Tell us about the inspiration behind Jesus.net

We imagine a world with every single person having free access to the Gospel, knowing God, growing in Jesus and sharing faith easily. Worldwide, millions of people are online 24/7. They are searching for peace, love, lasting relationships and (sometimes without knowing it) they are looking for God. We want to be there for them, to help them find Hope.

The Internet is available everywhere. Close to every culture. On every device. On every mobile phone. The Internet is the best illustration of freedom, free access, and an open future. Jesus.net uses the Internet to give people access to God’s love in their first or second language.

How is Jesus.net helping people grow in their faith?

Most people in this world believe there is something between heaven and earth. We often describe this as religious feelings. Christianity is also a religion. But more importantly, it is a living relationship with God. This can only be seen in the lives of people. Jesus.net provides Christians with the tools to show how real this relationship with Him is. To share their faith, as easily as possible.

We try to connect to the needs of people, give them content to use and connect with the people. By asking them where they are in their life/faith journey we provide them content based on their needs. We believe that we can provide personalized content, which is unique in the XChristian world. This video explains how we do this.

What are some of the biggest challenges that you are facing?

We are a young organization and don’t have a long track record of donors. The last few years we worked on having a trustworthy reputation and creating a bigger donorbase.

What have been the high points in your growth story?

We started with Jesus.net in 2009, as a collaboration of several organizations. In 2017 we became an independent organization to help our 100+ partners around the world. Since the end of 2017 we have had our head office in the oldest Water tower of the Netherlands in Rotterdam.

Has Donorbox helped you increase online donations? How would you describe your fundraising experience before and after Donorbox?

In 2019 we started using Donorbox, because we wanted to include a donor element in the searcher-journey. We started in the US in 2019 and raised $90.000. In 2020 we grew to $300.000. Mid 2021 we are $359.000. We added another donorbox account for some European languages. In 2020 we raised €62.000. In 2021 we grew until August already to €118.000.

In 2021 we also added a Dutch account, because Donorbox added the connection to the most important payment system in the Netherlands (iDeal). We raised €14.000 until August.

How has Donorbox helped improve your donation experience?

Donorbox has several aspects that make the work of fundraising much easier.

• The user experience is the central element. When people want to donate they see a screen that only shows the amount people want to give. No banking information in the first screen! This gives people the impression of having already given when they push the donate button. We noticed the mindset because of a step by step donation journey. The second screen asks for relevant information that people fully understand. This causes a 30% increase.
• Donorbox has the option to cover the transaction costs. That is a huge plus! About 80% of the people cover this.
• Adding new banking systems all the time is very helpful.
• The back end is really good and saves a lot of time for our financial team.

Do you have any other insights about Donorbox you’d wish to share?

Donorbox is very helpful in solving issues. The small team is quick in responding. Last year they helped us to create year-end receipts for the French donations that needed an adaptation because of the French law.

What’s in store for Jesus.net the next few years?

We will grow more and build more personalisation on various fronts for our members and audiences.