Tech Forum

My daughter has been called to serve in El Savlador Santa Ana/Belize. She leaves in July. As parents we are funding the mission directly to the ward via Tithing Slip. So, we understand that process.

We have other family that really want to "help" pay for her mission. So my question is this, is there a specific process that other family members can use to "donate" to her missionary fund? I realize, it can be as simple as sending her a check as a gift, but she obviously won't be around. I think it would be awkward, to say just send us the money and we will make sure it gets into her fund.

Any answers, suggestions, or tested processes would be extremely appreciated.

mshipol wrote:My daughter has been called to serve in El Savlador Santa Ana/Belize. She leaves in July. As parents we are funding the mission directly to the ward via Tithing Slip. So, we understand that process.

We have other family that really want to "help" pay for her mission. So my question is this, is there a specific process that other family members can use to "donate" to her missionary fund? I realize, it can be as simple as sending her a check as a gift, but she obviously won't be around. I think it would be awkward, to say just send us the money and we will make sure it gets into her fund.

They should make a donation to your ward, the exact same way that you do it. You could give them a supply of your ward's donation envelopes, which they could then mail directly to the bishop.

By doing it this way, their donations will be considered to be charitable donations by the Church, and the ward will issue them a year-end tax statement that they can use in filing their taxes. And no one needs to worry that the money might not be credited to her account (as long as you remind them that they should mention your daughter's name on the donation slip).

I can think of 3 options:.

1) If they specify their donation is for your daughter's missionary fund, go ahead and apply it to her fund. Subtract the amount they paid from what you would normally pay that month. For example, if you pay $400 a month, and one month somebody else donated $200, then you just pay $200 that month. It saves you some money, and they feel like they're contributing. I'm not sure why it is necessary to deny somebody the opportunity to serve in that way.

2) Tell them it isn't necessary and that it's already taken care of, and to just contribute to the general missionary fund, or something like that. But I'm never comfortable telling people where to donate their money. That should be up to them.

3) Apply all their donations to your daughter's missionary fund as they requested, and then at a later date transfer the surplus to the General Missionary fund, or the Ward Missionary fund.

Personally I like option 1 because not only does it save you some money, but more importantly it gives others who have a close relationship with your daughter the opportunity to contribute.

Option 4: (A variation of Option 1) All amounts are applied to the missionary as requested. The family periodically asks for an account balance of their missionary and adjust donations as indicated. This way the family doesn't have to know who donated how much and when.

jasonfitt wrote:3) Apply all their donations to your daughter's missionary fund as they requested, and then at a later date transfer the surplus to the General Missionary fund, or the Ward Missionary fund.

Please note that the General Missionary Fund and the Ward Missionary Fund are two different accounts. Any transfers should remain in the Ward Missionary Fund category in the situation that is being described here.