Automatic Payments

I have a fixed income. My tithing stays the same each month. Can I set up automatic payments online? I'd rather do this than what I've been doing. I have my bank send checks automatically to my Bishop each month. It would be nice to eliminate this and set up an auto payment.

Is this already a feature? If not can you add it?

Nicole
[Phone number removed]

I don't know about setting it to automatic payments, but you can "reuse" a prior online donation. So if you donate the same amount each month, you can select the last online donation and it will be all filled out with the same information for the current date. Then you just hit "submit."

Scheduled/automatic payments are not supported for the online system. You can make that request by using the feedback link at the bottom of the donations page but I'm sure they have had that request multiple times before. Generally the church doesn't indicate before hand what changes, if any, they plan on making to online systems.

As far as I know, there's currently no way to set up automatic payments. I know it's been requested before, but I have no idea to what extent it's being considered.

Considering that donations are non-refundable, automatic payments could cause a serious problem if the income should suddenly change for any reason. Especially if that change is associated with events the prevent timely changes to the payments.

I'm in the Uk and wish to pay my donations by Direct Debit (they are currently paid by Standing Order). The amount would be the same each month. Is this possible to do?

MartynGillBaldwin wrote:I'm in the Uk and wish to pay my donations by Direct Debit (they are currently paid by Standing Order). The amount would be the same each month. Is this possible to do?

Direct Debit requires that the organization request the funds from the bank. This actually is what happens with Online Donations. However, the Church Online Donation system does not support multiple or recurring contributions. You have to go online each time and make the donation.

So if you wish to send your contributions automatically, you will need to keep the Standing Order in place at the bank and let the bank send the donation on a regular basis. If you are willing to go into the Church Online Donation system on a regular basis, you will be using Direct Debit, but you will have to initiate the donation each time.

For the benefit of those in the U.S., in the UK a Standing Order is similar to a regularly scheduled/repeating bank Bill Payment, and Direct Debit is similar to an organization-requested ACH payment.

Any idea if repeating donations will ever be available? I had a member ask about how to do auto payments for a son's mission. The only way to automatically do it (that I can think of) is to use a bank's bill pay system to send a physical check to the bishop every month and he brings it to church and we deposit it. That seems like a lot of extra steps just because there is no repeating donation option. (website is down right now so I'm going from memory... I assume people can donate to e specific missionary on the website right now)

One can take a prior donation and "repeat" it very easily in the donation system. It only takes a couple of clicks if the amount and accounts don't change. This is what I would recommend to a member who does not want to physically write checks. Yes, you can donate to a specific missionary's mission account (even in another ward in the US and some other countries).

I would advise against having the bank's bill pay system mail a check to the bishop. That forces him to manage their tithing slips for them and he really does not have time to do that (but he will do it and not complain). If they want to use bill pay as a reminder system, they could have the checks sent to themselves and then fill out the donation slip to hand to a bishopric member.

davesudweeks wrote:One can take a prior donation and "repeat" it very easily in the donation system. It only takes a couple of clicks if the amount and accounts don't change. This is what I would recommend to a member who does not want to physically write checks. Yes, you can donate to a specific missionary's mission account (even in another ward in the US and some other countries).

I would advise against having the bank's bill pay system mail a check to the bishop. That forces him to manage their tithing slips for them and he really does not have time to do that (but he will do it and not complain). If they want to use bill pay as a reminder system, they could have the checks sent to themselves and then fill out the donation slip to hand to a bishopric member.

I suggested that as an alternative. It will end up being a clerk that fills out the slip, not the bishop, so for the Bishop he just needs to get the check to us. I suspect the person may be asking as a way to suggest to the ex-husband (father of the missionary) to be consistent in sending a check.

You are correct that normally the bishop will hand it off to the clerk (I am the ward clerk in my ward). However, using this method is still not advised in my opinion.

The financial audits and controls are all based on making sure the money consecrated to the Lord is handled appropriately and as designated by the donor. When one hands off the responsibility of filling out the donation slip to a member of the bishopric or the clerk, how can one be sure their donation is handled as designated? If a question were to arise, we would go to the donation slip to make sure the donation was recorded as specified (with the assumption that the slip was filed out by the member).

I just completed working through a scenario like this over the past two years with a check, mailed to the bishop from a family outside of our ward, with instructions that the donor had to be kept anonymous to the missionary's family (the father was also a member of the bishopric). Every month we had to play musical chairs in the clerk's office to comply. Personally, I'm glad we don't have to deal with that every month now.

davesudweeks wrote:You are correct that normally the bishop will hand it off to the clerk (I am the ward clerk in my ward). However, using this method is still not advised in my opinion.

