Get Missionary Account Balance

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stewartr
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Get Missionary Account Balance

#1

Post by stewartr »

My son is about to leave on a mission and i was wondering if there is a way to check the balance in his missionary fund.

Thanks
eblood66
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#2

Post by eblood66 »

You'll need to talk to your ward clerk. There is no way for missionaries or family to view missionary account balances online.
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gregwanderson
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#3

Post by gregwanderson »

Agreed. The ward clerk and/or "finance clerk" is your man. Just make him aware that you want to receive a regular update on the account balance and he can make a habit of informing you. Suggest that each Sunday before he wraps up his work and shuts down the computer that he could just send you a quick email showing the balance. In my experience, missionary families don't ask for this very often but you will do him a favor telling him you want to know on a regular basis.

Be aware that the clerk should not give you specific information about the donations made by other donors, due to privacy policies. He can, however, let you know the balance of the account without details about the incoming transactions.
russellhltn
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#4

Post by russellhltn »

gregwanderson wrote:Suggest that each Sunday before he wraps up his work and shuts down the computer that he could just send you a quick email showing the balance.
Each Sunday? That seems like overkill. If I was the clerk, I doubt if I'd agree to that often. Something like last Sunday.
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lajackson
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#5

Post by lajackson »

russellhltn wrote:Each Sunday?
We did it quarterly with our missionaries. Some prefer monthly. It works best at a consistent time each month after it appears that all of the contributions have been received.
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gregwanderson
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#6

Post by gregwanderson »

My thinking is that there's no point checking the balance more often than once per week. But it could potentially change any day, now that donations are received online and not just processed on Sundays in the clerk's office.

I was also thinking that the clerk could potentially check the balance, write an email and send it in less than one minute. It's not that big of a hassle. Meanwhile, the missionary's family could potentially be stressed about what the balance is at any time. Put them at ease each Sunday until they realize it's not a stressful thing. Then you can figure out a less-frequent schedule. But, again, it literally takes the clerk less and one minute. Why treat it like it's a hassle? This is exactly why missionary families can become frustrated and would rather be able to check the balance themselves without talking to a clerk who acts like he'd rather not do it for them.
russellhltn
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#7

Post by russellhltn »

gregwanderson wrote:Meanwhile, the missionary's family could potentially be stressed about what the balance is at any time.
I'd think they'd only be concerned as the time to donate again approaches.
gregwanderson wrote:But, again, it literally takes the clerk less and one minute. Why treat it like it's a hassle?
Because you're suggesting an expectation level of what should be considered normal/acceptable for all the other clerks in the church. I don't see the justification of weekly reports for a monthly donation. If that's what you do, that's fine. But I doubt if that's the normal practice and I wouldn't want to set that expectation in the member's minds.

I'm also a Pandora's box type of guy. Start giving weekly balance reports to someone, and others are going to expect the same. Multiply that by every priesthood and auxiliary leader who would like to know their budget balance and it's no longer so minor.
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lajackson
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#8

Post by lajackson »

gregwanderson wrote:I was also thinking that the clerk could potentially check the balance, write an email and send it in less than one minute. It's not that big of a hassle.
Unless you have 23 missionaries serving from your ward.
gregwanderson wrote:Why treat it like it's a hassle? This is exactly why missionary families can become frustrated and would rather be able to check the balance themselves without talking to a clerk who acts like he'd rather not do it for them.
A clerk should never treat it like it's a hassle. And a missionary family should never become frustrated because the answer is not immediately available on their mobile device. They should talk to each other, work out a schedule, and then the clerk should follow up diligently.

I think the best time frame, as russellhltn said, would be the same frequency at which the family donates. If they donate to the missionary fund weekly, then weekly might be the best frequency. If they donate once a month, then once a month would be a more likely frequency.
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gregwanderson
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#9

Post by gregwanderson »

Obviously, the dynamics have changed now that more people are donating online and are able to obtain their own donation records online too (reports they could only previously get from someone who used MLS). It's only natural that donors would want a ward missionary sub-category report online too, especially because the system makes it easier for anyone to donate support for missionaries outside of their own wards. It's much more likely these days that a missionary's family will have no idea how other donor's donations will affect the balance of the ward missionary sub-category that they're trying to maintain. I'm concerned that clerks might give off the attitude that people who ask for reports are a bother. I hope there will be sensitivity on the part of the clerks, since they understand the system better than the donors do.

Obviously, the clerk and the families of missionaries should settle on a reasonable way to share account balance reports on a regular basis. There is no reason to believe that, say, the Relief Society President will suddenly become obsessed with having a weekly budget report, since she's probably already receiving a report on a regular basis and the dynamics of how budget funds are handled have not changed recently.

Personally, I make it a point to submit all my donations online in order to help the clerk have less work to do. So I would naturally expect some give-and-take, hoping the clerk could use that spare time I have purposely given him to do new things which are part of the new dynamics of online donations. Or, of course, maybe my efforts will simply help the clerk go home earlier each Sunday, so I do my online donations in the spirit of "do unto others".
jbrent3
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Re: Get Missionary Account Balance

#10

Post by jbrent3 »

This really should be available to families online. Does it really take much time to ask the clerk? No, but neither does writing a check and we like online bill pay, right? This is one small way we can be more family centered, church supported.
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