Ward Missionary Donations

A few months ago we got an email via MLS directing that members no longer make missionary donations to a specific missionary, that the donations go into the general ward missionary fund.

This letter got deleted and I am wondering if there's any online copy that I, ward financial clerk, and print for the bishop.

Any ideas?

reubendunn1 wrote:A few months ago we got an email via MLS directing that members no longer make missionary donations to a specific missionary, that the donations go into the general ward missionary fund.

This letter got deleted and I am wondering if there's any online copy that I, ward financial clerk, and print for the bishop.

There has been no recent change of policy in this area that I've heard of. Although it's true that members do not make missionary donations to missionaries, that's been true for many years.

However, it is still the case that CUBS creates subcategories of the Ward Missionary category for each missionary shortly after they receive their call. These categories are used by the Church to automatically categorize monthly expenses, and are to be used for donations made on their behalf. If it were no longer desirable for wards to track donations and payments by missionary, there would be no reason for those subcategories. Since they still exist, I have to think that you are referring to some MLS message that was sent to your unit for a specific situation, not a general change in policy.

reubendunn1 wrote:A few months ago we got an email via MLS directing that members no longer make missionary donations to a specific missionary, that the donations go into the general ward missionary fund.

This letter got deleted and I am wondering if there's any online copy that I, ward financial clerk, and print for the bishop.

Any ideas?

I don't remember that MLS message, and it doesn't make all that much sense anyway.

Members donate to "Ward Missionary." They have no control over who the Church supports with those funds (similarly, members who donate to Fast Offerings can't require that their donation be used for a particular person or family). That said, CHQ sets up sub-accounts in Ward Missionary to aid the ward in tracking the support of each of their missionaries. So if a family of a missionary has committed to donating $400 a month for the duration of their missionary's service, the sub-account is useful for tracking that. If you don't use it to track the donations, things get more complicated in tracking the commitments. e.g. You have 12 different people who, over the course of 3 months, have contributed $1200. and you have 3 missionaries serving. Without the subaccounts, it makes it far more difficult to determine if each of the commitments have been met, or if one family has paid ahead.

I'm a big proponent of using the tools that CHQ has provided. In this case, CHQ has provided methods and direction for tracking the donations for each of the ward's missionaries. I'd go ahead and use it.

In other words, we never saw a letter like the one you described because we're sure we would have remembered such a significant change in church policy. So, no, we can't direct you to an online copy of the letter. But I'm curious to explore this a little further. About how long ago (very specifically) do you recall receiving this letter? Are you serving in a unit outside of the United States? (I never know how policies vary from one country to another.)

Or perhaps there was a misunderstanding of how the change to the CUBS system took place. Starting about a year ago, we cannot create subcategories in the Ward Missionary fund ourselves (such as a category called "Elder John Smith" into which we deposit donations from the parents of John Smith). However, the category is created at Church Headquarters and automatically appears on the local MLS computer at about the time "Elder John Smith" starts his mission. Maybe the instruction that "we don't create the subcategories anymore" was misunderstood to mean that "we don't accept donations under specific missionary names anymore." But we do accept them. And $400 each month will be withdrawn from each subcategory by church headquarters, whether or not there's been a donation to offset the charge.

Do you still have one subcategory in MLS for each missionary from your ward/branch who's currently serving? Do you have any leftover subcategories for missionaries who've already finished serving?

So far, I think everyone has talked about full-time missionaries. Perhaps the email in question was about senior missionaries?

Or perhaps the email was about not giving money directly to the missionary?

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the message was triggered by a specific event in your unit or area and the rest of us have not received that message.

I think they meant that you don't accept donations made out to that missionary. They should be made out to the church and then credited to that missionaries sub-account under Ward Missionary. They don't want you accepting donations made out to "Elder Smith" personally. Similar to the handbook instructions that ward missionary funds are not to support the missionary directly. It took me a few minutes to realize they were just telling you that the missionary support payments go to CHQ and not to the missionary personally.

It's been several years since being released as assistant Finance clerk and ward clerk so I am a little out of touch with church policy concerning accounting, donations, etc.

