Suggestion about pre-paying mission $$

A suggestion...

A family in our ward pre-paid a significant portion of their son's mission expense online. He was honorably released after only a few days due to a medical issue. We were surprised to find out their money could not be returned. The stake clerk explained that, even though the donation system makes it look like you're donating to a specific missionary, you're actually just making a general donation to the ward's missionary fund that can be used for anyone.

Suggestion - have a notification pop up when someone donates to the ward missionary fund under the name of a specific missionary. Something like "this donation is non-refundable even if the selected missionary does not complete his/her mission."

This family would not have pre-paid had they known they risked losing that money.

Thanks!

These forums are just user-to-user help and the decision makers for this kind of thing do not read posts. The best way to provide suggestions is to use the Feedback link at the bottom of the Donations page.

The church does already have a note at the bottom of the donation 'slip' on the donation page indicating that all donations become church property for it to so with as they see fit. And question 12 in the FAQ indicates that donations cannot be refunded. In addition, the bishop should discuss funding with the missionary and the family and this is something he should make sure they understand (although admittedly not all bishops are aware of the issue either).

I'm not saying that having a warning (particularly for donations significantly larger than the standardized monthly missionary payment) wouldn't be good. But there is already some amount of warning.

Note that if the family so desires you can recategorize the donation to tithing or fast offerings.

eblood66 wrote:Note that if the family so desires you can recategorize the donation to tithing or fast offerings.

When I wrote this I forgot that there is now some doubt about whether this is allowed. See this thread: https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=23648

You can reclassify the donation as tithing, but no refunds are allowed

brown67 wrote:You can reclassify the donation as tithing

As indicated in another thread (https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=23648) reclassifying may no longer be allowed. I would contact local unit support to verify whether this is true or not before doing so.