Online Donations

I was wondering if anyone has heard how the rollout of Online Donations is going. Perhaps well, because there have been no comments?

We are almost three months into the rollout. I continue to get questions about it, especially since the link is available at LDS.org. I tell folks that all we know is what the dropdown says, that it is coming this year. But since it is not yet available in our area, they always ask for the Bank Bill Pay instructions.

I think some of them would wait if they knew it was coming in the next month or so, but not if they might have to wait until the end of the year. My answer to them is the same as always. It will happen when it happens.

So I guess in my ramblings I have just answered my own question.

lajackson wrote:I was wondering if anyone has heard how the rollout of Online Donations is going. Perhaps well, because there have been no comments?

I haven't heard one way or another. I thought it was going to be any week now, but each weekend I go to donations and see "The Online Donations option is not yet available to members in your local unit." I guess scgallafent was right, they're making sure it's really stable before it gets to my stake. :p It's certainly been a lot slower than the CDOL roll-out.

My sister had access to the online donations in her ward while living in the dorms at BYU. I'm not sure if her current ward has it.

Stakes in Logan have started to receive access. My friend's father who is in a bishopric said that the ward members received an email about two weeks prior to the roll out. There was also an email sent to the bishop to be read over the pulpit. They went live at the end of June/beginning of July. Almost immediately there was huge drop in the number of donations turned in on Sunday. They are sending out a survey asking families if they want the Aaronic Priesthood to come on Fast Sunday to collect Fast Offerings.

Our stake in Layton received access a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to test it myself. (Soon...)

I didn't have access to it yesterday, but I just checked and today I do! Looking forward to trying it out.

nmecantwin73 wrote:I didn't have access to it yesterday, but I just checked and today I do! Looking forward to trying it out.

Interesting. I just received access as well. I don't know if that means that a very broad rollout has just taken place, or if nmecantwin73's stake and my stake just happened to get access at the same time.

aebrown wrote:

nmecantwin73 wrote:I didn't have access to it yesterday, but I just checked and today I do! Looking forward to trying it out.

Interesting. I just received access as well. I don't know if that means that a very broad rollout has just taken place, or if nmecantwin73's stake and my stake just happened to get access at the same time.

I'm not in Utah and I still don't have access.

There is a letter now in OCL for the United States announcing that this is now available.

I just checked an I have access now.

russellhltn wrote: I'm not in Utah and I still don't have access.

Not yet in Oregon.

I live in Provo and don't seem to have access as of yet. I also don't see anything about it in the Official Communication Library. Who is the letter addressed to?

jonesrk wrote:There is a letter now in OCL for the United States announcing that this is now available.

I don't see it. Is it Utah-specific?

sbradshaw wrote:I live in Provo and don't seem to have access as of yet. I also don't see anything about it in the Official Communication Library. Who is the letter addressed to?

General Authorities and the following leaders of activated
units in the United States: Area Seventies; Stake, Mission,
and District Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents

here's the link: https://letters.lds.org/document/pdf?it ... nline=true

Nice! I'm guessing it's still propagating to various servers throughout the day.

(Emphasis added)

jonesrk wrote:

sbradshaw wrote:I live in Provo and don't seem to have access as of yet. I also don't see anything about it in the Official Communication Library. Who is the letter addressed to?

General Authorities and the following leaders of activated
units in the United States: Area Seventies; Stake, Mission,
and District Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents

It appears the letter will show up in the OCL when your unit is activated. At the moment, my area doesn't appear to be activated and I can't see the July 21st letter when I go to the OCL (but the direct link works).

You might be missing the verbiage in the quote below:

jonesrk wrote: General Authorities and the following leaders of activated
units in the United States: Area Seventies; Stake, Mission,
and District Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents

I'm not holding my breath...
Edit: What russellhltn said... :p

The one bright spot - if the letter is dated July 21, then either it's a new letter for each batch, or they're really accelerating the roll-out.

russellhltn wrote:The one bright spot - if the letter is dated July 21, then either it's a new letter for each batch, or they're really accelerating the roll-out.

