New family moved in to area - Tithing payments

At the moment this is a hypothetical question, but I would like to be prepared if the scenario plays out! A family, with young children, have just moved into our area. They are not certain if they will join our small branch or go to a larger ward. We do not have their membership details yet. There is some discretion as to where people worship, because of the travelling distances involved. Hence the uncertainty.

My questions are:

1. How would/could Tithing settlements be entered in MLS?
2. Should we request their membership details anyway?

Any advice, as usual, gratefully received.

Biggles wrote:At the moment this is a hypothetical question, but I would like to be prepared if the scenario plays out! A family, with young children, have just moved into our area. They are not certain if they will join our small branch or go to a larger ward. We do not have their membership details yet. There is some discretion as to where people worship, because of the travelling distances involved. Hence the uncertainty.

My questions are:

1. How would/could Tithing settlements be entered in MLS?
2. Should we request their membership details anyway?

Any advice, as usual, gratefully received.

The branch president should talk to the family and discuss which ward/branch they want to be part of. It is always best to make a firm decision so that the family can feel part of the ward/branch, receive callings, etc. You should not casually request that their membership records be moved into your branch until the priesthood leaders have consulted with the family to make the decision.

Tithing settlement can only be done (and must be done) for all members of the ward/branch as of December 31 of the year. So it is too early to worry about Tithing Settlement. If the family contributes tithing to the ward and the branch, that's okay. The unit that has their records on December 31 will be responsible for tithing settlement, and the other will simply give the year-end donation statements to the family for the donations given to that unit.

Biggles wrote:How would/could Tithing settlements be entered in MLS?

As Alan said, you only declare for those you have membership records for as of Dec 31. If they have made donations to the branch but are not members of the branch as of Dec 31, then you record them as a "out of unit member" (I thing that's the phrase) during tithing settlement. The same as any other visitor or family that has moved out of the branch during the year.

RussellHltn wrote:If they have made donations to the branch but are not members of the branch as of Dec 31, then you record them as a "out of unit member" (I thing that's the phrase) during tithing settlement. The same as any other visitor or family that has moved out of the branch during the year.

Those that have made contributions, but are not part of your unit by year's end do not get declared at all. The idea is for them to be declared in only one unit, and that will be the one they reside in (or in Biggles case, the one they choose to join) at year's end. All the others just silently forward their donation information to their new address for tax purposes.

Alan_Brown wrote:The branch president should talk to the family and discuss which ward/branch they want to be part of. It is always best to make a firm decision so that the family can feel part of the ward/branch, receive callings, etc. You should not casually request that their membership records be moved into your branch until the priesthood leaders have consulted with the family to make the decision.

Tithing settlement can only be done (and must be done) for all members of the ward/branch as of December 31 of the year. So it is too early to worry about Tithing Settlement. If the family contributes tithing to the ward and the branch, that's okay. The unit that has their records on December 31 will be responsible for tithing settlement, and the other will simply give the year-end donation statements to the family for the donations given to that unit.

Sorry, my use of the term Tithing settlement was incorrect, I meant the monthly Tithing Offering.

I would not casually request that their membership records be moved to our branch, without their and the priesthood leaders explicit permission.

Paraphrasing my original question. If they wished to pay their tithing, how could/would this be done if we don't have access to their membership records, until such time as they decide which branch/ward they would like to remain in?

RussellHltn wrote:If they have made donations to the branch but are not members of the branch as of Dec 31, then you record them as a "out of unit member" (I thing that's the phrase) during tithing settlement. The same as any other visitor or family that has moved out of the branch during the year.

I think this answers my question!

Biggles wrote:If they wished to pay their tithing, how could/would this be done if we don't have access to their membership records, until such time as they decide which branch/ward they would like to remain in?

The way it works is you create a donor record for each member of the family that has contributed, then if they decide to join your unit, you can later match their (temporary) donor records to their (permanent) membership records when their records arrive.

Mikerowaved wrote:Those that have made contributions, but are not part of your unit by year's end do not get declared at all.

Don't you mark them as not part of the unit?

RussellHltn wrote:Don't you mark them as not part of the unit?

In the Tithing Declaration Report you mark them as "Not Declared" and in the Notes area you can indicate they moved, or joined another unit.

RussellHltn wrote:Don't you mark them as not part of the unit?

Matching donor records to membership records is an urgent task. You will be reminded of it as long as there are records that have not been matched. If they do join your ward, then match them to their membership record. If they don't, then you select the "Member of another unit" option and the urgent task for that member goes away.

RussellHltn wrote:If they have made donations to the branch but are not members of the branch as of Dec 31, then you record them as a "out of unit member" (I thing that's the phrase) during tithing settlement. The same as any other visitor or family that has moved out of the branch during the year.

When you add a donor who is not a member of the unit, you add them as "Member of another unit" (this is not at tithing settlement time, but right when the donor record is added), if they have not yet declared their firm intention to be a member of the unit.

If they later join the unit, you can always change the donor record to be "member of unit" and match them up with their membership record number.