Members purchasing Gift Cards to local grocery stores and the Bishop giving them out
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:55 pm
I just read the "Christmas Fund" thread and a question came up in my head:
Is it okay to have ward members purchase Gift Cards to local grocery stores, give those to the Bishop, and then the Bishop gives those (privately) to a few families in the ward?
This is something that our ward did last year and as far as MLS goes, there was no paper trail or documentation or anything going in or out of any "Other" accounts, "Budget" accounts, or "Fast Offering" accounts.
However, just because it doesn't go through MLS doesn't mean there aren't some guidelines around this sort of thing.
I looked over Handbook 1 Chapter 14 ("Finances"), but I can't find anything about this. Is there another place in the Handbooks I should be looking?
Thanks~!
Is it okay to have ward members purchase Gift Cards to local grocery stores, give those to the Bishop, and then the Bishop gives those (privately) to a few families in the ward?
This is something that our ward did last year and as far as MLS goes, there was no paper trail or documentation or anything going in or out of any "Other" accounts, "Budget" accounts, or "Fast Offering" accounts.
However, just because it doesn't go through MLS doesn't mean there aren't some guidelines around this sort of thing.
I looked over Handbook 1 Chapter 14 ("Finances"), but I can't find anything about this. Is there another place in the Handbooks I should be looking?
Thanks~!