Maybe someone that has had access for a while can check and see what they see in OCL.

Maybe it's always been there in the pop-up, but I just noticed this:

You can expect to have access to the system no later than the end of 2015.

I know they're doing a phased roll out. Not all of Utah has access yet. It's coming....

russellhltn wrote:Maybe it's always been there in the pop-up, but I just noticed this:

You can expect to have access to the system no later than the end of 2015.

Yes. The popup has said that since the popup first appeared.

It appears from the posts so far that substantial progress is being made. Aside from actually being able to use the system (not yet for me, either), it would be almost as fun to know if they are rolling it out by unit number, alphabetically, regionally, or however.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments.

lajackson wrote:it would be almost as fun to know if they are rolling it out by unit number, alphabetically, regionally, or however.

Regionally -- by Church area.

I don't check very often (perhaps not in the past four weeks or so) but based on this flurry of reports I tried it today and, Yes! I now have access to the donations section at LDS.org! I don't think this was announced in my ward yet but, to be honest, I've arrived a bit late to church in the last two weeks so maybe I missed the announcement.

scgallafent wrote:Regionally -- by Church area.

Wow. Those are pretty big hunks. My hope meter has ratcheted up another notch. [smile]

I count 5 areas covering the US, so at the rate of one a month, they'll be done in December ......

My ward now has access. I can use the system just fine. I am trying to help the rest of the ward member get access. Some of the ward members are getting some errors. What is the best way to get technical support.

one of the error messages we are getting is " The unit you belong to does not support online donations. Please select a country that you want your donations to go to."

Dsnow554783 wrote:Some of the ward members are getting some errors. What is the best way to get technical support.

You can try Ctrl-F5 to force the page to reload. Otherwise, I'd wait. It might take a bit of time to percolate through the server farm.

russellhltn wrote:I count 5 areas covering the US, so at the rate of one a month, they'll be done in December ......

There are ten areas that cover portions of the United States. So yes, if five are already on the system, one a month would do it. It seems that at least four of them a working. (Utah has three and Idaho has one.)

And they have said all along that the rollout would be completed by December, which appears to be very achievable and, barring any difficulties, will probably actually happen.

I don't think all of Utah has it yet. My YSA stake in Provo doesn't have access – unless there's a bug.

sbradshaw wrote:I don't think all of Utah has it yet. My YSA stake in Provo doesn't have access – unless there's a bug.

I imagine that within ecclesiastical areas they are rolling it out by stakes as quickly as they can. I heard that a stake belonging to the same area I do was a part of the beta test. I assume that stake still has it, but the rest of the area does not yet.

And some areas in the U.S. extend into Canada, and Canada is not part of the U.S. ACH system. So that would mean only the U.S. portion of those areas are a part of the rollout this year (unless something similar is happening in Canada). They would have to do that by stake, as well (maybe even ward/branch, in some border cases).

So I am guessing that they are taking the areas one at a time and activating all of the stakes within that area, then moving on to the next. It's probably all on a spreadsheet somewhere. [smile]

lajackson wrote: It's probably all on a spreadsheet somewhere. [smile]

That is how we determined the order for the final LCR 3.0 release. Of course each group there was a day apart, and that was for the time to import the HTVT data.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a pretty slow roll out process? Still no news of this being available in Ohio.

From what I understand, it is intentionally "slow". In the developers/CHQ defense, they did say that it would take until the end of the year for all US units to have access.

I'm actually reminded of when they rolled out the barcoded temple recommends. They came out shortly after I went through the temple for the first time. However, the rest my mission in Texas didn't get them for at least six months after that.

As my mission president used to say "patience is a virtue." I would rather them roll it out slow and right versus fast and buggy/bogged down.

jonesrk wrote:

russellhltn wrote:The one bright spot - if the letter is dated July 21, then either it's a new letter for each batch, or they're really accelerating the roll-out.

Maybe someone that has had access for a while can check and see what they see in OCL.

I just discovered donations have been turned on in our stake. The date I see in OCL is today's date: 19 Aug 2015. So it appears to be a new letter for each area.