The financial audits and controls are all based on making sure the money consecrated to the Lord is handled appropriately and as designated by the donor. When one hands off the responsibility of filling out the donation slip to a member of the bishopric or the clerk, how can one be sure their donation is handled as designated? If a question were to arise, we would go to the donation slip to make sure the donation was recorded as specified (with the assumption that the slip was filed out by the member).

I just completed working through a scenario like this over the past two years with a check, mailed to the bishop from a family outside of our ward, with instructions that the donor had to be kept anonymous to the missionary's family (the father was also a member of the bishopric). Every month we had to play musical chairs in the clerk's office to comply. Personally, I'm glad we don't have to deal with that every month now.

If it is against a rule to fill out the slip when one doesn't exist due to bill pay being used, then feel free to reference it. It may not be the ideal situation but there's a practicality that comes up in certain situations. In this scenario, I have no idea if the father is a member or active or has an lds.org account. My goal is make it as easy as possible for the family to make the donation (within reason).

I am not trying to be argumentative, but based on the instructions under receiving donations (LCR | Help | Help Center | Record Keeping | Finance | Donations | Receive Donations), I believe the practice of having a check mailed to the bishop without a donation slip included is not in harmony with the Policy and Principles (see third paragraph, first sentence). The next paragraph specifies how automatic bill pay should be handled.

That said, your bishop should direct how he wants to handle your situation. He has the mantle.

chriswoodut wrote:I suggested that as an alternative. It will end up being a clerk that fills out the slip, not the bishop, so for the Bishop he just needs to get the check to us.

Seems like the method is an attempt to make it convenient for someone, but just makes it inconvenient for someone else.

As a member of the stake audit committee, my personal opinion is that if the bishop receives a check without a donation slip, then he, his counselor, or his clerk should contact the member to verify which donation category/categories the member desired. If they do that consistently, eventually the member will get tired of the phone calls and conversations, and switch to a more standard method of making donations.

Again, in my opinion, the bishopric and clerks should never assume the donation was meant for tithing, fast offering, or missionary support. That is the purpose of the donation slip. Receiving a check in the mail without a donation slip should be treated the same as receiving a check in a grey donation envelope without a donation slip -- contact the member.

When I was stake clerk long ago, the stake would often receive checks from wards and branches, with no other paperwork in the envelope. Even though the memo on the check said "YW Camp" I would still have to manually complete a donation slip to include with the batch (for audit purposes). Then I would send the yellow copy of the donation slip back to the ward that printed the check, with a reminder that it is their job to complete the donation slip, and include the white copy with the check. (This is all OBE now that paperless transfers between units is the standard process.)

I find it hard to believe that although we have direct internet access to make donations to the church, I can't set up an automatic monthly donation to fund my daughter's mission. This is extremely inconvenient and I'm more than likely to forget to make a monthly donation on time, especially since we live in different wards. If I don't want to have to worry about forgetting to make periodic payments, my only option is to pay for her entire mission up front.

Why can't or won't the the church allow automatic payments for missionaries? When I served in the 80s, my family was required to deposit $100 a month in an account the church created for me at Zions bank. To comply with that system, my parents set up an automatic transfer from their local bank to Zions bank. So over three decades ago we could set up automatic payments, yet now that we have the internet and direct access to making donations online, there isn't an option to set up an automatic recurring payment for missionaries.

So Church Financial Department or whoever is responsible for this policy, please add my vote to implement this capability. I'm sure you've had a few thousand requests for it over the years, and you'll get plenty more until you implement this!

Ricksgrad80s wrote:...I can't set up an automatic monthly donation to fund my daughter's mission. This is extremely inconvenient and I'm more than likely to forget to make a monthly donation on time, especially since we live in different wards. If I don't want to have to worry about forgetting to make periodic payments, my only option is to pay for her entire mission up front.

One thing you can do until they add this feature is to set a monthly reminder on your calendar of choice. Yes you will still have the manual step of actually creating the donation, but that way you won't forget and it is pretty fast, especially if you just reuse the previous mission donation.

Ricksgrad80s wrote:So Church Financial Department or whoever is responsible for this policy, please add my vote to implement this capability. I'm sure you've had a few thousand requests for it over the years, and you'll get plenty more until you implement this!

You might also consider that the Church finance department may have had a few thousand requests for it and, for whatever reason, has made a specific, purposeful decision not to implement that functionality.

Currently in Australia we have BPAY (see https://www.bpay.com.au/) which allows great flexibility in periodic or scheduled payments via online banking using a biller code and unique reference. It is my understanding that this does cost the Church a fee to participate in but is helpful to the Saints.

