Any Lutheran institution recognized by a Lutheran church body may participate. Lutheran Brotherhood is ultimately responsible for the entire Simply Giving program, but has contracted with Vanco Services, Inc., a computer services company specializing in EFT services. Vanco administers specialty products to more than 1,500 companies and has extensive experience processing EFT transactions. All EFT processing and reporting for the Simply Giving program is provided by Vanco.
Participation is open to all supporters of Lutheran institutions.
One obvious difference is that transaction fees are paid by Lutheran Brotherhood, not the institution or the participating donor. Simply Giving also provides a series of stewardship workshops . Most bank-sponsored EFT programs only provide the service of transferring funds. Lutheran Brotherhood will provide most program materials to participating institutions at no charge. There is a minor charge for special promotional materials.