exported into csv for conversion to xlsx and further analysis within parish.

Nachteile:

Not readily mastered except by a user willing to invest significant time in learning how to understand and apply documentation offered in training manuals. On-line help is mostly how-to guidance for performing specific tasks. Tech service is responsive when reached, but also mostly how-to. Very little help on understanding the "Why". Incompatibility between membership module's members and visitors section made it impossible to transfer groups from one to another area, other than one at a time.

Church Windows is awesome!

Kommentare: Church windows meets all the software needs of my church including membership tracking, donations, accounting, and payroll!

Vorteile:

Ease of use for both employees and volunteers, seamless integration of modules, knowledgeable and friendly support techs, training options

Nachteile:

I love everything about this software! There really are no cons in my opinion.

Too Much Trouble!

Vorteile:

Some integration is seamless, a lot is not, however.

Nachteile:

Custom reports are hard to design. Making changes is often cumbersome. Data does not import/export easily. Difficult for a new user to learn. Slow and cumbersome. Customer support bad.

Church Windows for a new Church Administrator

Kommentare: Pledging, budget, finances. Changes have been made confused our staff recently.

Vorteile:

Now that I am more comfortable with it, it does contain lots of helpful information.

Nachteile:

hard to learn. Sometimes hard to get in touch for assistance

A Valuable Tool for Church Administration

Kommentare: Overall, Church Windows has served us well, and we would be unlikely to consider switching to a new church software program. There is untapped functionality for us within the current suite of modules - for example, we have not historically used all the options for tracking attendance and communicating with members. We look forward to making even better use of it as time permits our secretary and volunteers to learn how to use those parts of the program.

Vorteile:

We use Church Windows for accounting, payroll, membership records, and donation tracking, so it is an integral part of our church administration. Because we are careful to enter data accurately and use the suite of software systematically, Church Windows is an excellent way for us to manage information and make timely reports to church leaders. We like having one software package to handle so many of our functions, and there is some efficiency to the learning curve because of similarities across the various modules. One of the best things about Church Windows is the quality of the tech support. Our annual fee allows us to contact the support staff whenever we have questions about how to do something or correct something, and since the software is used by several individuals (a staff person and church volunteers) with varying degrees of expertise, questions do arise. The tech support staff is knowledgeable, clear, and responsive to both email and phone inquiries. That helps keep our system running like a well-oiled machine!

Nachteile:

Some of the modules seem less user-friendly to us. For example, the Donations module where we record individuals' giving and generate reports for tax purposes is not intuitive to use, and we found it very difficult to set up quarterly and annual statements in the form and format that we desired, when we began using Donations when the software publisher updated an earlier Church Windows module, Contributions. We interacted extensively with tech support in the course of that transition, and, although they were as helpful as possible, we felt that the software was less flexible than we would like. So, the bottom line is that it can take some effort to learn how to use the software, and in an environment where there is turnover in the church office or among the volunteers handling church administration, that is a bit of an obstacle.

Navigating Church Windows for Ease of Use

Kommentare: Overall experience is very good. I would rate it very well. Adequate support makes all the difference in helping to apply a good experience in working with any kind of software uses.

Vorteile:

I like how all of the options and functions are easy to find and navigate through in finding the information and the end result of printing out a report, labels, or directory listing that I am looking for. All of the information is easy to read, find, and use when I am able to print out a listing and read it correctly.

Nachteile:

I did not like how the instructions are somewhat muddled and a little hard to interpret sometimes. The system itself is easy to use, but however the steps in order to understand in how to use the software is not necessarily the easiest to understand. Whenever I have contacted Church Windows phone support they have always been very helpful, but sometimes it gets confusing in order to know how to ask the certain questions to under to achieve the end results for what I am looking for. I am going to explore more so in newest coffee break webinars in order to access the features and function to help me understand the system and help me to navigate around it much better.

Church Windows is a mixed blessing.