Will my local ward unit (clerk,bishop) be able to view the amount of tithing I pay online?

Visited Carlsbad CA today and their stake had it. Will my local unit be able to view the amount of tithing I pay online.

jlazyh wrote:Will my local ward unit (clerk,bishop) be able to view the amount of tithing I pay online?

Yes. The visibility is exactly as if you had handed a donation envelope to your bishop.

russellhltn wrote:I just discovered donations have been turned on in our stake. The date I see in OCL is today's date: 19 Aug 2015. So it appears to be a new letter for each area.

Online Donations were turned on late Wednesday afternoon for our stake and many other stakes in our area. The Notice at the Official Communication Library is dated Thursday, August 27. Emails went out earlier this afternoon (Thursday) to Bishops, Branch Presidents, and Clerks (and I suspect they also went to Stake Presidents and Clerks).

It appears, then, that a new group of stakes is being added each week on Wednesday or Thursday. Based on posts here, and my limited knowledge of some Forum member locations, it seems the rollout went West from Church headquarters, and is now moving toward the East.

lajackson wrote:Based on posts here, and my limited knowledge of some Forum member locations, it seems the rollout went West from Church headquarters, and is now moving toward the East.

Still not here.

lajackson wrote:It appears, then, that a new group of stakes is being added each week on Wednesday or Thursday. Based on posts here, and my limited knowledge of some Forum member locations, it seems the rollout went West from Church headquarters, and is now moving toward the East.

It looks like we just got turned on this week too.

mfmohlma wrote:

lajackson wrote:Based on posts here, and my limited knowledge of some Forum member locations, it seems the rollout went West from Church headquarters, and is now moving toward the East.

Still not here.

Wow. Then it appears I should revise my intelligence estimate [smile]. More likely, with the post from eblood66, they have moved out across the southern U.S. and will work their way across the northern part next.

I still wonder if they might be trying to roll it out by the end of October or early November so that it is in place before all of the year-end financial excitement starts. Just my opinionated guess.

One thing that would suggest the pattern of south first is that it is more simple to do. The North America Southwest and Southeast areas are entirely in the US. So they can just turn on the entire area. The North America Northeast, Central, and Northwest Areas include Canada, so they (will) have to turn those areas on stake by stake, rather than by area.

I have no insider knowledge. I have just been watching the pattern as it unfolds.

Our Stake in Las Vegas received a letter dated Aug 27 adding us....

Our stake was notified last week (8/20/15) that we are now in the program. However, when I go to online donations I don't see where I gain access. I'm logged in to my lds account. Am I not in the right place?

theresesteadman wrote:I don't see where I gain access.

Signed in at LDS.org you would click on your name at the top right. In the middle column of the drop down box under "My Ward", there should be a link for "Donations". Click there.

I believe everyone has access to the link. But people not on the system will end up being told they can't do that.

Are you not finding the Donations link, or are you clicking on the link and receiving a pop up that says your unit is not yet able to use the system?

Ours was turned on Aug 27th as well (North Carolina).

russellhltn wrote:I just discovered donations have been turned on in our stake. The date I see in OCL is today's date: 19 Aug 2015. So it appears to be a new letter for each area.

Looking again, the letter is now dated 27 Aug. Interesting.

The letter does not instruct the leaders to make any announcement. And so far, I don't think any have been made in my area.

russellhltn wrote:The letter does not instruct the leaders to make any announcement. And so far, I don't think any have been made in my area.

You are right. It is a Notice, and there is no request for an announcement. (Although word travels quite quickly around here.)

Per the email I received from the Church, we are supposed to now have this option. It doesn't work. I have entered my user name and password at least a dozen times today, and I continually get an error message that I need to enter my email. (duh, I received the email telling me about my responsibility to teach my ward members how to use it.) I even changed my email to see if that would help. It didn't. Unfortunately I can't see where to send a note to the appropriate department. It is frustrating.

glw1861 wrote:Per the email I received from the Church, we are supposed to now have this option. It doesn't work. I have entered my user name and password at least a dozen times today, and I continually get an error message that I need to enter my email. (duh, I received the email telling me about my responsibility to teach my ward members how to use it.) I even changed my email to see if that would help. It didn't. Unfortunately I can't see where to send a note to the appropriate department. It is frustrating.

