Donor Statements

A new ward clerk has sent me the following questions. Where is the best place to find these answers?

I was mailing out the donor statements from 2014 tonight. I had a few questions: for members who've moved out from the ward, how do I find addresses to send the statements to? Next, for a member who's deceased, what do I do with his statement? Last, for nonmembers who have no contact information in MLS, what do I do with those statements?

drepouille wrote:A new ward clerk has sent me the following questions. Where is the best place to find these answers?

The best answer I know is in the Help Center, Record Keeping, Finances. Then down at the bottom under Tithing Settlement, Donor Statements, in the Print and Deliver Donor Statements Discussion section there is a quote that has been allowed to stand:

If donors are no longer members of your ward, deliver or mail donor statements to those you have addresses for. Keep the rest for one year in case donors ask for them.

There is probably also something in the actual training lessons.

lajackson wrote:... there is a quote that has been allowed to stand:

If donors are no longer members of your ward, deliver or mail donor statements to those you have addresses for. Keep the rest for one year in case donors ask for them.

Although that note still stands, I personally wouldn't worry too much about it. We know that their new ward has received a combined tax statement for all the donations they made in 2014, and with that system in place, it's hardly critical that you find addresses for all your former members. If it's hard at all for you to find addresses, I'd just keep the statements on file in case someone asks for them.

I agree with aebrown. At some point we will receive official instructions from headquarters with a change in the process a unit follows for members who have contributed to the unit but live in another unit at the time tax valid statements are to be delivered. There is little chance the statement in any other unit other than the home unit will be needed. But keeping a copy of the local statement is advisable - just in case.

I am a new counselor in our ward Bishopric. For a couple of years now I have made missionary donations to another ward. When making those donations I have included my membership number on the new donation forms that came out some years ago, but when I go to look at my Donor Statements I don't see the donations to the other ward. I only see the donations made to my ward. How do I get a combined statement?

koakey wrote:How do I get a combined statement?

The simplest way is to go to lds.org/donations and look there. If it's not showing up there, then the other ward didn't enter your information in such a way that it shows up.

I don't think the information will show up in MLS directly, but I do think it will come over as a PDF of some kind during tithing settlement.

russellhltn wrote:

koakey wrote:How do I get a combined statement?

The simplest way is to go to lds.org/donations and look there. If it's not showing up there, then the other ward didn't enter your information in such a way that it shows up.

I don't think the information will show up in MLS directly, but I do think it will come over as a PDF of some kind during tithing settlement.

Thanks.. I will check it out.

It is possible the other ward never linked your first donation to your membership number. If that error occurred then subsequent donations are likely applied to just your name during donation entry and they won't be linked either. So that is the first place I would go if they don't show up on lds.org/donations.

davesudweeks wrote:It is possible the other ward never linked your first donation to your membership number. If that error occurred then subsequent donations are likely applied to just your name during donation entry and they won't be linked either. So that is the first place I would go if they don't show up on lds.org/donations.

Just to be clear - if that's the case, you need to go back to that ward and have them fix their donor record for you.

koakey wrote:For a couple of years now I have made missionary donations to another ward. When making those donations I have included my membership number on the new donation forms that came out some years ago, but when I go to look at my Donor Statements I don't see the donations to the other ward. I only see the donations made to my ward.

It was only recently that a ward could enter the membership number of a donor from another ward. As others have mentioned, your best hope is to ask that ward to tie your donations to your MR number. Otherwise, all you will have is the report they should have sent you each year for taxes in January.