I suggest that until and unless some type of automated payment method is in place that the BPAY option remains as a donation option. I have another son who will serve a mission in the next year or two and would like to know that we can make smaller regular payments. Here in Australia this is called "bill smoothing" and allows us to budget appropriately by looking at how much bills are annually then divide by 26 (fortnights) or 52 (weeks) to determine how we budget. The Church's teaching on budgeting is sound and helpful (see https://www.lds.org/search?q=budgeting& ... omains=all) however, this limitation seems inconsistent with the doctrine of provident living (see https://www.lds.org/topics/family-finances?lang=eng). Please leave existing electronic payment methods in place until or unless such an option is available through Online Donations. When the law of consecration is introduced, making payments directly to the Church would be better framed with the option to schedule our income in some type of organised way...just saying!

Hi,

I don’t understand the rationale behind not enabling automatic/recurring payments. We can do this now via BPay in Australia. I assume over 75% of members receive a fixed income for the majority of the year. This new change feels like a step backwards (e.g introduction of new technology that makes a process less user friendly!). Am keen to understand the rationale?

Jim

Ricksgrad80s wrote:I find it hard to believe that although we have direct internet access to make donations to the church, I can't set up an automatic monthly donation to fund my daughter's mission. This is extremely inconvenient and I'm more than likely to forget to make a monthly donation on time, especially since we live in different wards. If I don't want to have to worry about forgetting to make periodic payments, my only option is to pay for her entire mission up front.

Why can't or won't the the church allow automatic payments for missionaries? When I served in the 80s, my family was required to deposit $100 a month in an account the church created for me at Zions bank. To comply with that system, my parents set up an automatic transfer from their local bank to Zions bank. So over three decades ago we could set up automatic payments, yet now that we have the internet and direct access to making donations online, there isn't an option to set up an automatic recurring payment for missionaries.

So Church Financial Department or whoever is responsible for this policy, please add my vote to implement this capability. I'm sure you've had a few thousand requests for it over the years, and you'll get plenty more until you implement this!

You can search back across this board and see this discussed at length many times. There are members of the church who believe in their heart of hearts that a recurring payment DOES NOT EQUAL a donation made in faith. And since the automatic/recurring payment wasn't put into the online system, you can bet that MANY in the CHQ/COB also believe the same thing. It is inexplicable to me, as it is to others on this board, but STRONG feelings exist that an act of charity, an act of faith can't be scheduled every 2 weeks as you receive a paycheck......

To me it's very interesting. If I were doing it every two weeks manually, it's likely I'd skip one or two here or there, nothing in my end year review is going to catch that because as a human, and in my head I think of myself as a full-tithe payer, so at Tithing Settlement I'd say, yes to are you a full tithe payer. On the other hand, if it was automatic, I'd feel the same way, and not have ever skipped a pay period. I'd almost think that favoring the other option would be better for everyone involved.

johnshaw wrote:There are members of the church who believe in their heart of hearts that a recurring payment DOES NOT EQUAL a donation made in faith.

That's one theory. Another is that by policy, donations are not refundable. (See Q12 of the FAQs as well as Handbook 1: 14.4.9)

If you set up automatic payments and then have a change in income (perhaps as a result of an accident), that could compound a bad financial situation. Or consider if a member was killed, the "donations" would continue until the heirs got control of the account - even then, it may be hard for them to disable it. By requiring the person to authorize it each time it minimizes those kinds of problems. With the ability to reuse a prior donation, it's not that great of a burden. Of course, there's still the traditional way with gray envelopes and paper checks.....

Whatever the case, I'm sure the powers that be have heard the request, and for whatever reason, the answer is "no" (at least at this time).

I'm confident in my assertion - The Automatic/Recurring payments for ExPat's include automatic payments so the church takes them in that case - which is why It makes no sense other than they control this one where the other one is just using standard banking bill-pay infrastructure.

Another possible reason (and I simply speculate here with no inside knowledge) is that to implement recurring donations would require the Church to maintain additional financial information about each donor. There may be some reason, privacy laws or otherwise, that they do not wish to do so.

Again, just speculation on my part. I have an alert set in my personal calendar that goes off each payday. I also get an alert from the bank when my paycheck arrives there, so I have two different reminders to help me remember.

You can search back across this board and see this discussed at length many times. There are members of the church who believe in their heart of hearts that a recurring payment DOES NOT EQUAL a donation made in faith... STRONG feelings exist that an act of charity, an act of faith can't be scheduled every 2 weeks as you receive a paycheck.....