Do you have an email address set on your LDS Account? This is currently separate from the email address on your membership record. See https://ldsaccount.lds.org/contactInformation to check.

russellhltn wrote:

russellhltn wrote:I just discovered donations have been turned on in our stake. The date I see in OCL is today's date: 19 Aug 2015. So it appears to be a new letter for each area.

Looking again, the letter is now dated 27 Aug. Interesting.

And today the Notice is dated 2 September. Someone else has won the . . . er, been added to the list of Online Donation capable units. Congratulations, whoever you are.

It's ME!!! I live in the Portland, OR area.

Well, woohoo (finally).

For online donations, do clerks and bishops have any visibility to those donations?

I have been using a direct-deposit to electronically pay tithing for many years (not a program widely known to the public) and under that program my bishop did not have visibility to my donations. As I read through the instructions on this new online program it sounds like the clerks (that's me!) have some responsibility to help members with this process, but the instructions were kind of thin on details. The thing I really like about the program I have been using for years is I set an auto pay and my tithing is paid every month automatically, just like my mortgage and other recurring monthly payments that don't change. With this new program it appears you have to take initiative to pay each time.

billslater wrote:For online donations, do clerks and bishops have any visibility to those donations?

Yes.

billslater wrote:The thing I really like about the program I have been using for years is I set an auto pay and my tithing is paid every month automatically, just like my mortgage and other recurring monthly payments that don't change. With this new program it appears you have to take initiative to pay each time.

Correct.

Yes, the donations sync back to MLS and are visible to clerks and bishopric members. They will show up on the printed reports for tithing settlement.

I'm in! This is the first day I was allowed in to the online donations app on lds.org.

Dang. Last one in line again. I hate when that happens.

https://www.lds.org/help/support/financ ... -donations

Last Updated: 3 September 2015 at 10:22

Getting Started
The Donation Process
Donation History
Donor Statements
Settings
Answers to General Questions

ONLINE DONATIONS IS NOW AVAILABLE TO ALL WARDS AND BRANCHES IN THE UNITED STATES.

Better late than never. My guess is that the beta rollout went well enough that they just pulled the switch.

I'm an expat living fulltime in Mexico and currently pay all my donations through my US bank's bill pay system. I had to contact the church's donations dept in order to make this happen. I'm thrilled the church has now rolled out online donations. Pleeeeese now roll out a version that can be used be members in other countries!

Kristidraper wrote:Pleeeeese now roll out a version that can be used be members in other countries!

That's going to be dependent on each country's laws and banking system.

According to LDS Living, online tithing should now be available to all members in the US.

Mikerowaved wrote:According to LDS Living, online tithing should now be available to all members in the US.

Wow. It's not even the 4th quarter. They sure beat that goal.

Mikerowaved wrote:According to LDS Living, online tithing should now be available to all members in the US.

Yeah, drepouille noted that a few posts ago, and he cited the official Online Donations help page.

aebrown wrote:Yeah, drepouille noted that a few posts ago, and he cited the official Online Donations help page.

Huh. I missed that.

I've been sending my tithing donations directly to SLC to avoid having my donations visible to ward clerks, bishopric, etc. Is there any way to maintain this anonymity with the online payment system?
Thanks for your help.

noahyjohn wrote:Is there any way to maintain this anonymity with the online payment system?

Not that has been revealed.

I have a member who wants to donate to a specific Missionary in a different Ward. How is that done? I would think it would be easy by having the option to put in their name and ward #.

Jeraymond wrote:I have a member who wants to donate to a specific Missionary in a different Ward. How is that done? I would think it would be easy by having the option to put in their name and ward #.

Yes, that's how it is done. When you select the dropdown under Ward Missionary Fund, the first option is "Missionary in Other Ward/Branch." You then enter the unit # for the ward/branch, and then you can select the particular missionary.

