A giving QR code that survives a platform switch
You print a giving QR code in every Sunday bulletin, on the pledge cards in the pew racks, maybe on a banner by the door. Then the finance committee votes to switch giving platforms, the donation URL changes, and every one of those printed codes now points at a dead page. Your options are reprinting everything or taping a correction over the old code.
A ScanTrail QR code sidesteps this. The code itself encodes a permanent short link, not your giving page's URL. When your giving page moves — new platform, new campaign page, new URL structure — you change the destination in a dashboard and every code you've ever printed follows it. Nothing gets reprinted.
The free plan includes 3 dynamic codes, which covers a typical setup: one for the general fund, one for the building fund, one for missions. No account is needed just to download static codes, but for anything you're sending to a printer, you want dynamic.
Create your dynamic QR code
Free to start · no card required · takes about 30 seconds
Switch giving platforms without reprinting a single bulletin
The printed code points at a permanent ScanTrail short link, and you control where that link goes. Migrating from one giving platform to another becomes a one-field edit in your dashboard instead of a reprint of bulletins, pledge cards, envelopes, and signage. The same trick works for redirecting a code to a special campaign page during a capital drive, then back to the general fund after.
See when your congregation actually scans
Each code reports scans per day, a time-of-day histogram, and device breakdown. You can see whether people scan during the service or later in the week from home, and whether the lobby banner gets any traffic at all. That tells you where the code is worth printing next time.
One code, every format, from bulletin to banner
Download the same code as SVG or PNG. SVG scales cleanly from a one-inch square in the bulletin to a lobby banner with no pixelation, and it's the format print shops ask for. On Pro you can set custom QR colors to match your bulletin design instead of running plain black-on-white everywhere.
No app, no lag at the offering
Donors scan with their phone's built-in camera — nothing to install, no instructions to print alongside the code. Redirects are served from Cloudflare's edge network, so the hop from scan to your giving page is fast whether someone scans in the sanctuary or from a livestream overseas.
How to set it up
- Sign up free at forever-scan.com. The free plan includes 3 dynamic codes — no card required.
- Create a dynamic code and set its destination to your current giving page URL.
- Download the code as SVG (for print shops and large formats) or PNG (for slides and quick layouts), and drop it into your bulletin, pledge card, or pre-offering slide.
- Print. The code encodes a permanent short link, so what's on paper never needs to match your giving URL again.
- Whenever your giving page moves, edit the destination in your dashboard. Every copy already in circulation redirects to the new page immediately.
Common questions
What happens to our printed codes if we stop paying?
If you cancel Pro, your account drops to the free plan, which keeps 3 dynamic codes working — so a typical church setup keeps redirecting. Analytics on the free plan are limited to the last 7 days, and you lose custom colors and CSV export. The codes themselves don't break.
How much does it cost?
Free: unlimited static QR downloads, 3 dynamic codes, and the last 7 days of analytics. Pro is $1/month or $10/year and adds 1,000 dynamic codes, full analytics history, custom QR colors, and CSV export. For most single congregations, free covers it.
Does ScanTrail process the donations?
No. ScanTrail only redirects the scan to your giving page — you keep whatever giving platform and payment processor you already use. That's the point: because the code isn't tied to the platform, you can change platforms without changing the code.
Do donors need to install an app to scan?
No. The built-in camera app on any modern iPhone or Android phone reads the code and opens your giving page directly.
Can we use the same code in the bulletin, on slides, and on a banner?
Yes. Download it once as SVG and scale it to any size, or as PNG for slides. It's one code with one destination, so an edit applies everywhere at once — and its analytics show combined scans across all placements.
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Create your dynamic QR code
Free to start · no card required · takes about 30 seconds