How to process anonymous donations?

I can't find any information in the CHI, on the wiki, or in this forum concerning how to process an anonymous donation. In our case, the donation was made to tithing and to the ward missionary category. Can someone direct me to the right procedure/policy?

Thanks

I found an Anonymous donor already set up in my unit when I became clerk. Just set up a donor as out of unit non-member and type anonymous.

abegregory wrote:I can't find any information in the CHI, on the wiki, or in this forum concerning how to process an anonymous donation. In our case, the donation was made to tithing and to the ward missionary category. Can someone direct me to the right procedure/policy?

It's indeed odd to have an anonymous donation to Tithing. Was this an intentionally anonymous donation (someone wanted to make a donation, but did not want their identity known), or an accident (a cash donation had a donation slip, but the donor neglected to fill in the donor name)?

If it was intentional, then what ecotim said should work -- just add a donor marked as 'Not a member/Miscellaneous' with the name "Anonymous".

If it was accidental, then you should try to identify the donor. That can be challenging, and Tithing Settlement (which would be a good time to ask people about a missing donation) has probably just ended. But if you can identify the donor, then that should be done. If not, then you just leave it credited to "Anonymous."

I would also note that this works because both Tithing and Ward Missionary are charitable donation categories. You can't accept an anonymous donation into Budget or Authorized Member Financed Activities. When an acceptable donation category for an anonymous donation cannot be identified, the donation should be credited to Tithing (I can't find the written documentation for that particular point, but I have been told this at least a couple of times by Local Unit Support).

I have been Ward Clerk for over 5 years (and love it, thank you very much) and when I was called we had a member who donated every month to tithing as anonymous. Eventually, some in the Bishopric accidentally discovered their identity. Such a member's their motives are personal and I suggest we not question it. We used an "Anonymous" donor as suggested above.

Recently, a tithing donation was submitted without a name - we think it was a youth but after several weeks of not being able to determine who it was, we put it in as Anonymous and put a note in the file for that Donation Batch with what information we had (date originally received, etc.) so if it came up later, we could re-open the batch and correct the donor information.

davesudweeks wrote:. . . we had a member who donated every month to tithing as anonymous. Eventually, some in the Bishopric accidentally discovered their identity.

If the bishop was made aware of the discovery, everything is fine. He will know if anything further should be done.

aebrown wrote:just create a miscellaneous payee called "Anonymous".

I think you intended Donor in the place of payee.

Add a Donor marked as 'Not a member/Miscellaneous' with the name "Anonymous".

kh_design wrote:I think you intended Donor in the place of payee.

Yup. Thanks for pointing that out. I've edited my post to avoid confusion.

We have used the "Anonymous" donor method for a number of years. I would also recommend this approach as has been adequately covered in this thread. I just wanted to add that we have found in our ward that we have a few members who yearn to donate but have a somewhat less willing spouse. For this reason they don't want a record of their contribution.

You should never have annonymous donations. The online training provides for listing a donation coming from an "unknown" donor. There are specific instructions to not accept anonymous tithing donations due to tithing being a part of temple worthiness. According to the Handbook of instructions, members who have been excommunicated may not pay tithing or other offerings.

If you have unknown donors, the bishop should announce from the pulpit that the church cannot accept those donations and avoid doing so in the future.

Here is the link to the wiki article: https://tech.lds.org/wiki/index.php/Donations

Q: What do I do if there is no name on the Tithing and Other Offerings slip?
A: Print the word "Unknown" in the name block of the slip and deposit the amounts to the correct categories.

I have been reading this thread with interest. Anonymous or Unknown, whatever. Semantics. I have used the Anonymous for many years (about 12), but I guess I can change. Another place where we have used the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" donor is, believe it or not, this has happened about 6 or 8 times, people just submit an envelope with a note along the lines of "I found this in the parking lot", or "on the street" or some other completely "Anonymous" situation. It is usually in the $2 to $10 range. No name on the slip, or sometimes not even a slip, just a note.

At first I tried to figure out where to put it so I just came up with the idea of donating it to Fast Offering. That seemed to be the best to me.

Of course if there is a slip, but if there just is no name, we always find the donor.

daveywest wrote:You should never have annonymous donations.

I don't know how you can make sure you never have anonymous donations. The whole question on this thread is what to do when an anonymous donation is received -- it will happen, and because it is anonymous, you can't really stop it from happening. The Donations wiki article does describe what to do when a donor name is not specified (and I would note that the section of that article that covers this particular topic was written by a Church employee with responsibility for documentation in this area). Why would a procedure for handling such donations be documented if it should never happen?

daveywest wrote:The online training provides for listing a donation coming from an "unknown" donor.

The online training doesn't say anything about this situation. I think you're confusing the online training with the wiki.

daveywest wrote:There are specific instructions to not accept anonymous tithing donations due to tithing being a part of temple worthiness.

What is your reference for this claim? I can't find any documentation that says anything like this in the Handbook, online training, or any other written materials. To the contrary, we are specifically told in the wiki article both you and I referenced how to handle anonymous donations, and the category of tithing is specifically noted as the category to use when a category was not specified and the donor cannot be determined.

daveywest wrote:According to the Handbook of instructions, members who have been excommunicated may not pay tithing or other offerings.

That is indeed true. If the bishop has reason to suspect that an excommunicated member is doing this, he should counsel with that individual.

daveywest wrote:If you have unknown donors, the bishop should announce from the pulpit that the church cannot accept those donations and avoid doing so in the future.

Again, what is your reference? I've never heard this, and since I don't believe that anonymous donations cannot be accepted, I don't see how it can be appropriate to make such an announcement.

My claim that you should not have anonymous donations is based on two sources. First, the wiki specifically states to use "unknown" and not anonymous. I apologize if that wasn't from the online training. It is unfortunate the wiki does not have reference sources. I believe we are instructed to not use anonymous because the church is repeatedly commanded to keep a [accurate] record. "Unknown" implies we as clerks are still attempting to identify the source of the contribution.

Should a member wish to donate privately, there are processes in place to make that donation directly to HQ while still meeting that scriptural directive.

My temple worthiness comment is based on my interpretation of the guidelines for excommunicated members found in the handbook. I have personally encountered a situation where an excomunicated member was attempting to make anonymous donations to the church. Your suggestion that the Bishop speak with that person and return the contribution in private is the best solution when possible. Making a simple announcement in priesthood meeting or sacrament meeting is the quickest way to instruct and correct – especially in light of the principles discussed in the Nov. training about incorrect or unnecessary traditions.

daveywest wrote:the wiki specifically states to use "unknown" and not anonymous.

That's a reasonable point, but in many cases in this thread the word "anonymous" was used simply as an adjective to describe a donation whose donor was not known. It is indeed better to use the donor name "Unknown", but when you said that anonymous donations should not be allowed, I incorrectly interpreted your statement as saying that no anonymous donations would be allowed, even if the donor name was "Unknown", when really you were only saying that "Anonymous" was not the recommended donor name for such cases.