If you click on "Missionary in Other Ward/Branch" and then click on "How to get a Ward/Branch number?" (under the "Ward/Branch Number" field), at the end it says "Contact the ward or branch to get this unit number". I'm surprised it doesn't say to contact your home ward/branch clerk to get the number. All clerks have access to cdol and it's very easy to get a unit number from cdol. I just tried a random ward, got the number, pasted it into the field and clicked on 'continue'. I then could choose a missionary from that ward. Very easy and cool!

sasgrw wrote:If you click on "Missionary in Other Ward/Branch" and then click on "How to get a Ward/Branch number?" (under the "Ward/Branch Number" field), at the end it says "Contact the ward or branch to get this unit number". I'm surprised it doesn't say to contact your home ward/branch clerk to get the number. All clerks have access to cdol and it's very easy to get a unit number from cdol. I just tried a random ward, got the number, pasted it into the field and clicked on 'continue'. I then could choose a missionary from that ward. Very easy and cool!

The easiest way for any member to find out a unit number is to use maps.lds.org. Should work for most folks who know where their favorite missionary lived before leaving.

Jeraymond wrote:I have a member who wants to donate to a specific Missionary in a different Ward. How is that done? I would think it would be easy by having the option to put in their name and ward #.

As long as the ward in question is in the same country, it is that easy. If the ward is in another country, I'm not sure as it's possible via the online system. At least at this time.

russellhltn wrote:As long as the ward in question is in the same country, it is that easy. If the ward is in another country, I'm not sure as it's possible via the online system.

Online Donations only works using a U.S. checking or savings account, and you can only donate to missionaries whose ward missionary accounts are in U.S. wards and branches.

mfmohlma wrote: The easiest way for any member to find out a unit number is to use maps.lds.org. Should work for most folks who know where their favorite missionary lived before leaving.

I always see the unit number when I'm on maps but didn't know if that's because I'm a ward clerk or if everyone can see it. If everyone sees it, then you have a great point, although I don't know if the general public knows that the number next to the name of a ward is the unit number you would use in a tithing donation.

To test that theory, I signed out, went to lds.org, and used the Meetinghouse Locator to find my address and my ward. While I did not see the unit number anywhere in the body of the browser window, I did see "ward:#######" appear in the address bar of the browser. So it appears that the unit number is visible to anyone if they know where to look in the address bar of their browser.

drepouille wrote:To test that theory, I signed out, went to lds.org, and used the Meetinghouse Locator to find my address and my ward. While I did not see the unit number anywhere in the body of the browser window, I did see "ward:#######" appear in the address bar of the browser. So it appears that the unit number is visible to anyone if they know where to look in the address bar of their browser.

I don't have a calling right now (our ward just split) but I can still see the unit number by the unit name (in the popup when I click on the meetinghouse for the assigned unit) when I'm logged in. It goes away when I'm not logged in.

eblood66 wrote: I don't have a calling right now (our ward just split) but I can still see the unit number by the unit name (in the popup when I click on the meetinghouse for the assigned unit) when I'm logged in. It goes away when I'm not logged in.

Thanks for checking - I hadn't thought of extra rights granted for callings. Good to know that it's not necessary, just being logged in.

Perhaps a more relevant way (that should probably be included in the help link) is that if in the Donations app, you click on "Settings", you can see your own ward and stake number. That number can be passed from the parents of the missionary in question to those who desire it.

Direct link: https://www.lds.org/donations/#/settings

I tried to set up my bank account in online donations and it just doesn't seem to take the account info when I hit submit. is there an extended wait time for the account information to be processed before it shows up online?

rnclem wrote:I tried to set up my bank account in online donations and it just doesn't seem to take the account info when I hit submit. is there an extended wait time for the account information to be processed before it shows up online?

It should be instant. When you type in the routing number, the name of the bank should appear almost immediately. If it does not, you may have an incorrect routing number.

rnclem wrote:I tried to set up my bank account in online donations and it just doesn't seem to take the account info when I hit submit. is there an extended wait time for the account information to be processed before it shows up online?

