Where do donations to Family History Centre go

Our local Family History Centre (FHC) has had some refurbishments done.
Members of the local ward have made donations to the FHC category on tithing slips to assist in these refurbishments. These donations were recorded in the usual way in MLS.

Where are the FHC donations members have made held? And how do we use them to replace the money spent for the refurbishments?

There are some policy questions in my mind about this scenario. Usually the FM group is responsible for any refurbishments done to any part of our buildings (not the local unit), and I can't find any Handbook provisions that would allow members to pay for such things.

But putting that aside, the financial mechanics are fairly straightforward. Any money received from members for such a purpose would be put in a specific subcategory of Other:Authorized Member Financed Activities that the financial clerk would create for this purpose. Then expenses for this purpose would also be charged to that subcategory. If checks have already been written from some other category (probably Budget), then those expenses can be recategorized to be from this Other:AMFA subcategory.

If the expenses exceed the donations, then some of the expenses would still be from some subcategory of Budget; the expenses charged to the Other:AMFA subcategory should total exactly the amount of the donations. See the documentation for The "Other" Category.

Note that any payments member make to Other:AMFA will not be considered to be "donations" and thus will not be included on the year-end official tax statement these members receive.

What worries me is whether I should have recorded the donations differently.

Question 1
If the Bishop says "We have a special situation where members can donate and help with the cost of something, on the tithing slip under Other write 'Special Cause' " how should we record this on MLS?

Question 2
On the tithing slip when donations recorded against Family History Centre, does these funds go to the local FHC for the ward or to the general FHC for the church?

davidrobin wrote:If the Bishop says "We have a special situation where members can donate and help with the cost of something, on the tithing slip under Other write 'Special Cause' " how should we record this on MLS?

As explained in The "Other" Category, 'The "Other" category is divided into subcategories, and the title of the subcategory should indicate the intended purpose.' So you should select a subcategory title that is specific, such as "Other:Authorized Member Financed Activities:2014 FHC Refurbishment".

davidrobin wrote:On the tithing slip when donations recorded against Family History Centre, does these funds go to the local FHC for the ward or to the general FHC for the church?

There is no "general FHC for the church". All funds received into a subcategory of Other:AMFA are retained by the local unit.

So if donations are recorded against the normal 'Family History Centre' option as is shown on the tithing slip, are these funds still available to us as a ward or do they go in to some general church fund?

davidrobin wrote:So if donations are recorded against the normal 'Family History Centre' option as is shown on the tithing slip, are these funds still available to us as a ward or do they go in to some general church fund?

You didn't say where you are located, but I'm guessing from your spelling of "Centre" that it is not the US. Perhaps the UK?

In the US there is no "Family History Center" option on donation slips, and no corresponding standard category, so I'm not in a position to help you with that question. Perhaps someone in the UK could chime in on that question.

davidrobin wrote:So if donations are recorded against the normal 'Family History Centre' option as is shown on the tithing slip, are these funds still available to us as a ward or do they go in to some general church fund?

If you actually use a donation slip with "Family History Centre" on it, then you are outside of North America and using a different set of financial guidelines. If your clerk and/or bishop are not able to answer your question, your area office will be able to tell you if funds contributed there stay in the ward or go to an area or Church fund.

Some of the information I had given in the replies is incorrect. The donation slips DO NOT have a Family History Centre line on them (I don't know why I thought they did). The members who had made donations to the FHC had written the purpose and amount in the 'Other' section. Of course this is how it should be done.
When we had recorded these donations we had recorded them as 'Other:Family History Centre' which again is what we should have done. And that is where the funds were so I was able to transfer them to the stake to offset expenses.
Apologies for any confusion this thread may cause.