This past Sunday we were made aware of a young man (recent convert) that has a desire to go on a mission soon. His parents are non-members and told him that they will not support this calling financially. It was proposed that those wishing to help this young man out on his mission that donations could be made via tithing slips under 'Ward Missionary' and then write his name in on the space so that the money collected can be allocated to his account.

I'm not the smartest 'turnip that fell off the truck' but as I thought about this later in the day something just didn't seem right as I tried to rely on my former experience. Can you shed some light on this matter as I no longer have access to MLS and to LDS support? Thank you.

dbyram wrote:This past Sunday we were made aware of a young man (recent convert) that has a desire to go on a mission soon. His parents are non-members and told him that they will not support this calling financially. It was proposed that those wishing to help this young man out on his mission that donations could be made via tithing slips under 'Ward Missionary' and then write his name in on the space so that the money collected can be allocated to his account.

I'm not the smartest 'turnip that fell off the truck' but as I thought about this later in the day something just didn't seem right as I tried to rely on my former experience. Can you shed some light on this matter as I no longer have access to MLS and to LDS support?

I'm not sure whether your concerns are in the realm of administration or policy.

Administratively, there is one challenge. In MLS, the ward cannot set up a subaccount for this young man; his account will automatically be set up sometime after he receives his official call. Until then, any donations received that are intended to help with his missionary expenses would have to be put in the main Ward Missionary account and tracked separately; after the account is created, a clerk could go back to those earlier donations and recategorize them to be associated with his account. A bit of a hassle, but not that big of a deal.

From a policy perspective, there is no problem with this approach, as long as all donors understand the rules:

• All donations to the Ward Missionary fund (regardless of whose expenses they are targeted to help with) become the property of the Church and may not be refunded.
• The above applies, even if the young man never goes on his mission or comes home early.
• The above applies, even if the donations exceed the amounts charged to the ward for his mission.
• Regardless of the amount of the donations with this young man's name on them, the ward will still be charged the equalized amount each month he serves on his mission.

As long as those rules are followed, the donations should generally be tax-deductible to the donors, and the Church's tax-exempt status should be safe.

Thank you for the quick reply. Thanks for broading the scope of this situation...it definitely is both an administrative and church policy concern.

I always appreciate the help at this site!

Dennis

The whole issue of crediting the funds to Ward Missionary vs to a specific missionary is technically a legal / tax issue.

As was mentioned by many of the previous posters the Ward Missionary Fund is responsible to support the missionary. For tracking purposes we have been given sub-categories for each missionary in our ward -- however, my understanding is that the sub-category is for our convenience in tracking a particular missionary's support - but ultimately it is the ward's responsbility to make sure we have enough funds in our ward missionary account.

As to the letter you saw - I would think it relates to US tax law as it relates to a LDS missionary. After the White v Commis case anytime we make a donation to the church's missionary fund the funds do not directly support a particualar missionary - thus the whole non-refundable contributions issue.

I have talked with IRS auditors who feel that if a family writes the name of the missionary on the notes section of their donation check - or if they enter the missionary name on the donation slip then the IRS could take the position the family is directly supporting the missionary.

I don't think the potential IRS position will stand in court; however, we do need to be careful about how we are telling our members to fill out their donation slips -- and we always need to remember that our official tax statement we give the members before Jan 31 are signed by the bishop and is the support provided to the IRS if they are selected for audit.

For what it is worth . . .

It's worth noting that the $400 which is taken from the ward missionary account for each misssionary serving from that ward isn't the real cost of supporting any given missionary. So we shouldn't really have any fear that this money will somehow be declared non-charitable by the IRS. The church and its lawyers have worked this out. I think it's counter-productive for any of us to raise questions as if there's a problem.

Our stake president has directed all units in the stake to maintain only a 90-day balance in their missionary funds, and send all excess to the stake for redistribution to other units and possible transfer to the general missionary fund. One bishop asked about those missionaries who have paid in advance, so their personal subcategory balance makes it look like the ward has excess funds. The stake president said in that case, all he needs is an explanatory note from the bishop.

The first question in my mind is the tax question about donating to a specific missionary. Once a donation is made, the donor (even if he is donating for his own mission expenses) technically loses control of those funds, and the Church can use them however it likes.

