Merging Member donor records

I tried to merge husband and wife donors (in "add update donors") and was not allowed to do so. I received an error message indicating that you can not merge member donors. Have the rules changed. I am quite sure that I have done it before.

khasay wrote:I tried to merge husband and wife donors (in "add update donors") and was not allowed to do so. I received an error message indicating that you can not merge member donors. Have the rules changed. I am quite sure that I have done it before.

This has not been possible since the release of MLS 3.2 in June 2010. At that point the rules were changed so that a donor record has only the name from the linked membership record. And a donor record cannot be linked to more than one membership record. That's why the system is not allowing you to do the merge you are attempting.

But in any case, you don't need to do such a merge anyway. Instead, when you are editing the husband's donor record, check the box for including the spouse on statements. Then both names will be included on donation statements (including tithing settlement statements), even though the donations are all connected to the husband's name. Or you can do the reverse, and have all the donations linked to the wife's name, and check the "include spouse" box on her donor record.

I tried that earlier. I checked that option on the husbands name, and the two records were still printed out separately on the tithing settlement statements, even though they appeared to be combined in the list on the "print household" option. In other words, when I tried to print the donor reports under the household option, the name appeared as "John and Sue Someone" but the two records were printed out separately. I did not try the reverse option. I will do that in the morning. Only three donations are involved. Maybe I could make the changes in the three batches.

If donations were entered for both the spouses they will be printed separately. But if all donations were entered under only one then the other can be checked to be included in the other's report.

To get both on one statement one's donations will have to be edited to change the donor to the spouse.

Thank you. I will go to the appropriate batches and make the edits.

I would only caution you to make sure the changes match the Tithing Slips unless you speak with the members. We have a few families in our ward where the Husband and Wife pay tithing separately. As a Clerk, my responsibility is to ensure the funds are deposited as noted on the Tithing and Donations Slip. We should not try to second-guess the reasoning why husbands and wives are recording the slips differently.

If they "want" you to merge the records, that's fine. If they are filing their taxes jointly, there is no problem with them adding two Tithing reports (one for each spouse). But, if they are filing separately, they will need the records to be separate.

Can you explain where you edit the husband's donor record to select the check box for including the spouse on the statements? I have a family who has asked to have the spouse's name included on the year-end statement and I would like to reprint a statement with both the husband and wife's name on it but I am unsure where to go to select the check box you mentioned in your post.

Thank you in advance,

Tyler Christensen

tylerchristensen wrote:Can you explain where you edit the husband's donor record to select the check box for including the spouse on the statements?

Go to Finance > Add/Update Donors, then either use "Find Donor" or scroll to the name and click the donor name. When the donor record popup appears the "Show spouse on donor report" is just below the donor's name text box.

As a former stake clerk and now an auditor, I was instructed that all donation names should be entered into the MLS should be exactly as it is on the white donation slip. Now I am being told by the current stake clerk that it is just put in as the head of household listed in the MLS. Also I am being told this took place a couple of years ago and no one can show me the directive from the church. So I have been making wards go in and change the MLS to match the white slips, am I wrong and creating alot of work for my clerks?

rcajmm wrote:So I have been making wards go in and change the MLS to match the white slips, am I wrong and creating alot of work for my clerks?

This post indicates that donor names for linked records will automatically change to become the name on the membership record.

Note that by church policy, the full name (not preferred name) on the membership record should be the member's legal name.

Thanks for the reply, however I was not attempting to change the name on the membership record, what I was referring to was when a member fills out a donor slip, if it is in both the husband and wife's name then the donation should be entered into the MLS as husband and wife, not as head of household. If the wife submits a donor slip in just her name then it should be entered into the MLS under her name not Head of household. That is the question most of the wards that I have audited have all donations entered into the MLS as head of household if it is submitted by the husband or if the donor slip is in both of their names. What is the current policy for this?

I'm not sure of the policy, but the fact is that MLS only allows it to be tied to one person - not to the couple. However, you can print a tax receipt and have the spouse listed.

rcajmm wrote:As a former stake clerk and now an auditor, I was instructed that all donation names should be entered into the MLS should be exactly as it is on the white donation slip.

This is the correct way.

rcajmm wrote:Now I am being told by the current stake clerk that it is just put in as the head of household listed in the MLS. Also I am being told this took place a couple of years ago and no one can show me the directive from the church.

This should only do this if the husband and the wife are both on the slip. Other wise its put under the name on the slip. I have several couples where the husband and the wife pay their tithing separably.

rcajmm wrote: So I have been making wards go in and change the MLS to match the white slips, am I wrong and creating alot of work for my clerks?

I think you doing the right thing

rcajmm wrote:Thanks for the reply, however I was not attempting to change the name on the membership record, what I was referring to was when a member fills out a donor slip, if it is in both the husband and wife's name then the donation should be entered into the MLS as husband and wife, not as head of household. If the wife submits a donor slip in just her name then it should be entered into the MLS under her name not Head of household. That is the question most of the wards that I have audited have all donations entered into the MLS as head of household if it is submitted by the husband or if the donor slip is in both of their names. What is the current policy for this?

As stated in the post that russellhltn linked to previously, whether or not there is a written policy anywhere, it is wasted effort to change the donor names from the default (at least for donors in the unit). Even if you do MLS/CUBS will eventually change the names back.

rcajmm wrote:what I was referring to was when a member fills out a donor slip, if it is in both the husband and wife's name then the donation should be entered into the MLS as husband and wife, not as head of household.

