Online Donations for children

Is there a way to make donations for your children through your account or do they need their own account? This would be for kids that are 10 and 8 years old.

gumdong wrote:Is there a way to make donations for your children through your account or do they need their own account? This would be for kids that are 10 and 8 years old.

You can only donate in your own name, so they would need their own LDSAccount (which you would have to give permission to create, since they are under age 13). They would also need to have a bank checking or savings account from which to contribute, and the minimum amount for an ACH transfer is $1.

Of course, they can continue to donate using the donation envelopes.

Is there a minimum age guideline for a child to donate tithing online? I see that as parents we'd have to give permission to create an LDSAccount for a child under age 13, but is there an age cut-off? For example, a child is 4 and has a savings account. Would this child be too young to have an account and donate tithing online? Obviously the parents would be doing it for them until they are able to themselves, but I was just curious if there was an age that is not allowed.

bryan4218 wrote:Is there a minimum age guideline for a child to donate tithing online?

I don't see one listed. However, there is a minimum amount: "must be greater than $1.00".

bryan4218 wrote:Is there a minimum age guideline for a child to donate tithing online? I see that as parents we'd have to give permission to create an LDSAccount for a child under age 13, but is there an age cut-off? For example, a child is 4 and has a savings account. Would this child be too young to have an account and donate tithing online? Obviously the parents would be doing it for them until they are able to themselves, but I was just curious if there was an age that is not allowed.

The minimum age requirement is 13 years old.

SparkyMartin wrote: The minimum age requirement is 13 years old.

Can you please show me where this is the fact, because that is contradictory to what others have said.

bryan4218 wrote:

SparkyMartin wrote: The minimum age requirement is 13 years old.

Can you please show me where this is the fact, because that is contradictory to what others have said.

SparkyMartin is a church employee and based on other posts he's made I assume he's involved with either support or development of online donations. So his information is almost surely more reliable than what the rest of us can provide. We're just other users relying on personal experience, documentation and/or guesses.

bryan4218 wrote:

SparkyMartin wrote: The minimum age requirement is 13 years old.

Can you please show me where this is the fact, because that is contradictory to what others have said.

I work on the Online Donations project as the quality assurance lead. The 13 year old age requirement is absolutely correct. Perhaps we need to add that as an FAQ item if it is not already there.

SparkyMartin wrote:Perhaps we need to add that as an FAQ item if it is not already there.

Please do. "Q9" is based on a child making a donation, but only mentions a minimum amount. I can't find anything about a minimum age.

Why is the age limit 13 y/o as it should be open to anyone who is a member with parent permission?

montgomeryburns wrote:Why is the age limit 13 y/o as it should be open to anyone who is a member with parent permission?

I don't know for sure, but it's probably related to COPPA rules: "COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age."

+1

My son is over 13 and has a church login. When we try to do his donations online, it gives us this error every time:
Donations
Uh oh! We're Sorry...
It looks like something went wrong which prevented the page you requested from displaying. Sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused!

We use the donations system all the time for me, my son, my daughter. I don't understand why this is happening.

The error message is used for general connectivity issues. The most common is church server overload and timeout problems. Try to access at other times on different days to see if that helps. Also try connecting on another computer and/or network to help in troubleshooting.

Another thing to check is to make sure his Church Account has his membership record number (MRN) registered in his profile.

Also check and makes sure a valid email is on the account.

His email is valid. His membership number is there. We have tried probably 20 different times since December 2019. He was sad he couldn't be a full tithe payer before end of year (I told him it was the intent that counts). (from his mom)

cheney13 wrote:His email is valid. His membership number is there. We have tried probably 20 different times since December 2019. He was sad he couldn't be a full tithe payer before end of year (I told him it was the intent that counts). (from his mom)

Have you made sure his membership record number is correct? If it was from a hand-written temple recommend, it may not be correct. Have you had your clerk look into it? The ward/branch clerk is the "first-tier" tech support for members. If the clerk cannot figure it out, they have options to request assistance from the stake or the global service department.

If I wasn't able to pay tithing online, I would do it the "old fashioned way" with cash/check, a paper slip, and an envelope handed to the bishopric member (like much of the world still has to do today).

I just set up an account for my 8 year old, and tried to donate. I get an error message stating, "You must be at least 13 years old to access this site." This just verifies that what was stated is accurate as of today.

lucygoosec wrote:"You must be at least 13 years old to access this site."

U.S. child protection law drives this restriction.

Just looked this up b/c donations website blocks my 11y/o from accessing- it says you must be at least 13 to use, and I'm trying to set her up to pay online tithing, since part of our current Area directions regarding COVID-19 include paying tithing online where possible....she has an LDS account, she has a savings account, can't see a reason not to be able to use them together to do this.

lynnesshawkes wrote:she has an LDS account, she has a savings account, can't see a reason not to be able to use them together to do this.

The Church is complying with the The Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA). That is why you see the message "You must be at least 13 years old to access this site." Your area authority is well aware of this restriction and therefore used the words "where possible" in their instructions to pay tithing online.

How do our kids pay tithing during the pandemic? Both my kids have debit cards (aged 12 and 8) and I'd love them to be able to pay online (even if access was given through my login, although they both have logins.) I'm not sure what do to at this point - they want to pay tithing.

molliepayne wrote:How do our kids pay tithing during the pandemic? Both my kids have debit cards (aged 12 and 8) and I'd love them to be able to pay online (even if access was given through my login, although they both have logins.) I'm not sure what do to at this point - they want to pay tithing.

At least if you're in the US, one option might be to paper-mail a check to your bishop. (However, there are indications that at the moment the USPS might be getting to be a little less reliable than usual.)

If nothing else, I seem to recall stories from a few decades ago of members who would store their tithing money until a Church authority could be found to give it to. It could be used as a teaching tool, along the lines of, "This belongs to the Lord. We must resist the temptation to use it ourselves."

Another alternative might be to transfer the money to the parent and let them pay on behalf of the child. Not ideal, but it is an alternative.

I live in Germany and have 6 children. 4 are under the age of 18, of which 2 are under the age of 13. Now that we should only pay through our church account and children under aged can't do that, how do they pay their tithing? I don't want it to be on my account, since I need my tithing slip for tax returns.

shimara77 wrote:I live in Germany and have 6 children. 4 are under the age of 18, of which 2 are under the age of 13. Now that we should only pay through our church account and children under aged can't do that, how do they pay their tithing? I don't want it to be on my account, since I need my tithing slip for tax returns.

One suggestion would be to ask your bishop or branch president if any guidance has been given on the topic from the stake or the area leadership. If not, he could ask. A little more direct approach might be to use the 'Feedback' link/button on one of the main donations pages to ask the question (and state that you would like to be contacted with an answer).

Both of my kids are over 13 but when we attempt to pay online it doesn’t show up as an option for them under their logins? What do I need to do in order for the “make donation” option to show on their accounts?

Thanks

BrookeFree wrote: Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:33 pm Both of my kids are over 13 but when we attempt to pay online it doesn’t show up as an option for them under their logins? What do I need to do in order for the “make donation” option to show on their accounts?

Just guessing, but make sure that their membership number is on their account.