My second question pertains to receipts. During the audit, what sort of receipt should be attached to a check stub for transfers from a ward to a stake, or from any unit to any other unit? Nothing was purchased, but money was transferred between units. What will the auditor look for?

My third question is whether such transfers may be done without writing a check. Can a stake transfer funds from a ward missionary fund to the stake missionary fund without asking the ward to write a check?

drepouille wrote:Our stake president has directed all units in the stake to maintain only a 90-day balance in their missionary funds, and send all excess to the stake for redistribution to other units and possible transfer to the general missionary fund. One bishop asked about those missionaries who have paid in advance, so their personal subcategory balance makes it look like the ward has excess funds. The stake president said in that case, all he needs is an explanatory note from the bishop.

That fits our stake's standard practice, and also specific requests we have received from our area leaders when they have noticed that our stake's aggregate ward missionary balance exceeds three months per missionary.

drepouille wrote:The first question in my mind is the tax question about donating to a specific missionary. Once a donation is made, the donor (even if he is donating for his own mission expenses) technically loses control of those funds, and the Church can use them however it likes.

As you can read in earlier posts in this topic, no one is "donating to a specific missionary." They are donating to the Church, and they have no ability to request the funds back once they are donated. Since a missionary at the time of his application does make a commitment as to where support will come from, the tracking of missionary donations by subcategory is done simply to help keep track of how the funding is being supplied.

drepouille wrote:My second question pertains to receipts. During the audit, what sort of receipt should be attached to a check stub for transfers from a ward to a stake, or from any unit to any other unit? Nothing was purchased, but money was transferred between units. What will the auditor look for?

Just like any other expense, the auditor looks for an invoice or receipt. In this case, there will generally be a letter from the stake president to the bishop saying something like "Your ward has a surplus of $2500 in your ward missionary fund. Please remit that amount by check made payable to the stake." That letter is perfectly sufficient for audit purposes. Or if the request was not made by letter or equivalent, the stake can send a receipt to the ward after the funds are received. That works just as well.

drepouille wrote:My third question is whether such transfers may be done without writing a check. Can a stake transfer funds from a ward missionary fund to the stake missionary fund without asking the ward to write a check?

No (at least in the US -- in some countries there is a way to transfer funds between units without writing a check).

drepouille wrote:My second question pertains to receipts. During the audit, what sort of receipt should be attached to a check stub for transfers from a ward to a stake, or from any unit to any other unit? Nothing was purchased, but money was transferred between units. What will the auditor look for?

When funds are transferred by check between units or between a unit and a stake, the stake/unit writing the check should fill out a Tithes and Other Offerings slip. The white copy of the Tithes and Other Offerings slip functions as it normally does for the unit receiving the check. It is used to record the "donation" for deposit in the appropriate category. The canary copy is retained by the unit or stake writing the check as proof of the expense. This is what I was trained to look for by the area auditor when I was an auditor. Any other receipt documentation was not required. All the pertinent information required for a receipt, bill, or invoice is included on the Tithes and Other Offerings slip, provided it is completely filled out.

As aebrown has stated, if a request for funds has been made from one unit to another or from a stake to a unit, it is usually done in writing. Attaching that request is always good supporting documentation. In the situation where a unit is complying with standing instructions to submit excess funds to the stake, then the canary copy of the Tithes and Other Offerings slip is sufficient. It wouldn't hurt to include a note stating where the standing instructions letter is located, but it is not required.

Note that advance communication may be necessary for the unit/stake writing the check to know what category the funds are going to be deposited into so that the Tithes and Other Offerings slip will properly identify the category for the funds. Some units fill out the slip once they have received the check and send the canary copy back to the unit/stake writing the check. I don't condone this because there is always the chance the canary copy will not get back to the unit/stake that wrote the check. Now the check writer is stuck without a "receipt" if they have no other documentation and may need to write up a suitable substitute. If that is done too often then the stake/unit may end up with an audit exception.

Is there a way for a member in the US to make a donation in their local unit for a missionary from Canada?

The mission funds would have to be sent to the unit where they missionaries expenses are being deducted each month. That is usually where the missionaries records are at.

dbauss wrote:Is there a way for a member in the US to make a donation in their local unit for a missionary from Canada?