Kommentare: We use Church Windows to run and administer a medium sized church (About 150 active members), and have in the past used other software for the same purpose. From the point of view of the user interface, Church Windows is far superior to all the others -- when it is working. Which is about 70% of the time. The rest of the time I am attempting to fix its frequent connectivity issues.

Vorteile:

The User Interface is intuitive, powerful, and well designed. The Accounting module in particular is quite sophisticated, containing many standard and specialized reports. Our accountant loves it. It's modules are well integrated, and when it is working, it works beautifully. The local version, (as opposed to the Web version) is reasonably priced.

Nachteile:

It is very touchy, installation wise. Wireless networking is not supported; neither are APUs, you MUST have CPUs in all Church Windows PCs for it to function reliably. It periodically loses connectivity, and sometimes requires reinstalls in order to correct problems. I am the administrator of the system, and frankly, if the users didn't like it so much (particularly the treasurer), I'd suggest a change. I am underwhelmed by their tech support; they tend to disclaim responsibility for problems, claiming networking issues, Windows issues, etc., are the cause even though no other software we use seems to have the problem.

November 2018

Kommentare: I am very pleased with the software.
I like having access to ongoing learning options in the webinars (I used to receive emails about these dates coming up but now I don't which causes me to forget to go looking for them myself!)
It takes awhile to become familiar with the software and how it works but now that I am comfortable I am most pleased that I can produce so many reports.
I am sometimes frustrated that I don't have enough data from members of the congregation or ministers to produce more detailed and comprehensive reports. The creation and development of them is sound.
The support staff is excellent in solving problems and being friendly and supportive. They respond in a timely manner.

Vorteile:

Ease of extracting information from the data to create reports. The number of boxes where details may be entered is excellent - every possible situation has been considered, including winter or out-of-town school addresses plus different last names for individuals within the family unit plus multi-level phone numbers and emails.

Nachteile:

I love to have the support of the software by speaking with a real person. My patience challenges me at times to wait for the phone call back! Sometimes there are difficulties in choosing the right report ie. directory vs. basic because the format of the directory report is good but there are decisions embedded there which override any selections I might make for the report ie. individual vs. family identities

Long-Time user of Church Windows

Kommentare: My overall experience with Church Windows has been very positive. I "inherited" Church Windows when I started my job many years ago and have grown with/into it over the years. It does have certain limitations but overall it does what I need it to do on a daily basis for my job. Church accounting is a very specific type of "beast" with many different variables, I'm thankful that Church Windows has provided the support I've needed along the way.

Vorteile:

I have been using Church Windows for over a dozen years and I won't use any other software for my church.I have been overall very pleased throughout the years as our church has grown and added a preschool. It is user-friendly and provides the reports I need for my church council as well as my preschool families. In 2019 I upgraded my old "server-based system" to a "cloud-based" system and I no longer have to worry about storage or updates. Church Windows has seen me through many changes over the years.

Nachteile:

I think the thing I like least about Church Windows is that there are a lot of "grey" areas in the church and CW is more black/white. It's hard to determine "Members," "Potential," "Visitors," etc. when setting up a family. I also wish that different modules were better able to "talk" to each other within Church Windows (i.e. Membership/Donations/Accounting).

I love CW!

Kommentare: I love the software. It is much better than what I use at my "regular" job. The help is amazing and its so convenient to have everything under one program. Our Church Council has wanted to stop using it multiple times, but I have been here 22 years and always say Im leaving if I can't use it :) LOL

Vorteile:

The software is fairly easy to navigate and work with. I've been using it for over 20 years and I appreciate that the updates are typically subtle and don't take me by surprise. I do all of the accounting for a church, so I use most aspects of the software, including Payroll. I am SO grateful for the amazing techs that all call me back in a timely manner and have always been able to guide me through any issue I'm having. I would rate the Customer Service as the biggest Pro!

