Tech Forum

We have a non-member taking the lessons and wants to pay tithing now. She does not have a membership number.
Can she pay offerings and how?

She may donate using the paper donation slips and submitting the donations to members of the bishopric. The clerk who records the donation can add her as a donor on the local, ward computer even if she is not a member of the church. She should make sure that her correct address is on the donation slip (there is not a place to write that on the current form but she can write it instead of a membership number). Then the clerk can provide a receipt for tax purposes and mail it to that address.

After she becomes a member (I'm counting on a good outcome from her time as an investigator) the clerk can link her donation records to her membership, but someone might want to remind the clerk that he must complete that step.

I asked a similar question a week or so ago (November 2017) because an investigator that we know had been paying tithing and someone in the Bishopric told her that she could not pay tithing until she became a member.
Has there been a rule change in Church financial practices since Greg's reply in 2015?
I really would appreciate a response on the current rules for paying tithing by non-members.
John
DrDorociak@gmail.com

jdorociak wrote:I really would appreciate a response on the current rules for paying tithing by non-members.

Anyone, member or not, may contribute to the Church, with the exception that a former member who was excommunicated is not permitted to pay tithing. The latter is the only restriction of which I am aware.

As far as I know, only excommunicated members are prohibited from paying tithing. From the various posts in the LDS Account section, people without MRNs on their account are having no trouble donating.

jdorociak wrote:...
I really would appreciate a response on the current rules for paying tithing by non-members.

Your unit leaders will find an answer to that question at the top of section 14.4 of Handbook 1. They should also be able to search for any more recent communications that might describe any changes or clarifications to the policies.

(The Code of Conduct (https://tech.lds.org/component/content/ ... of-conduct) allows providing references to section numbers within the handbooks but not quoting from Handbook 1.)

Thank you brethren!

I have a follow up to this question, As a bishop, I am working with a former member of the church. She was not excommunicated, but did have her name removed from the records of the church. She has had some events happen that have led her to have a change of heart towards the church. She has been attending church with her new husband, who is a member. She wants to know if she can pay tithing now. Thanks

lintonm wrote:I have a follow up to this question, As a bishop, I am working with a former member of the church. She was not excommunicated, but did have her name removed from the records of the church. She has had some events happen that have led her to have a change of heart towards the church. She has been attending church with her new husband, who is a member. She wants to know if she can pay tithing now. Thanks

Reading though Handbook 1, I only see a prohibition of paying tithing for excommunicated members. The phrasing I see suggests that those who voluntarily leave are not considered excommunicated.

However, I'd also point to Handbook 2 0.3: "Leaders who have questions about information in the handbooks or about issues that are not addressed should direct the questions to their immediate presiding authority.'

Thank you for the help, and yes I will contact my stake president.