Missionary account closed, now leftover funds are missing

My son had some health issues on his mission and had to come home unexpectedly. When he came home we had already put $500 for the next month into his account. We anticipated transferring this money to his brother when he went out, but that has been slow in happening. In the meantime, the account of the son that came home has been closed and we don't know where the money went. Our ward clerk has informed us that we should contact church headquarters and have them find the missing mission funds and transfer them to our tithing donations. I called the church hq and they said that it's a ward matter. So, we are at an impasse and missing our $500. Any suggestions?

All donations become the property of the Church, so technically, it is no longer your money. Having said that, I would ask your ward clerk if he can open the donation batch and change the donation category from the ward mission fund to tithing. If it was an online donation, he may have to coordinate with the GSD.

If the funds were in the ward mission account set up for your son, the only way the account can be closed is for the ward to move the funds to another account and take this one to $0.00. The account won't close if there are any positive or negative balances. This is done locally so someone at the ward level did it (Church HQ is correct). The financial transactions are recorded so the clerk should be able to go back and see where the funds were moved to. I don't know if he can see who made the transfer, though.

If the funds were donated to the church missionary fund, they are swept immediately and not available to the ward. I would ask the Clerk to investigate and request assistance from the stake clerk (or the GSD) if he needs it.

The information you got from the General Services Department (GSD) is partially correct. Your ward clerk can go back the current year plus three years to see were the funds were moved. Also note that once a donation is made the donor loses all control of the disposition of those funds. Do not expect to be able to direct the disposition of the $500 since those funds do not belong to you or your missionary but to the Church. For tax purposes the funds are still a tax favored donation.

With that said, adjustments to donation categories made to correct errors are legal and possible. As long as the donation was made this year then having the donation category adjusted to another donation category can be made. Speak to your bishop/branch president if you feel it is necessary to adjust the category of a donation made this year. The ward clerk can go back to the donation batch and recategorize it from the Ward Missionary Fund to Tithing or any other authorized donation category. Donations made before 1 January of this year cannot be recategorized by the clerk.

Depending on when your son was sent home, the funds might have already been pulled for his mission. It's not unusual for payments to appear to be "off a month" with payments appearing to start a month late and then needing another payment after they've already come home. (But overall, the payments come out to the correct number.)

If the funds were not pulled for the mission, then someone at the ward level had to have moved the funds. As stated, this is necessary to close the account.

Generally, the funds should have been moved to the Ward Missionary funds (where they'd be available for any ward missionary), or the stake might have asked for the excess to pay for a missionary in another ward that was running a deficit. Especially if some time has passed. Leaders take notice of funds that are just sitting there.

Bottom line, the ward should have records going back though at least 2018 and should be able to find out what happened. But as stated, once donated, it does become church property.

davesudweeks wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:13 amThe financial transactions are recorded so the clerk should be able to go back and see where the funds were moved to.

The tricky part here is that if the missionary sub-category has been closed then you have to go to the Expense and Income Summary page in LCR and select a report time frame which includes at least one transaction in the sub-category or the sub-category won't show up at all.

davesudweeks wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:13 amI don't know if he can see who made the transfer, though.

If you can find the transfer and it was made in LCR then the transfer details should show who submitted it. I'm not sure if that's true if the transfer was older and made in MLS.

It is also important to remember that missionary payments are now processed in arrears. Our daughter came home on December 31. A deduction was made in January for $387.10, which covered the expense for the 30 full days that she served in December.

I'd also suggest sitting with your Bishop and fully explaining your situation for his awareness. As the $500 donation was not originally intended as tithing, I think the Bishop should be aware that you're now desirous to reclaim that money and repurpose it as tithing. I'm not suggesting this is wrong, but I am suggesting that it might be good to ensure that the Bishop is aware of how this donation is being modified -- since he is ultimately responsible for finances and he may appreciate being fully in the loop on how this tithing issue is being handled.