You can no longer do this with current system it has to be one or the other it can not be both, so its only logical to put it under the head of household.

rcajmm wrote:If the wife submits a donor slip in just her name then it should be entered into the MLS under her name not Head of household.

Correct, that way the donation is tied to a membership number.

rcajmm wrote:That is the question most of the wards that I have audited have all donations entered into the MLS as head of household if it is submitted by the husband or if the donor slip is in both of their names.

It seems only logical to do it this way at the same time making sure the donor name is flagged to print the spouses name on donation reports.

rcajmm wrote:What is the current policy for this?

Not sure what the current policy is but the software is written to only allow one donor name and membership number.

rcajmm wrote:Thanks for the reply, however I was not attempting to change the name on the membership record, what I was referring to was when a member fills out a donor slip, if it is in both the husband and wife's name then the donation should be entered into the MLS as husband and wife, not as head of household.

Ever since the CUBS conversion it is not possible to have a husband and wife listed as one donor. Member donations can only be linked to one membership record. The CUBS conversion makes it impossible to change the donor record (the name of the donor) that is linked to a membership record. The decision as to what record to use when both the husband's and wife's names are listed on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip should be discussed with the donors. Absent that information at the time the Sunday donations are processed forces the clerk and bishopric member to choose either the husband's or wife's name to process the donation. If the choice is not in accordance with the desires of the couple, the donation can be adjust at a later date to reflect their wishes.

Members need to be instructed in the Church policy. There should be only one name on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip. There can no longer be a joint donor record. The donation can only be entered for one name or split. If a donation is to be split for a husband and wife then two Tithes and Other Offerings slips should accompany the single donation with the appropriate amounts to be entered for each name.

rcajmm wrote:If the wife submits a donor slip in just her name then it should be entered into the MLS under her name not Head of household.

That is correct. The donor name (as long as it is a single name and not a joint name) should be the name used to record the donation.

rcajmm wrote:That is the question most of the wards that I have audited have all donations entered into the MLS as head of household if it is submitted by the husband or if the donor slip is in both of their names. What is the current policy for this?

If both names are on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip then the clerk needs to contact the couple to find out how they want the donation recorded. If it is to be recorded in only one name then they have to decide what name it will be. The new Tithes and Other Offerings slips remind the donors that the donation is linked to a single member record number by having the MRN field on the form rather than the address.

Gary_Miller wrote:

rcajmm wrote:As a former stake clerk and now an auditor, I was instructed that all donation names should be entered into the MLS should be exactly as it is on the white donation slip.

This is the correct way.

It is not possible to enter a donation for a member who's record is in the ward exactly as it appears on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip (unless both match) and link it to the membership record. You either have to accept the member name as it appears in MLS (which is the name of record on the membership record) or create another donor record (not tied to the membership record of the member). This then creates two or more donor records for tithing settlement and tax statements. If the member has only made donations using a name that does not match the MLS name of record then the donations will not be linked to their membership record if this faulty practice is followed.

Gary_Miller wrote:

rcajmm wrote:Now I am being told by the current stake clerk that it is just put in as the head of household listed in the MLS. Also I am being told this took place a couple of years ago and no one can show me the directive from the church.

This should only do this if the husband and the wife are both on the slip.

There is no official preferred name to use, except maybe local policy, when both names appear on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip. It makes sense to use the HoH when there is no other known preference by the couple. But to say the HoH is the only choice is not supported by any Church policy or guidance.

Gary_Miller wrote:

rcajmm wrote: So I have been making wards go in and change the MLS to match the white slips, am I wrong and creating alot of work for my clerks?

I think you doing the right thing

It is not possible to change the name for a donation to reflect a joint name. It can be only one name and the only name linked to a membership record is the name of record on the membership record. Asking the clerks to change MLS to match the white Tithes and Other Offerings slip is asking the clerk to do something impossible for joint donations. It also forces clerks to create donor records that are not tied to membership records when the name on the slip does not match exactly the membership record name. Donors may use a preferred name on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip that is not the same as the name of record on the membership record, which MLS uses for linked donations.

I was looking here to see if I was able to merge donors without MLS (without going to the Clerk's office at 4 am because a duplicate name popped in my mind), and using LCR, but there was nothing updated or current on the subject matter. So I looked at LCR and clicked on the Finance section. Then I clicked on the Participant List and there it was. The ability to merge donors and I was able to merge some donors, the one that popped in my head and I found a couple more that were duplicated.

I posted this just in case someone else had a question about it.

Works very well!

I have the same question BUT its not working for these situations. A non-member has participated as a donor and as a recipient. Now they have been baptized during the same year. When I select merge under their non-member participant record, there is no option for their name among our ward members. Do they have to make a donation for them to be on my list of choices?
Also a member husband had a donation listed (before the records were in the ward) so it shows as a non-member. My only option to merge is to his wife's name even though we now have records for both. ???

larry19810 wrote:Do they have to make a donation for them to be on my list of choices?

I don't believe there is any way of doing it in LCR right now but you can add a donor record for her in MLS. Then you should be able to do the merge either in MLS immediately or in LCR after doing a sync.

I found an answer to my own question but it is a bit convoluted so I'll describe it here. For a member who is showing as a non-member participant but cannot be directly merged because the choice as a member does not show on the drop down list. In LCR, find one of the transactions for the non-member record. Edit that transaction. Change the donor or recipient on the transaction. This allowed me to select from the full ward membership. Select the member record for the person. save changes. Go back to the participant list. The person will still be showing in the non-member participant list. Now select merge. The corresponding member record will now be available for the merge. Merge and save. Now the member will no longer be on the non-member participant list.