Church Windows by Computer Helper is a church management software which allows church and other non-profit organizations to manage members and track donations received. Church Windows is offered in two different deployment options; Church Windows desktop edition which is installed on premises and is compatible with Windows-based systems, and Church Windows Web which is a web based solution and can be accessed through the internet from any web browser.
Church Windows ChMS offers four primary modules for membership, scheduling, donation management and accounting. These modules can be subscribed individually or clubbed together as one integrated suite. Membership module allows the maintaining of family records and members’ involvement in the church. Churches can create a personal directory for records with complete details of members or groups. The scheduler feature allows the church to schedule events and share event information like location, timing and purpose of the event with members. The event organizer can assign different roles to members like the leader, participant, and volunteers for the event. Church administration can also track attendance of group meetings and events.
Church Windows’ Donation feature allows administrators to track & record online giving. Members can pledge a donation amount and the church can send notifications through email for those behind on their pledge. The accounting module allows bookkeepers to manage balance sheets; monitor fund activity and generate the summary report of cash activity. Churches can track their annual expenses and set budgets for various activities. The administrator can set recurring transactions to save time and print reports or export into multi formats such as PDF, CSV or Excel.
Pros
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!
Cons
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.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to submit a review of Church Windows Software.
Your input is truly appreciated and helps make Church Windows better.
Please let us know if you have questions by calling us at 800-533-5227 or email us at [email protected]
Thanks again,
Church Windows
Pros
Church Windows is a very user-friendly software. It's easy to navigate through the different modules. I use the Accounting, Payroll, Membership and Donations modules the most. I went to their location in Columbus for one day of training when I started using this software. It was very helpful and our instructor, CSR, was excellent! Since then I have been able to breeze through the accounting module with ease. It's great for printing financial reports for meetings, payables and receivables, tracking income and expenses, creating individual funds, writing checks and processing payroll. For the most part it's super easy to use! If I do have a question that I just can't figure out, I call their customer support and they're very friendly and helpful.
Cons
The only draw back to Church Windows is when you call customer support, they can't help you right away. Someone has to call you back, normally it's within the hour. But sometimes it can be longer depending on the day and time you call. By the time you get a call back you're on to something else and you have to go back and remember why you needed them to help you. There have been times that I have figured it out before I get a call back. I believe you can pay more for immediate assistance, however I don't call very much so it's not worth the extra cost to our church. Some may want to pay the extra to get immediate assistance until you're more familiar with the software, then you can switch to the lower cost. Because it won't be long you'll be proficient and won't require much support!
Tammy,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to submit a review of Church Windows Software.
Your input is truly appreciated and helps make Church Windows better.
Please let us know if you have questions by calling us at 800-533-5227 or email us at [email protected]
Thanks again,
Church Windows
We are a medium size church and I am the part time bookkeeper so my thoughts on the program are related to the parts of the software I use (as well as the integrations with the other modules) For the money, it's hard to beat how easy the program is to use and how quickly I can accomplish most tasks with it. I've looked at some slick web based programs that handle "work from anywhere" better, but they cost thousands of dollars per year when you add up all the features you need, and they don't offer the flexibility and ease of use Church Windows offers.
Pros
Church Windows does a lot of things nicely. I love the way the Donations module dumps our members donations into income accounts in Accounting with the press of a button. Payroll, which is tailored for churches (handles ministers with no problems) also integrates with Accounting automatically. The Accounting module allows me to book typical church transactions quickly and easily, but provides the ability to do complex accounting transactions as well. While lots of church management programs claim to handle fund accounting, Church Windows does true fund accounting which allows our church great flexibility in tracking designated donations and spending. While not perfect, the program is an excellent value.
Cons
Church Windows has a web based version that uses browsers to view Windows type screens and I find this clunky to use. I'd much rather have an app on my phone that I can use to pull up membership data when I need someone's phone number and an Accounting app that would let me enter transactions remotely when I'm away from the office. The Accounting module also lacks an easy way to handle credit card transactions - I'd like to see something like Quicken that let's you check off the charges when you reconcile the monthly credit card statement. It handles credit cards fine, just not as easily as Quicken or Quickbooks.
Roger,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to submit a review of Church Windows Software.
Your input is truly appreciated and helps make Church Windows better.
Please let us know if you have questions by calling us at 800-533-5227 or email us at [email protected]
Thanks again,
Church Windows
Despite the above reasons, I am very happy with Church Windows. It gets the job done and the reports are clear and concise (when I can locate the ones I need!). The customer service is second to none. They have always gotten back to me the same day and they are wonderful about walking me through things that I do not understand.
Pros
The features are really great. It has everything we need and even some things that we don't! The reports are clear and concise and there is a variety as far as what types/kinds of reports are available.