Nachteile:

Some aspects can be hard to navigate. "Normal" people have a difficult time reading the financial reports and we have to convert some into Excel for them to follow. Im not crazy about the Contributions module, It can be difficult to pair family members and the statement generating feature is a bit slow and can be difficult to interpret. I wish I could change some membership aspects directly in the Contributions module.

Church Windows

Kommentare: Keeping accurate data on our parishioners is essential and being able to extract the info for reports and such is also important. CW software is excellent for these tasks. It also helps us track membership involvement as well as interests. This info is used to encourage involvement and participation within the church, a goal we have to help people connect with God, to one another, and to the community.

Vorteile:

Church Windows is useful for me as a church administrator because it is flexible, easy to use and has many helpful report options we use regularly. What I like most is that it is user friendly!

Nachteile:

There is one report that is we use for each congregation meeting and it can't be created accurately. I have to create 2 separate reports and then merge them. It took a long time to figure out why this is the case, but after some tech calls and tests, we understand why it happens. I just wish it could be created in one report because it is a longer process to make it this way. It is only twice a year that we have to do this, so it is a small complaint in the scope of of all the wonderful reports we get from CW. Generally the reports are awesome, easy to create and useful.

Over 15 years of Church Windows Use

Kommentare: The company has always been amazing with their customer service.

Vorteile:

I love that everything is linked together - from income to expenses to membership

Nachteile:

I cannot manipulate the reports as much as I would like to to print them out the way committee members would like to see them. Since the update to Membership, it takes a lot longer to get the reports I want and also to figure out how to get what I used to with just a couple of clicks. Also, I have no idea how much this affected my membership since that last major overhaul of the Membership modual, but over time, I have been finding that several families have one person whose membership information has been lost and the program will not let me edit or delete them to recreate them. I do not want to have duplicate individuals in the system, but that is what I will have to do to recreate the needed information. I have been too busy to look into this problem or to contact Church Windows, since I don't know how extensive a problem this might be.

Church Windows Review

Kommentare: Overall, not a bad experience and the wonderful customer service/support really makes up for other inefficiencies. 3.5 out of 5 stars overall.

Vorteile:

I love that support is always prompt and responsive. Any time there is an issue, they are willing to help as quick as they can and they are always very kind and informative. I like that only one user may be logged in at a time to prevent duplicate or missing information. That is smart and helpful in our Presbytery! I love the tax reporting feature in the Payroll Module. It is easy and efficient!

Nachteile:

I do not like how slow the software is, especially now that we access it through remote desktop. All the screens are slower and printing is excruciatingly slow. I wish you didn't have to hit the print button so many times on so many different screens before your report or confirmation actually prints. I feel like the software is difficult to learn. You guys do a great job making webinars and help materials available, which is great. But unless someone is trained on how to do things, I don't feel like the software is very intuitive or user friendly. I don't feel like an average AR/AP person could navigate through the system and figure things out without guidance/training.

Church Windows makes church accounting a breeze!

Kommentare: Overall, very satisfied and pleased with Church Windows -- having all our records interconnected (membership-accounting-donations-calendar) is extremely beneficial.

Vorteile:

Been with Church Windows software for 15+ years, and have been thrilled with it from day one. Very user-friendly, and that's saying something since I have no accounting background. The support at Church Windows is always spot on, extremely helpful, patient, and above all, kind. They're never in a hurry, they never pressure me to get off the phone until I have all my questions and problems resolved to my satisfaction. I have seen the programs/modules and services (online reference, etc.) evolve over the years, and always for the better. They have even incorporated some of my suggestions for improvement!

Nachteile:

Reports -- it is very difficult to produce/design a church directory, or similar type document; also very difficult to obtain a usable type of giving statement, both for the Quarter and for Year-End. Other accounting reports somewhat difficult to obtain needed info.

Best Software for Churches!

Kommentare: One of the most exciting new options of Church Windows that we are utilizing is accepting donations through our website and with a mobile app. You don't have to be a tech genius to install and use this feature and it is affordable!