I find that sort of thinking rather strange, especially if your income each month can provide the funds needed to keep a missionary in field, or if you and/or your missionary have saved the needed funds to serve a mission in advance.

However, when I was young and before each mission cost the same, we had three missionaries serving from our family at the same time in very expensive missions. The total cost per month for the three was almost as much as my father's entire salary! Countless people chipped in and helped, the cows gave extra milk, our clothing store made a higher profit, etc. To this day one of my aunts has a notebook listing each missionary in our family and how much she donated to them each month. Without her help, and the help of countless other relatives and ward members, we simply couldn't have afforded it.

My parents started each month not knowing how they were going to make the payments for three missionaries, yet by the end of the month the money to make those payments was always there. Many, many people were blessed (and blessed us and the missionaries in our family) with their constant generosity. Those were certainly acts of faith and charity, and there's no way that my parents could have set up an automatic payment plan with no idea where the funds for it would come from each month.

However, I diligently saved all the funds for my daughter's mission before she received her mission call. So theoretically I've already made a huge act of charity by designating those funds to pay for her mission. I don't have to worry where the money for her mission will come from each month, and an automatic payment plan would be a relief.

Were automatic monthly payments for missionaries allowed, the email I'd get each month from the Church that says they've received and processed my donation would remind me of the ongoing charitable act I'm performing throughout her mission. Since I have to remember to log on to LDS.org and make each monthly payment in person, that email just makes me sigh with relief that the church has received her monthly payment. (Which in my opinion isn't a spiritual experience, but your results may vary...)

I'm very PROUD that my daughter is serving a mission, and I'm grateful that I have the means and the privilege of paying for her missionary service. I receive numerous blessings as a result, the greatest of which is a daughter whose testimony is growing as she learns many of life's tough lessons, and she'll be an even more wonderful person when she returns.

However, I doubt the blessings she and I receive thanks to her missionary service are affected in any way by the method in which her monthly dues are paid on the LDS.org website. But that's just me...

I find it funny when I have a question and search the forum only to find myself participating in a previous thread on the same subject.

In bishopric meeting it came up that with enough members now donating fast offerings online, that it isn't effective for the YM to go door to door (e.g. busy work). The Bishop says there are many other ways for the YM to serve the members of the ward. As part of the discussion about whether to stop, I raised this issue that you can't setup repeating donations using the church's system. If the YM don't knock doors, some of us that do use online donations won't remember each month. The Bishop said he pays direct to SLC and has it setup repeating (not using the online donation tool -- I'm not sure how he does it).

Not having a repeating option means, effectively, we are collecting less fast offerings from members that want to donate.

chriswoodut wrote:If the YM don't knock doors, some of us that do use online donations won't remember each month. The Bishop said he pays direct to SLC and has it setup repeating (not using the online donation tool -- I'm not sure how he does it).

I find that a little odd. I have never had a Young Man knock on my door, and I have never forgotten to contribute to the Fast Offering fund.

The bishop is probably using his bank Bill Pay service. Most of them allow repeating contributions.

The decision to allow repeating contributions (or not) at the Donations site is made by priesthood leaders at Church headquarters. If you feel strongly about the need for this feature, the best way to communicate that is through the Feedback link at LDS.org or through your bishop and stake president, who would then take the suggestion to their priesthood leaders.

It is my anecdotal understanding that the developers of the Donations site were instructed to make it as similar as possible to the actual physical process of contributing using the gray envelope and donation slip. Perhaps that is why the slip changes from white to yellow and the holes at the top remain displayed when someone submits their donation online.

That may also be a reason the site does not handle repeating contributions. In real life, you would have to fill out another donation slip and use another envelope.

lajackson wrote:

chriswoodut wrote:If the YM don't knock doors, some of us that do use online donations won't remember each month. The Bishop said he pays direct to SLC and has it setup repeating (not using the online donation tool -- I'm not sure how he does it).

I find that a little odd. I have never had a Young Man knock on my door, and I have never forgotten to contribute to the Fast Offering fund.

The bishop is probably using his bank Bill Pay service. Most of them allow repeating contributions.

The decision to allow repeating contributions (or not) at the Donations site is made by priesthood leaders at Church headquarters. If you feel strongly about the need for this feature, the best way to communicate that is through the Feedback link at LDS.org or through your bishop and stake president, who would then take the suggestion to their priesthood leaders.

It is my anecdotal understanding that the developers of the Donations site were instructed to make it as similar as possible to the actual physical process of contributing using the gray envelope and donation slip. Perhaps that is why the slip changes from white to yellow and the holes at the top remain displayed when someone submits their donation online.

