Well said!eblood66 wrote:Both the ward and general missionary funds have their place and hopefully no one would be discouraged from donating to the general missionary fund. However, I think it is appropriate to educate people about what each is used for so they can make personal decisions about where they wish to donate.
Send extra ward missionary funds to church headquarters
- aebrown
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Re: Send extra ward missionary funds to church headquarters
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Re: Send extra ward missionary funds to church headquarters
In my time in a student single ward, we were the recipient of those funds. Being a student ward, we'd have an adult student convert who had neither spent a lifetime saving for a mission or a family that would support them. A ward of students couldn't support them. So the stake stepped up.mrrad wrote:I suppose my own experience makes me lean in a different direction. In all my years working in ward finances, the stake never asked for excess missionary funds to go to the stake.
The other wards were more traditional middle-class family wards that probably contributed to the ward fund in a ward where most missionaries were supported by the family.
YMMV
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Re: Send extra ward missionary funds to church headquarters
Several things have changed in the past few years that have made this issue more "real" to me:
* Lowered missionary ages caused a significant increase in the number of missionaries in the field, especially those who haven't had a year or two after high school to save money for their missions.
* I became stake clerk two years ago, and hit the ground running without training.
* Our Area Authority Seventy sends us a detailed spreadsheet once or twice a year, which details how many missionaries our stake has in the field, and how much we are to send to the CotP.
* MLS transfers now allow stakes and local units to easily move funds around without writing a check.
I think it should be stressed:
* Moving funds to the General Missionary Fund from the Ward Missionary Fund is NOT the correct procedure.
* Excess funds should be sent to the CotP by the stake, and NOT by the local units.
* Lowered missionary ages caused a significant increase in the number of missionaries in the field, especially those who haven't had a year or two after high school to save money for their missions.
* I became stake clerk two years ago, and hit the ground running without training.
* Our Area Authority Seventy sends us a detailed spreadsheet once or twice a year, which details how many missionaries our stake has in the field, and how much we are to send to the CotP.
* MLS transfers now allow stakes and local units to easily move funds around without writing a check.
I think it should be stressed:
* Moving funds to the General Missionary Fund from the Ward Missionary Fund is NOT the correct procedure.
* Excess funds should be sent to the CotP by the stake, and NOT by the local units.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
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Re: Send extra ward missionary funds to church headquarters
We have been getting requests for excess funds from our Area Authority roughly every six months for the last year and a half. We are instructed to keep a 3 month buffer for each missionary in the field, if those funds are available. Transfers to the stake are easy and I know there is at least one ward in the stake that has a large population of financially-challenged members. Keeping the funds in local accounts until requested ensures that needs like that can be met. I might add that in the past, my ward has had missionary families become unexpectedly unemployed and those excess funds have proven to be a great blessing.
Because the transfer is easy, I often don't wait for a request. When the account grows to excess, I go ahead with the transfer. I read somewhere, perhaps here, that if all wards would transfer the excess funds, the church could possibly reduce the equalized payments. THAT would be a real blessing. On the other hand, leaving those payments the same could free up additional money for missionaries from less affluent countries, temples, family history, education, humanitarian programs - the list is endless.
Because the transfer is easy, I often don't wait for a request. When the account grows to excess, I go ahead with the transfer. I read somewhere, perhaps here, that if all wards would transfer the excess funds, the church could possibly reduce the equalized payments. THAT would be a real blessing. On the other hand, leaving those payments the same could free up additional money for missionaries from less affluent countries, temples, family history, education, humanitarian programs - the list is endless.