Vorteile:

Church Windows is designed specifically for churches and has integrated tracking membership, donations, payroll and accounting into a very user-friendly package. Because fund accounting is so unique to churches, you need software that is specifically designed to track it, and it is why we initially chose this software package. I love the accounting module and having payroll linked directly to it, and tracking the funds, income and expenditures is a breeze! For any problems or questions, Church Windows is only a phone call away. I have never had an issue that could not be resolved by one of their technicians. They are friendly, kind, and they know their stuff!

Nachteile:

Making the move from Financial to Accounting and Contributions to Donations is a learning curve that takes time and patience.

My Review of Church Windows

Kommentare: I LOVE Church Window software!! I have been using it for 15 years and every church should be using it.

Vorteile:

You can do so much with the Church Windows software. It is a great way to keep track of membership and visitors. Keep track of offering and printing reports are pretty easy to do. Customer support always returns call quickly but with work with you as long as you need. I'm a secretary at 2 Lutheran churches. The both have Church Windows. One use it for every thing. The other just uses the donation and accounting. The second church is hard to get things done and organized since they don't use the full scope of Church Windows. I think I have them talked in to using it more. Church Windows makes my job so much easier!

Nachteile:

The most trouble I have had with church windows is all the updates. The software is easy to use until they start updating the software. The seem to take something that work good and makes it more difficult to use. I'm sure that it works for the large or mega church but us little church just need simple software. Maybe they need a software for large or mega churches and another for small churches.

Eastside

Kommentare: Our overall experience with Church Windows is great. We are able to keep track of our donations, pledges, great files for tracking membership and the information we need to update for emergency information and family information. Definitely a great tool for tracking our members and visitors donations and supplying them with their year-end reports for tax purposes. There are so many other services that we are offered but have not tapped into yet. Very pleased with Church Windows.

Vorteile:

The service received. Have always received great help when I call even if it is a dumb question I am never made to feel that it is. Never have to wait long times for call backs. The Webinars are great and give instructions that are simple and easy to understand and you can get feedback during the sessions.

Nachteile:

We do not use the accounting part and would like to see software that is simple math in adding and subtracting. We are a small church and all of our help is volunteer so we do not have an Accountant on payroll, just those that give of their time. So a software program that would allow us to enter donations, pledges, etc., and then be able to substract payments, and distributions would be awesome.

Would recommend

Kommentare: Church Windows is a very east product to use. It really meets the needs of the church, has easy payroll functions with all the tax reporting forms needed and data entry is plain and simple. The church has been pleased with the product as well as the customer service response. Responses have been timely and the individuals extremely knowledgeable and easy to work with.

Vorteile:

Church Windows Software meets our needs. We are a congregation of 500 baptized members. The ease of data entry in Donations and Accounting modules is especially nice. Reporting features over the years have been greatly improved and are user friendly. The ability to add data elements in membership is extremely beneficial for tracking and reporting information.

Nachteile:

Overall, I can't give a "con" about the software. Perhaps something to note is not a con of the software but is my inexperience in designing a report. The feature is in the software but it seems cumbersome to me when I want to make a new report.

A Nice Addition

Kommentare: If we were only running a church, I would absolutely give this my stamp of approval. There is a large part of the religious community that will benefit greatly from Church Windows. However, due to the unique situation we are in, we haven't been overly impressed with the value we have gotten since using it.

Vorteile:

Church Windows solved some of the issues we had in separating our nonprofit from our church services. Previously, we had combined initiatives and campaigns to fall under a single umbrella. Church Windows is helping us tailor events and run campaigns that are specific to the church. Because of this, our engagement and donations have increased.

Nachteile:

Church Windows is nice because it has everything you need to operate the business side of a church in it. However, since we have a fully functioning nonprofit connected to our church, most of the features were already available to us in other software. While it is convenient to have everything centralized in a single database, we haven't had any features that stood out as unique that we could only acquire through Church Windows.