Food - Fast Offering reimbursement

If a member takes another member or investigator out for dinner, can that member be reimbursed from the Food - Fast Offering category? Or lets say a member has been very diligent in picking up members to church and we would like to reimburse them for gas, should this come from Fast Offering or the Ward budget?

I don't believe anyone in the forum can give this counsel. We all have different experiences and some may have seen this before, but your branch president or bishop are the ones authorized to determine appropriate use of the Lord's funds. No one here has that stewardship for your unit.

I suggest you also contact the chairman of your stake audit committee, and have him forward your questions to the assistant area auditor. Make sure you have all approvals, signatures, and receipts on hand for your next audit.

davesudweeks wrote:I don't believe anyone in the forum can give this counsel. We all have different experiences and some may have seen this before, but your branch president or bishop are the ones authorized to determine appropriate use of the Lord's funds. No one here has that stewardship for your unit.

Its understandable on determining what is appropriate. I am more under the understanding that the payee should be the person receiving the benefit, not you on behalf of someone else. That member that is the recipient should be receiving the check reimbursement and not the person taking the member out.

cchang wrote:I am more under the understanding that the payee should be the person receiving the benefit, not you on behalf of someone else. That member that is the recipient should be receiving the check reimbursement and not the person taking the member out.

Actually, paying cash to a fast offering recipient is discouraged. In general payments should be make to service providers and food should be provided through the bishop's storehouse. I've never had a case where one member paid for food for another and it was reimbursed via fast offerings. But I have had a couple cases where a member needed gas and the bishop decided to pay using fast offerings. In those cases, the bishop asked a counselor or EQ president to buy the gas for the member and then the counselor or EQ president was reimbursed. I think that is better practice than paying the member directly.

See item 3 in the Help Center article Paying Expenses of Ward Members.

cchang wrote:If a member takes another member or investigator out for dinner, can that member be reimbursed from the Food - Fast Offering category? Or lets say a member has been very diligent in picking up members to church and we would like to reimburse them for gas, should this come from Fast Offering or the Ward budget?

I'd consult the appropriate area of the Handbook, but unless a hardship was involved, I wouldn't think any expenditure of Fast Offering funds would justified.

russellhltn wrote:

cchang wrote:If a member takes another member or investigator out for dinner, can that member be reimbursed from the Food - Fast Offering category? Or lets say a member has been very diligent in picking up members to church and we would like to reimburse them for gas, should this come from Fast Offering or the Ward budget?

I'd consult the appropriate area of the Handbook, but unless a hardship was involved, I wouldn't think any expenditure of Fast Offering funds would justified.

Or lets say the Elders Quorum decides to help a family in need move and rents a truck for them, would this reimbursement come from the Ward EQ budget or Fast Offering? Just trying to see if anyone came across similar scenarios and how it was handled.

cchang wrote:Or lets say the Elders Quorum decides to help a family in need move and rents a truck for them, would this reimbursement come from the Ward EQ budget or Fast Offering? Just trying to see if anyone came across similar scenarios and how it was handled.

From the other thread, all expenses are to be approved before they're incurred. This should be worked out before, not after the fact.

Secondly, the Fast Offering fund is considered "Welfare" - it's for the poor and needy. It's not the "Ministering support fund". I'd suggest reviewing Handbook 1, Chapter 5 and see where your hypothetical example would fit in. I personally could see this as valid if the family was having a hard time financially, triggering the move and was unable to afford the truck rental. But, as presented, the example didn't have any indication of inability to pay. For the average member family, I'd hope they'd pay for the truck since they're getting free labor. But if a member wants to donate that, that's fine too.

Likewise, in the prior example of taking a member or investigator to dinner, was that because they had no food? Nothing was mentioned about that part. As written, it sounded more like a ministering visit than a welfare need.