I noticed you said "a" donation instead of supporting the missionary. Usually the missionary is funded from the ward where their primary support will be. That's normally the parents.

I guess, more correctly, from the Ward where the Missionaries membership records are. This is not necessarily where his or her parents reside.

waynecooke wrote:I guess, more correctly, from the Ward where the Missionaries membership records are. This is not necessarily where his or her parents reside.

There is no "one size fits all" answer here. By default, I believe it's the ward where the missionary's application was started. But if the form is filled out right, it will be set up to come from the ward best suited for collecting the donations. And that's usually where the parents are unless someone else is supporting them.

Even then, it can be switched mid-mission. But that's not done by moving the missionary's records.

Not be argumentative, but Missionaries are able to be called up to the age of 26. I have known young men who have been on their own, working and saving money, or converts at an older age who go on missions, and the ward where their parents live (if their parents are even members) have no impact whatsoever on their mission monies, it is the Ward they are living in when they go out.

How does that conflict with "There is no 'one size fits all' answer here." and "But if the form is filled out right, it will be set up to come from the ward best suited for collecting the donations."?

The bottom line is that it can be assigned to ANY ward that will accept the responsibility. Either before the mission or during the mission.

russellhltn wrote:How does that conflict

I don't think it conflicts at all. I think he was just commenting on your statement

And that's usually where the parents are

and merely pointing out that there are cases where it is not where the parents are.

The $400 a month goes for your Missionaries room and board and these are not tax deductible and shouldn't be. That's why unless you want to help support a specific Mssionary you should you should donate to the ward missionary fund which is tax deductible.

jetjockey wrote:The $400 a month goes for your Missionaries room and board and these are not tax deductible and shouldn't be. That's why unless you want to help support a specific Mssionary you should you should donate to the ward missionary fund which is tax deductible.

Without getting into the nuances of US tax law, the donation is absolutely not a transfer to the missionary, whether it is placed in the Ward Missionary Fund or a sub-account of the Ward Missionary Fund. The sub-accounts in the Ward missionary fund are only there for ease of accounting. It is very specifically a donation to the church, not for any particular missionary, and as such, is considered a charitable contribution. What that means in any particular situation is a discussion best held between the donor and his/her tax advisers. The church supports the missionaries.

In fact, as I remember, on the donation slip it's self says: "All donations to the Church's missionary fund become the property of the Church to be used at the Church's sole discretion in its missionary program."

I have a question regarding my missionary. She went into the MTC on August 29th (in the MTC 3 days for that month). I paid the full amount of $400 the beginning of August. She will be released March 17, Do I have to pay for March as well or will the extra in August cover the extra in March?

sicraw wrote:I have a question regarding my missionary. She went into the MTC on August 29th (in the MTC 3 days for that month). I paid the full amount of $400 the beginning of August. She will be released March 17, Do I have to pay for March as well or will the extra in August cover the extra in March?

You would do best to have your ward/branch clerk check this for you as he can see the information. As I understand it, if she serves less than 18 1/2 months, there will by 18 payments withdrawn from your unit's mission fund. If she serves more than 18 1/2 months, there will be an extra payment withdrawn.

For our ward, I advise parents to wait until the money is pulled from the ward and if the missionary department pulls an extra payment, I notify them so they can cover it. We have a cushion in our ward mission fund so getting the payment a few weeks after the money is pulled by the church is not a problem.

sicraw wrote:I have a question regarding my missionary. She went into the MTC on August 29th (in the MTC 3 days for that month). I paid the full amount of $400 the beginning of August. She will be released March 17, Do I have to pay for March as well or will the extra in August cover the extra in March?

As long as a Sister missionary comes home within 2 weeks of the 18 month mark from when she started her mission then the ward will only be charged 18 times. But if she comes home more than 14 days over that 18 month mark, then the ward will be charged for another month. Since March 17 is about 19 days over that mark, the ward will be charged 19 times. The first charge would have been at the beginning of August so the last charge should be at the beginning of Feb.

So your last payment should be in February if I've done my math correctly.

But as davesudweeks says, it's best to stay in contact with your ward clerk especially toward the end so you don't make a payment beyond what the ward is charged.