Contribution to General Missionary fund by mistake

So, we just had a ward member make an online donation to the General Missionary fund in the amount of $400. This member has a son on a mission. Previous contributions were correctly made to the missionary's account. What can be done to right this ship without asking them to make an additional contribution of $400 to keep the account current? Thanks.

The ward clerk or financial clerk should be able to recategorize that donation in MLS.

I'm not sure of the exact steps, but it involves going into the batch and pulling up that donation and editing it.

Thanks, Russell. This is my 3rd time as a Ward Clerk but my first since online donations started. Did not know I could make a change to an online donation. I'll give it a shot. Appreciate the reply.

I missed the part about online donation. That should work when that donation shows up in the ward's system. That might take some time to go though the computer systems.

See Q11 and Q19 of the Donation: Answers to General Questions

You can also make the change in LCR now. Go to Finance > Donations in the menu. Find the donation (you'll need to know the date or it will be tedious to look through each one) . When viewing the donation click on the Donor name to view the donation details. Then click the Adjust Donation button and edit the categories. Then print the report when offered and file it (I usually file it with the weekly donation batch for the following week from the original donation).

Thanks, eblood66. Your instructions were spot on.

Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but would it be prudent to ask the member to sign the report to show they agreed with the change? Could changing an online donation be construed as deviating from the donor's wishes without something documenting they authorized the change?

davesudweeks wrote:Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but would it be prudent to ask the member to sign the report to show they agreed with the change? Could changing an online donation be construed as deviating from the donor's wishes without something documenting they authorized the change?

When you make the change it asks for a reason for the change. In addition the donor can see the change online and it will also show up on their year end statement. If they disagree with the change it should come up then. I don't know any requirement to have the donor's signature. Of course, it can't hurt but there isn't any place on the report for a signature of any kind so I don't think it's expected.

Good info here and much appreciated. The suggestion to get the donor signature, even if not required, isn't a bad idea. I had an email exchange wherein she requested that I make the change if I could. But I will get her to sign the printed documentation. Thanks again, all.

rjamesh77 wrote:Good info here and much appreciated. The suggestion to get the donor signature, even if not required, isn't a bad idea. I had an email exchange wherein she requested that I make the change if I could. But I will get her to sign the printed documentation. Thanks again, all.

I'd think a printed copy of the email should be more than sufficient.

Got it done. It was easy. I printed a copy of the correction where the reason is shown and had the member sign that. Thanks for the input everyone. Not sure why I didn't see what I needed to do before asking.