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Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:27 pm
by kenworthyg
The new online donation system being rolled out just became available in our ward, and I love how easy it makes it to donate towards missionaries in other units! However, when I tried to do this for a missionary in another country (Brazil), I get: "The Ward/Branch number you entered seems to be incorrect. Please check your number and try again." Is this a limitation of the system, or of policy, or am I just not getting the number correct (I got it from the online unit directory.)

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:23 pm
by russellhltn
It appears to be some kind of limitation of the system. It might be policy, currency difference, different area office, or they might be on a different funding system. (Equalized/non-equalized and CUBS vs. another system)

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:48 pm
by sbradshaw
Are you entering the unit number of his home ward, or the ward he's serving in in Brazil? Make sure you enter the unit number for his home (funding) ward.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:34 pm
by kenworthyg
The unit number of his home ward. It wasn't that it couldn't find him as a missionary - it rejected the unit number as invalid. I tried other wards as well. It consistently accepted units in the US, and did not accept units in any other country I tried.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:39 pm
by russellhltn
kenworthyg wrote:it rejected the unit number as invalid. I tried other wards as well. It consistently accepted units in the US, and did not accept units in any other country I tried.
I saw the same thing as far as Brazil vs. US. (I got the numbers out of CDOL.) One thing I didn't check is to see what happens when there's no missionary from that ward.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:03 am
by lajackson
kenworthyg wrote:The unit number of his home ward. It wasn't that it couldn't find him as a missionary - it rejected the unit number as invalid. I tried other wards as well. It consistently accepted units in the US, and did not accept units in any other country I tried.
I do not know for sure, but I do not believe countries outside of the U.S. and Canada participate in the equalized missionary funding system. That may be the reason. But I think the real reason may be that there are also financial restrictions on sending money outside of the U.S. that may be causing the restriction.

I realize that it appears with CUBS that everything is magic and electronic. But in reality there is real money involved, and there are rules that must be followed any time money crosses the borders of a country.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:42 am
by russellhltn
If the restriction also applies to Canada, then I suspect the system simply isn't designed to "translate" between currencies. I'd think it would take extra effort to make it work and would rarely be used. But that's not to say the feature would never come.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:17 pm
by lajackson
russellhltn wrote:If the restriction also applies to Canada, then I suspect the system simply isn't designed to "translate" between currencies. I'd think it would take extra effort to make it work and would rarely be used. But that's not to say the feature would never come.
Since the Online Donation system uses the ACH transfer process, which is only a U.S. system, I am pretty sure it does not work for Canada.

As for the transfer of money between the U.S. and Canada, I am a little bit familiar with how Church finances work in Canada, It would not be a simple matter of converting between currencies. There are other issues involved.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:01 pm
by russellhltn
lajackson wrote:Since the Online Donation system uses the ACH transfer process, which is only a U.S. system, I am pretty sure it does not work for Canada.
Good point. But the question is where is the real destination? We all know it doesn't go to the actual unit. But if it goes to the area office, then it seems that the system should work for units that have CHQ as the area office.

Re: Online donations for missionaries in other units

Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 10:57 am
by curtisheidi
We are trying to donate to the missionary fund in a ward we visited in Mexico, where there is a real need. We have the unit # but, as others on here have seen, it won't accept it as it is in another country. Is there another way to get money to a ward outside the United States (e.g., could we send a check to Salt Lake specifying what ward we'd like the money to go to)? Or are we just limited to donating to the general missionary fund?