Like many of you, I rejoiced when it was announced last week that online tithing had rolled out to the entire United States. What fun we’d have no longer fussing with paper and envelopes or being forced to touch people’s hands as we look into their eyes. #accountabilityisforsuckers

I’m sort of one who appreciates my routine on certain things. One of those is that I pay my tithing monthly on fast Sunday so as to roll in a fast offering and knock it all out with one check. I love trees.

But last week I was traveling over the weekend and realized I’d have to set back my fast offering and tithing. That is, until I remembered I could now pay it all online from anywhere. So I finally hopped in, linked up my bank account (which, thankfully, doesn’t require days to process and a deposit of two cents or whatever to verify; it’s immediate), and got going.

The entire process was as straightforward as one might expect, especially with the skeuomorphic design of the whole thing.

Then I realized how much easier the “minor” donations are online than in their old paper form, and this actually compelled me to donate to funds for which I rarely think to donate, like the Perpetual Education Fund, or my ward’s missionary fund, or even a specific missionary! This was all possible before, but doing so wasn’t as clean of an experience.

Let me walk you through it.

First, behold your empty form.

Say you’re interested in a ward missionary fund. Who isn’t? Just hit the dropdown and see that not only can you donate at large to your ward, you can also choose a specific missionary currently serving from your ward.

Moreover, you can even donate to another ward or branch if you have the ward/branch number. (Sadly, no search function exists in the app to find it.)

Lastly, if you’re interested in any of the “Other” items, they are right there for you, and you can check as many as you like.

I found myself chucking money at things as if I were a day trader. It was fun, minus the speculative part. Either way, these are a boon to the online donation experience and will hopefully get people more involved in donating to things beyond the usual heavy hitters.

Also, I love that all previous donations are listed to the side. Genius.

If I can add a suggestion to any developers who read this, might I suggest the Church allow us to donate to specific humanitarian causes? Like if we really care about Syrian relief (and we should), we can choose that. I trust our humanitarian wing with my funds, but many of my international development wonk friends get frustrated by some of the inefficiencies in the Church’s humanitarian work.

But that’s just nitpicking. These extra features are great. They aren’t groundbreaking, but having them presented in this way is a welcome inclusion in the donations process.