Contributing For A Foreign Mission

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murraydavidgeorge2
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Contributing For A Foreign Mission

#1

Post by murraydavidgeorge2 »

We have a member in our Ward who would like to help pay for his nephew's mission. His nephew lives in France and he was wondering if there was any way to contribute funds on a monthly basis without sending money directly to his nephew's Ward in France. He would like to see the bulk of his money go towards the mission instead of transfer fees and currency conversion fees, etc. Just curious if any one has run into this before. Thanks...
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aebrown
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#2

Post by aebrown »

murraydavidgeorge2 wrote:We have a member in our Ward who would like to help pay for his nephew's mission. His nephew lives in France and he was wondering if there was any way to contribute funds on a monthly basis without sending money directly to his nephew's Ward in France. He would like to see the bulk of his money go towards the mission instead of transfer fees and currency conversion fees, etc. Just curious if any one has run into this before. Thanks...
A somewhat similar topic was discussed in the thread Missionary Support to other country, but that involved transferring complete responsibility, not simply making a partial contribution, so it's not really the same situation.

In any case, if no one comes up with a helpful answer, but you find out how it can be done through other channels (such as calling the Missionary Department), please report back here so that others will know how to do this. Thanks!
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
crislapi
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#3

Post by crislapi »

murraydavidgeorge2 wrote:We have a member in our Ward who would like to help pay for his nephew's mission. His nephew lives in France and he was wondering if there was any way to contribute funds on a monthly basis without sending money directly to his nephew's Ward in France. He would like to see the bulk of his money go towards the mission instead of transfer fees and currency conversion fees, etc. Just curious if any one has run into this before. Thanks...
While perhaps not exactly the same situation, I have gone several rounds with the missionary department on similar topics. Here is the situation and what I have learned:

We are/were a student stake. Some of our member's home wards were outside the United States. Their student ward's wanted to help the parents pay for the member's mission. They made arrangements with the home wards (both I dealt with were in South America) to pay for some percentage of the mission. My task was to figure out how to link the donations made here with the missionary leaving from his home ward in South America.

The short answer - it cannot be done. The best thing the missionary department will tell you to do is to make your donations to General Missionary instead of Ward Missionary.

Longer answer - There are two systems used to pay for missions: equalized payments and non-equalized payments. If a country is on the equalized payment system, the ward is automatically charged a certain amount each month of the mission. In non-equalized countries, the bishop meet's with the parents and they come to an agreement on what the expected family contribution will be. That amount is then what is deducted automatically from that ward's missionary account each month. The balance comes from the general missionary account. So if the country is on the non-equalized payment system (I don't know if France is or isn't), then it makes no sense to contribute since the bishop has already worked out with the parents an amount they can afford and that is all they are responsible for.

The missionary department prefers, where possible, that the parents' ward be set up as the permanent unit so that the parents have the responsibility of contributing to their missionary's expenses and, therefore, the blessings as well. The only approved way to contribute directly to that missionary's expenses is to send money to that unit or the parents'. But then you are dealing with currency differences, having to send cash, etc.
murraydavidgeorge2
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Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:38 pm
Location: USA - Grand Rapids, MI

#4

Post by murraydavidgeorge2 »

I just got off the phone with the Missionary Department and you are right on with your short, and long answers. Thanks...
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