Which part are you talking about? You should not have any delays in setting up and submitting your donation. There is a time lag from when the donation is completed and when you'll see it taken from your bank account.

Q1. How long will it take a donation to be withdrawn from my bank account?

A1. Funds are withdrawn from your bank account through an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Depending on the day you submit your donation, it may take anywhere from 1 to 3 days for the money to be withdrawn from your account. Bank holidays can also impact the timing of the withdrawal from your account. It is important to make sure you have sufficient funds in your account, or the donation will be reversed.

I try to add my bank account. I get the following error "Currently unable to add an account. Please try again later." I've been trying for two weeks. Please help.

Thank you for the info. I am a new Clerk....what is CDOL?

Jeraymond wrote:what is CDOL?

Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders: cdol.lds.org

hmataele wrote:I try to add my bank account. I get the following error "Currently unable to add an account. Please try again later." I've been trying for two weeks. Please help.

You may wish to ask your ward clerk to help you if this is still a problem.

All of the Back information was entered correctly. When I entered the routing number it found my bank right there in Utah no problem. I entered my checking account as required twice and hit save and it goes back to a start over screen. I have done it at least 10 times. Any Ideas

rnclem wrote:All of the Back information was entered correctly. When I entered the routing number it found my bank right there in Utah no problem. I entered my checking account as required twice and hit save and it goes back to a start over screen. I have done it at least 10 times. Any Ideas

Kind of a long shot but sometimes this type of behavior occurs if you monkey with your cookie settings. For example, in firefox, I have my cookie setting to "ask me every time", which means anytime a website wants to save a cookie on my computer, I'm asked first if I want to allow it. I can accept or decline. If I decline, sometimes that causes the website to not work properly and you get behavior similar to what you described. For example, I might be on a shopping site and when I "add to cart", nothing gets added to the cart. Or I might try to login and I'm taken back to the login screen right after logging in successfully.

You can reply to me privately offline if you want more details on how to fix this. But like I said, it's a long shot. If you haven't changed your cookie setting, then this probably isn't the problem.

One thing you can try is using another browser. Even if you didn't change your cookie settings, there's a remote chance that a cookie is messed up for that browser. Try IE, firefox, or chrome (or safari if on the mac). If it works in another browser, then it's probably a cookie problem, and again, you can contact me privately if you want to discuss further. (It's not really a topic for this forum.)

BTW, I customized my cookie setting so that I can decline cookies with things like "metrics" or "adserver" and such in the domain name. I don't really want my browsing tracked with site metrics even though that often helps the company optimize their website.

In another related topic, someone who was not able to use Online Donations did not have a primary email address on record at their LDS Account. You may wish to see if somehow that is the case (ldsaccount.lds.org). The Donations system seems to throw an unrelated error message in these cases, and they are looking into that, as well.

Good point, although it looks like the "primary" email address and the "membership" email address will soon be merged so maybe that problem will go away.

I setup the wrong account before submitting a donation - resulting in an nsf and reversed donation. Now that I have the correct account setup, I want to resubmit that donation that was reversed and still apply it to 2015. How can I do this?

coughanour wrote:I want to resubmit that donation that was reversed and still apply it to 2015. How can I do this?

Have the ward clerk check with CHQ to see what can be done. However, this is an area of banking rules and tax laws, I wouldn't get too hopeful.

coughanour wrote:I setup the wrong account before submitting a donation - resulting in an nsf and reversed donation. Now that I have the correct account setup, I want to resubmit that donation that was reversed and still apply it to 2015. How can I do this?

I do not believe you can. Your contribution needed to be sent by December 31st, Mountain Standard Time, to count for 2015. When the donation was reversed it was cancelled.

A tax accountant would be able to advise you on the possibility of any credit for 2015, but I think it doubtful under current U.S. IRS rules unless someone besides you made the error. It never hurts to ask, though, so if it makes a big difference, try your clerk as russellhltn suggested.

How to pay on line?

gnh626 wrote:How to pay on line?

https://lds.org/donation

Currently, I think it's only for the US.