Cons
The user-friendliness ability is lacking. There seem to be way too many steps to do one task. Also, it is not compatible with our label machine so we have to do our labels though the program provided by the label maker (Dymo) instead of through Church Windows, which is what we would prefer. One thing I really, really wish that Church Windows offered was the ability to separate families/people into groups that we choose as opposed to the default groups. There is also no way to do a mass delete of people/families, this is especially inconvenient for people who have only attended once or twice or for a function of one kind or another. Instead, I have to go through the entire list of people one by one and delete them. If I had a couple of days to devote just to that task, then maybe I could get it done but I don't so I can't! There should be a way for people to automatically drop off the rolls after "X" amount of time. It is a huge hassle to manually go through 1000+ people in order to see who needs to be dropped or moved to inactive.
Melissa,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to submit a review of Church Windows Software.
Your input is truly appreciated and helps make Church Windows better.
Please let us know if you have questions by calling us at 800-533-5227 or email us at [email protected]
Thanks again,
Church Windows
I recently spend about 3 months evaluating other church software programs for our church. We wanted something to reach a younger audience more quickly and something more integrated with a modern web-design. I read online, talked to people on the phone and evaluated lots of other Church-oriented software. None of them had all of the components that Church Windows had. Most did not have an integrated payroll and lots did not have integrated accounting. And ALL of them were a lot more money. For churches not willing or able to put tons of money into a software option, I believe Church Windows is the best. As I said before, there is a steep learning curve at first and lots of little quirks, but overall it does a great job of keeping all of the information that a church needs to keep in one place with easy access.
Pros
The best thing about Church Windows is that it is integrated and fairly inexpensive. You can get a donations module, payroll, accounting, membership AND scheduling with online access for a low monthly fee. AND for only a little more per year, get unlimited phone support. The support is amazing. Never have I called and not gotten an answer to any issue that I was having. The modules are all integrated and talk to each other so there is no double entry or having to make sure to remember to upload something. Payroll is great and always updated with latest forms. The accounting module is good and fairly easy to use, especially for people that may not have formal accounting training. I don't actually use the scheduling, so I cannot evaluate it. Membership and Donations are also integrated and fairly easy to use. You can send professional letters and print any donation letters that you might need.
Cons
Unfortunately, Church Windows is not always intuitive. There are tons of things that it can do and it can generate tons of data and reports, but you to know EXACTLY how to ask it for what you want. There is quite a steep learning curve to really get the most out of the program. The accounting software does use different terminology and reports than most professional accountants are used to. And the flexibility to create your own reports in Accounting is not there. This is fine for most people, but if you have a professional accountant on your staff or in your congregation, be prepared to explain some of the quirks of the system. Some of the issues are because the Accounting software has to completely integrate with the other modules and so there are limitations. I for the most part, think it is great. I has taken me about 3 years to really get comfortable using all of the modules and using them to generate the reports that I want and give me the information that I want quickly and easily. Church Windows is not really quite as modern and flashy as some of the other programs out there. It doesn't integrate with a website platform. It doesn't have the ability to produce more modern points of contact like texting, or online church directories, or some of the fresh-er and more tech integrated programs. BUT, it is a heck of a lot cheaper than those other programs AND it has good, solid, integrated payroll and accounting modules.
Stephanie,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to submit a review of Church Windows Software.
Your input is truly appreciated and helps make Church Windows better.
Please let us know if you have questions by calling us at 800-533-5227 or email us at [email protected]
Thanks again,
Church Windows
Pricing varies depending on the number of modules used
1 Module: $80/user/month
2 Modules: $115/user/month
3 Modules: $150/user/month
4 Modules: $165/user/month
Modules to choose from: Membership, Donations, Accounting & Payroll
(Addition Seats: $45/user/month)
*Pricing for Church Windows Web solution
• Church Windows' Membership module allows recording of individual and family details including address and contact information, with a short member description to connect members through call or email.
• The scheduling feature allows the church to manage events and the resources required for organizing these events with complete information on people who are attending the events and roles and duties of different members involved.
• The donation module allows the recording of donations made by members, and administrators can also view the history of donations and conduct audit trials of accounts.
• The budgeting feature within Church Windows' accounting module allows users to review the preceding year’s budget, fix the current year budget and create next year's budget automatically.
• The solution offers high-end customization for reports and invoices and the church can design their own church logo & graphics and use them to print on reports or letterhead.
• It allows users to choose the deployment option from locally installed on premises or hosted on the web.
Below are some frequently asked questions for Church Windows.
Church Windows offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: US$80,00/month
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Pricing varies depending on the number of modules used
1 Module: $80/user/month
2 Modules: $115/user/month
3 Modules: $150/user/month
4 Modules: $165/user/month
Modules to choose from: Membership, Donations, Accounting & Payroll
(Addition Seats: $45/user/month)
*Pricing for Church Windows Web solution
Church Windows offers the following features:
Church Windows has the following typical customers:
Non Profit
Church Windows supports the following languages:
English
Church Windows has the following pricing plans:
Subscription
We do not have any information about what devices Church Windows supports
Church Windows integrates with the following applications:
Microsoft Excel
Church Windows offers the following support options:
Knowledge Base, Online Support, Phone Support, Video Tutorials
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.