That may also be a reason the site does not handle repeating contributions. In real life, you would have to fill out another donation slip and use another envelope.

Not having the repeating donation option pushes people to bill pay which is a less efficient approach in my opinion (no slip, right?). It isn't stopping people from doing repeating donation, it's just making it harder.

I already made a feedback submission.

With the new tax law in the United States, automatic payments directly from my 401K would be a tax benefit for us that are on fixed income. If we could pay our tithing directly from the 401K to the church without going through my bank account it would be a great savings to me and others.

sperryd wrote:If we could pay our tithing directly from the 401K to the church without going through my bank account it would be a great savings to me and others.

I am not certain, but it is possible that LDS Philanthropies may actually be able to help you do that.

sperryd wrote:With the new tax law in the United States, automatic payments directly from my 401K would be a tax benefit for us that are on fixed income. If we could pay our tithing directly from the 401K to the church without going through my bank account it would be a great savings to me and others.

Yes, there are options to pay direct to HQ. You can even pay "in kind" by transferring ownership of things such as stock or even real estate.

From what I understand but I not taken advantage of yet however is the reason why Ive come online right now is that you can set up payment to the church, in the church website as a reoccurring payment. However it is different than paying ur tithing in the app or to ur bishop because it just lists it as a charitable contribution and not specifically for tithing. You have to rectify you account at the end of the year in tithing settlement clarifying what payments are what, tithing, fast offerings, mission contributions ect. This is the only way I've heard of that works as a reoccurring payment

Please Enable Real Auto-Pay for Donations

It seems the Church has taken the position that tithing must be intentionally done each and every time. But in today’s world, almost everything is on auto-pay—and I’d like to join the ranks of the radicals who want to set it and let it pay - I will give great thanks!

As someone with immune health conditions, I’m rarely able to attend church in person these days. With few people masking anymore, we’ve chosen to worship from home, and we’re incredibly grateful for the BYU Channel and other online resources that make that possible.

However, contributing tithing has become more complicated than it needs to be. I’ve even resorted to sending auto-pay checks to myself, let’s be honest, is not exactly efficient or sustainable. It would be such a blessing to simply have true auto-pay functionality for donations.

If the concern is that donations should remain intentional, I’d hope the Lord knows my heart—and that He sees the intent behind my scheduled contributions. I do feel it each month when the money is deducted, and my commitment is sincere. I am on a fixed income so its just perfect.

If nothing else, I may end up just having my bank send a check directly to Salt Lake. Whether or not the ward gets credit, that’s on you.

I am not alone, I see many asking for t his. Please consider enabling a real auto-pay option for online donations. It would be a blessing for many of us and make regular giving more accessible—especially for those of us who rely on remote worship due to health concerns.

Thank you!

baurich wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 10:17 am I am not alone, I see many asking for t his. Please consider enabling a real auto-pay option for online donations.

The Tech Forum is user-to-user discussion and collaborative self help. We can discuss it here, but that is it. No one with decision making authority will see your post and we have no ability to forward posts to anyone. You can use the feedback link found at the bottom of the Donations page, in the footer, to get your request to those who can consider your desires.

baurich wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 10:17 am Please Enable Real Auto-Pay for Donations

More moving parts, more bugs. Limited staff. What are we waiting for?

If nothing else, I may end up just having my bank send a check directly to Salt Lake. Whether or not the ward gets credit, that’s on you

Seems that this should be addressed to your ward and sent to your Bishop's address with a note that it's for Tithing, rather than headquarters, no?

I realize I'm replying to a year-old message on a thread that's almost 10 years old. But it's still a relevant discussion.

More moving parts, more bugs. Limited staff. What are we waiting for?

Yeah, we should never try to write or improve software bc of the potential for bugs. Especially automated processes that can reduce human error and effort and help members not to forget to keep their commitment to pay tithing. I'm joking, ofc. This is a valid concern. But it's a concern that exists for changes to any software update anywhere.

Seems that this should be addressed to your ward and sent to your Bishop's address with a note that it's for Tithing, rather than headquarters, no?

No. The decision not to provide the ability to setup autopay comes from HQ. So HQ should be responsible for the overhead of that decision. Not the unpaid local bishop & clerks.


God's plan was to teach us all and then let us choose to follow Him. Satan's plan was not to give us agency.

Teach us first (with a warning about the potential issues with setting up automated payments), but then provide us the opportunity to choose whether we want to automate our tithing payments (and help us obey by reducing the chance we will miss a payment accidentally).

In this scenario, many will choose to continue to pay manually. Some will accept the risk and exercise their agency to automate their payments. But every member will be able to make that decision rather than having that choice made for them.