Free Software For Churches and Religious Organizations
Yes, you can buy thousands of dollars of software either online or over the counter for your Church, but why spend unnecessary money when you don't have to? There will always be some specific program you may have to purchase but what I found online may do the same thing as any store bought program. Some of these you will not have to download and many of these are being used by professional website developers. The great thing is that they are Free and if they don't appeal to you, you can just get rid of them at no cost to you.
Audio
Audacity
Audacity is one of the most popular Free audio and editing recorder available. It’s easy to learn and use.
iTtunes
One of the most popular media players around. Many Church’s use iTtunes to podcast their sermons.
Juice
With Juice you can aggregate all your podcasts in one place for easy listening.
Songbird
This is like iTunes. It is an open source program which plays your videos and music or sermons.
YouTube to mp3 converter
How would you like to convert a YouTube sermon to mp3 so as to listen to on your favorite mp3 player. With this online website you can. Just embed the video address onto their website, click okay and they will convert it for you for immediate download.
Utilities
FileZilla
This is a very good FTP program. This is one I use for my Church’s website. It allows for an easy drag and drop format and you can upload or download multiple files from your website host server.
SmartFTP
SmartFTP is an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client which allows you to transfer files between your local computer and a server on the Internet.
Calendars
Google Calendar
This is one of Google’s best Free programs. You can embed this calendar to your website. I have seen this calendar on several websites with success. You can decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view. Planning a Church event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Churchs and organizations can promote events, too.
Lightening
A popular email client, Lightening provides Thunderbird with a calendar similar to what Outlook has.
Sunbird
Sunbird lets you manage your schedule easily, and store it where you want to.
Yahoo Calendar
One of Googles competing companies in the search engine business, Yahoo has a terrific calendar of it’s own. This calendar can be sync with Outlook.
Add Free Blogging
Blogger
This blogging tool is one of the best around. A Google owned company, Blogger offers an easy to start blogging site which can be a big part of your Church’s online outreach which can only help to enhance your website. It offers the ability to add videos, podcast and more.
Weebly
Weebly has gotten very popular lately with it’s a Free website maker and Blogging site. It is as simple as drag and dropping items like videos, pictures and podcast. It’s simple drag and drop interface makes it perfect for volunteers of Churches to keep up with the website. And best of all… No ads!
Wordpress
Another popular blogging site. It is easy to use. Several books and how-to videos have been made about blogging with wordpress.
RSS Readers
Google Reader
With Google reader you can read feeds online or off. On your computer or on your mobile phone. It is a very popular and reliable feed reader.
Feedburner
Allows blog owners and podcasters the ability to manage their RSS feeds and track usage of people who subscribe to it. It also has a lesson of how to burn your Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, MySpace or podcast/video feed.
Alternate Browsers
FireFox
I have been mostly using this browser when I go online. It doesn’t seem to bog down or freeze up like the other browser that came with my laptop. I recommend you give it a try.
Opera
Opera has been around for several years, Opera offers full support for Java, cascading style sheets, plug-ins, and more. Opera is known as one of the fastest and easy to use Web browser available.
Videos
GodTube
A YouTube type video site where you can store your videos and embed them in your website. GodTube encourages a community of Christian and non-Christian people who use GodTube to upload, imbed and share videos, upload and share photos, create their own blogs and forums, seek answers and explore their faith.
YouTube
This website should be self-explanatory but for those that have never heard of it, YouTube is the most popular Free video storage online. You can embed any video you upload into your website or simply send visitors to your video. Another great feature that YouTube has that many people do not know of or take advantage of is their free How-To videos. If you can think of a subject you want to learn like, Church sound system, most likely there is a person who has made and uploaded the tutorial of it on YouTube.
YouTube Uploader
The YouTube Uploader is a small piece of software which will allow you to upload multiple videos without having to use the standard upload form.
Youtube Downloader
This software program allows you to download video sermons or tutorials from YouTube and convert them to other video formats. You can save these videos directly to your computer. The program is easy to use, just specify the URL for the video you want to download and click the Ok!
Eyespot
Upload your clips, drag and drop the way you need it and then share your videos by embedding them in your website.
File Readers / Converters
Adobe Reader
Some say it’s still the best for anything to do with PDF files. It also includes features to aid users with disabilities.
Foxit Reader
This is a very fast PDF Reader.
PDF Online
I have used this Free online program many times. They are terrific. You upload the file you want to convert to PDF, Add your email address and Presto! They will email you your file in PDF. The emails will not be instant. They can take as long as a few hours or more to receive them but it’s worth the wait.
ZamZar
ZamZar is a file conversion website. Similar to PDF Online, you upload your file, choose the extension you want it to be converted to, enter your email address and hit enter. They will email you your converted file.
Photo Gallery & Editors
Gimp
Gimp stands for GNU image manipulation program. It does a good job of editing pictures similar to what Photoshop does. And the best thing is it’s Free!
Windows Live Photo Gallery
It has many photo sharing and enhancing capability and offers CD burning for your photos.
Picasa
Organize, edit and share your photos on your website with this Google photo manager. It is easy and fun.
Flickr
Flickr is certainly one of the best online photo management and sharing application. I have used Flickr for embedding photo shows onto my Church website. Even the student ministry of my church has used Flickr through Weebly.com website.
Pikifx
This is an online Picture editor. I offers picture effects, image borders, borders, add text to images and add borders to images.
Email Programs
Thunderbird
Mozilla has competed successfully with other companies with programs like Thunderbird. Thunderbird is an easy to use and learn email program that has had success in churches. It is pretty easy to set-up church emails through it also. The only thing it doesn’t have is a good Spam Blocker. Remember to add a type of blocker to your Church’s website in the email sections to help filter out the spam. Thunderbird does have instructions on their website to help you with this.
Mail Redirect
This is a Thunderbird add-on which lets you forward a message to the proper person without revealing that you received the message first.
Gmail
Another fantastic Google program. This email program has one of the largest email storage capacities out there. If you are a smaller Church using a Free website like Weebly (One of the best) then you may consider you and your Church staff using Gmail.