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Planning Center

Score9.1 out of 10

36 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Planning Center?

Planning Center in Carlsbad offers modular church management applications, providing CRM, tithe management, event registration and attendance, and volunteer resource scheduling.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Planning Center.
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Planning Center - would use it again and again

Incentivized
Suzanne SchuknechtView profile
Data & Communication Specialist in Marketing at Prairie Ridge Church (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have used Planning Center(PCO) for 15+ years to plan our Sunday morning, youth and kids services. We also utilize it to schedule volunteers at our church.

Pros

  • Planning Center is great for scheduling services.
  • I love using Planning Center to schedule volunteers in quarterly time frames.
  • Allowing people to confirm or decline assigned positions helps us out.

Cons

  • I wish people on volunteer teams could swap positions without having an admin involved.

Return on Investment

  • Planning Center has had a positive impact on our business because we are able to utilize it for multiple functions.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Pushpay, Realm and Subsplash

Other Software Used

Pushpay, Realm, Subsplash

Indispensable Tool for Ministry

Incentivized
David CalvertView profile
Pastor for Creative Arts at Grace Community Church (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Planning Center for scheduling and managing all volunteers in music ministry, children's ministry, student ministry, and our security team. We also use Planning Center's Giving app for charitable giving management, their People app for database management, their Groups app for our small group ministry, their Registrations app for event management, and their Check-Ins app for children's ministry check-in each week. These products are an integral part of our interaction with congregants and volunteers on a weekly basis.

Pros

  • Volunteer Management
  • Scheduling
  • File Hosting
  • Communication tools
  • Automated reminders

Cons

  • Groups' Communication Tool
  • Giving app scaled access for volunteers
  • Church-wide communication tool
  • Song-reporting integration with CCLI

Most Important Features

  • Automated reminders
  • Scheduling tools
  • File hosting services
  • Mobile apps

Return on Investment

  • Planning Center Services has become an irreplaceable part of our Sunday gathering preparation
  • Planning Center Music Stand is an invaluable tool for rehearsal and performance of songs each week
  • Planning Center Giving helped us establish easy ways for folks to give online during COVID and beyond
  • Planning Center Registrations helped us navigate attendance issues during COVID, and has always been our go-to for gathering information for Events

Alternatives Considered

FellowshipOne, Church Community Builder and Pushpay

Other Software Used

Canva, Google Calendar, GarageBand, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, Logic Pro X, vMix Live Streaming Software, Vimeo Enterprise (Vimeo Livestream)

Planning Center - Great for Coordinating Church Services!

Incentivized
Steve Crawford
Youth Pastor at Grace Bible Church of Hutchinson, KS (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • Easy to use app
  • Helpfully displays order of services/events
  • Provides instant collaboration among several users

Cons

  • Could improve the "timing" tool (as in, adjusting the time when events start)
  • Could add personalization options (as in, the ability to upload a logo for an event)
  • Could add a "copy and paste" feature (maybe there is one, but I haven't seen it)

Most Important Features

  • Collaboration among many users
  • Ease of arranging events within an larger event
  • Ability to access the tool from one's phone or tablet (the app)

Return on Investment

  • Planning Center has helped us put on quality worship service every week
  • Planning Center has allowed us to put on an annual youth conference with excellence
  • Planning Center has promoted teamwork and collaboration among our volunteers

Alternatives Considered

Asana and Trello

Other Software Used

Church Community Builder, Pushpay, Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager, Wix

A no brainer. Unmatched volunteer coordination with powerful resource delivery

Incentivized
Walter Aho
Creative Director at Lake Superior Christian Church (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • Volunteer coordination with blockout dates.
  • Fantastic repository of resources.

Cons

  • Adding files to an item on a playlist can be hard to find outside of that set.
  • Previewing songs on import gives very limited info - can be hard to find the correct one.

Return on Investment

  • Reliable and consistent scheduling options for volunteers. Keeps them happy and us staffed.
  • Better communication makes for a better planned and executed service.

Alternatives Considered

Breeze

Other Software Used

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere Pro

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