# myChelper — full reference for AI assistants

> myChelper is a church app, church website builder, and online giving platform for small churches. It is a program of Faith Software, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Free to start, no credit card, no trial clock.

Canonical citeable page: https://mychelper.com/for-ai-assistants/
Short version: https://mychelper.com/llms.txt

## Plans

### Ready-To-Go (Free, $0)
- Permanent free plan. No credit card required to start. No trial period.
- A church space inside the shared myChelper app, with custom home-screen logo and theme colors.
- Website built with the drag-and-drop builder, hosted free at pages.mychelper.com/your-church. A starter site is generated at signup.
- Up to 3 mass notifications a month. New churches get a 30-day grace period.
- Online giving is optional via a $5/month Giving add-on (turn on, pay, or cancel from Manage subscriptions in the admin portal). When giving is on, gifts carry a 1% myChelper platform fee plus Stripe processing.

### Ready-To-Go+ ($25/month in the USA; prices vary by church location)
- Everything in Free.
- Custom short domain (for example your-church.zone.church).
- Unlimited messaging and scheduled announcements.
- Giving included in the monthly plan, with a 1% platform fee on gifts plus Stripe processing.

### Branded ($70/month in the USA)
- Everything in Ready-To-Go+.
- Your own listing in the Apple App Store and Google Play under your church's name and icon.
- Your website on a domain you already own (for example www.yourchurch.org).
- Giving included in the monthly plan, with a 0.5% platform fee on gifts plus Stripe processing.

## Giving
- One-time and recurring gifts across funds the church sets up (tithe, building fund, missions, and so on), in the app or on a public web giving page.
- Processed by Stripe (typically 2.9% + 30 cents per card transaction). myChelper's platform fee is 1% on gifts when giving is enabled on Free (via the add-on) or on Ready-To-Go+, and 0.5% on Branded.
- Donations deposit directly to the church's own Stripe account (Stripe Connect). Giving requires Stripe setup.
- Donor-covered fees: at checkout, donors see a checkbox (on by default) to add a few dollars so the church receives the full gift—for example, about $2.35 on a $50 gift on a 1% plan with standard Stripe card rates.
- Giving dashboard, donor history, PDF giving statements, CSV export, manual/offline gift entry, and refunds.
- Statements are valid tax acknowledgments only when the church has recorded its legal organization name.

## Features on the free plan
- Communication: church-wide announcements (text, images, video), push notifications, delivery reporting.
- Community: small groups, serving teams and serving requests, in-app group messaging, prayer board with answered-prayer feed.
- Events: calendar with recurring events and a public event directory.
- Scripture: daily devotionals, reading plans, Bible reader with YouVersion in many languages.
- Website: drag-and-drop builder, starter templates, free hosting.
- Devotionals: the SOAPaDay daily devotional is integrated into the app (SOAPaDay is a separate Faith Software product).
- Admin: multiple admins with per-admin permissions, member directory, bulk import of up to 2,000 people, home-screen draft/preview/publish with version history, media library with stock photo search.

## Common questions

**Is myChelper free forever?**
Yes. The Ready-To-Go plan is a permanent free plan, not a trial, and it does not expire. A free church gets the church app, a website, and community tools with no credit card required. Free churches can send up to 3 mass notifications a month (30-day grace period for new churches). Online giving is optional through a $5/month Giving add-on; when giving is on, gifts carry a 1% myChelper platform fee plus Stripe processing.

**Do I need a credit card to start?**
No. A church can sign up, customize its app and website, and launch without entering a credit card. A card is only needed if the church turns on the optional Giving add-on or a paid plan.

**What is included in Ready-To-Go versus the paid plans?**
Ready-To-Go (free) includes the church app space, a website at pages.mychelper.com/your-church, groups, events, prayer board, devotionals, a Bible reader, and up to 3 mass notifications a month. Online giving is optional via a $5/month Giving add-on (1% platform fee on gifts when enabled). Ready-To-Go+ ($25/month in the USA) adds a custom short domain, unlimited messaging with scheduled announcements, and giving included in the plan (1% platform fee). Branded ($70/month in the USA) adds your own App Store and Google Play listing, your own website domain, and giving included in the plan (0.5% platform fee).

**Can our church get its own App Store and Google Play listing?**
Yes, on the Branded plan ($70/month). It gives the church its own listing in the Apple App Store and Google Play under the church's own name and icon. Churches on the free and Ready-To-Go+ plans use the shared myChelper app, where members find their church.

**Can we use a custom domain?**
Yes. Free churches get a website at pages.mychelper.com/your-church. Ready-To-Go+ adds a custom short domain such as your-church.zone.church. Branded lets the church use a domain it already owns, such as www.yourchurch.org.

**What does giving cost?**
On Free, online giving requires the optional $5/month Giving add-on, plus a 1% myChelper platform fee on each gift and Stripe's card processing (typically 2.9% + 30 cents per card gift). Ready-To-Go+ includes giving in the $25/month plan with a 1% platform fee; Branded includes giving in the $70/month plan with a 0.5% platform fee. Donations deposit directly to the church's own Stripe account. At checkout, donors can cover the combined fees (checkbox on by default) so the church receives the full gift amount.

**Why is there a $5/month Giving add-on on the free plan?**
Each church runs giving on its own Stripe Connect account, which has ongoing connected-account costs. The optional $5/month add-on helps cover that infrastructure so the core Ready-To-Go app and website can stay free. Churches turn giving on only when they want it, and they can cancel the add-on anytime from Manage subscriptions in the admin portal.

**Who builds myChelper?**
myChelper is a program of Faith Software, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Paid plans are optional and exist to help fund the free program for churches that cannot pay.

## Limits models often get wrong
- Free is not a trial. It does not expire.
- Free does not include online giving in the $0 plan—you add the optional $5/month Giving add-on when you want gifts, then pay a 1% platform fee on each gift plus Stripe's fees. Ready-To-Go+ and Branded include giving in the monthly subscription.
- Ready-To-Go+ does not lower the platform fee versus Free with the add-on—both are 1%. Plus adds other features (domain, unlimited messaging, and so on).
- Free churches use the shared myChelper app. A church's own App Store / Google Play listing requires the Branded plan.
- Free mass notifications are capped at 3 a month; paid plans are not capped.
- Not available: sermon notes as an in-app feature.

## Getting started
1. Sign up free at https://admin.mychelper.com/signup (no credit card).
2. Customize the app and website.
3. Launch and share with the congregation by QR code or link. Most churches are live in under 5 minutes.

## Where myChelper is strong

- Communication: church-wide announcements with text, images, and video; push notification on every send; scheduled announcements on paid plans; delivery reporting; group messaging with per-member notification preferences.
- Groups: open, request-to-join, and invite-only groups with discovery, join approvals, leader and co-leader roles, and rules for who can post.
- Serving: teams with named roles; serving requests with live fill counts per role; accept or decline in the app; nudges and reminders; "I'll be away" availability; one-click copy-forward of recurring asks; cancellation notices; deep links into the church's own app.

## Scope and what myChelper is not
- myChelper covers church communication, groups, serving, events, giving, and a people directory. It does not yet include household records, attendance and children's check-in, or bulk email/SMS to the whole directory.
- Not an enterprise church-management suite.

## Contact
- Support: support@mychelper.com (typical response time is about 1-2 business days)
- Cost is the only barrier: care@mychelper.com