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Youth Conference expenses paid from "other" or not?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:19 pm
by brettbkg
I'm hoping for some clarification on what is allowed relating to youth conference expenses and where the money comes from.
"Youth conferences are to be funded from the stake or ward budget. Members should not be asked to pay for youth conferences." (Handbook 2, section 13.4 - https://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2 ... ng=eng#134)
Also:
“Wards and stakes are absolutely not permitted to use funds from fundraising for youth conferences. That is made clear in Handbook 2, Section 13.4, which says that ‘Youth conferences are to be funded from the stake or ward budget. Members should not be asked to pay for youth conferences.’” (Clerk forum - https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2224)
This seems to be in conflict with this page relating to the "other" categories (which is used for raising funds for events) :
"Stakes and wards may retain some unspent funds if they are needed for specific activities that are planned for the next year, such as a youth conference. "
(https://www.lds.org/help/support/other- ... y?lang=eng)
To simplify, in handbook 2, it looks like youth conferences are to be paid for out of the budget funds only, and members should not be asked to pay for it. On the other hand, on the "other" category instructions page, it says money can be retained for specific activities planned for the next year "Such as youth conference." The only way (that I know of) that money would be getting in to the "other" category is through either fundraisers, or asking the family for contribution toward the expense. In my mind, that doesn't mesh well with the handbook's instructions to not ask members to pay for it, but I'm very open to the likelyhood that I'm missing something here.

Any clarification?

Thanks for your help!

Re: Youth Conference expenses paid from "other" or not?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:35 pm
by eblood66
The handbook always supersedes the help pages. As the handbook says, members should not be asked to pay for youth conference. There isn't any leeway.

The help page should say "annual camp" rather than "youth conference."

Re: Youth Conference expenses paid from "other" or not?

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:48 pm
by russellhltn
Handbook trumps Help Center. While the Help Center is good, it doesn't get the kind of editting that the Handbook does. This seems to be such an example.

brettbkg wrote:This seems to be in conflict with this page relating to the "other" categories (which is used for raising funds for events) :
"Stakes and wards may retain some unspent funds if they are needed for specific activities that are planned for the next year, such as a youth conference. "
(https://www.lds.org/help/support/other- ... y?lang=eng)
The following sentence is "However, significant portions of the stake or ward budget allowance should not be retained from one year to the next to cover travel expenses." The paragraph goes on to explain the role of Other in this principle. While that paragraph as a whole is fine, it is confusing given the title of the page is "Other Category" and falls under "Bishoprics and stake presidencies should understand the following about the 'Other'
category:"

I believe the intent of the quote is "Stakes and wards may retain some unspent budget funds if they are needed for specific activities that are planned for the next year, such as a youth conference. "
brettbkg wrote:To simplify, in handbook 2, it looks like youth conferences are to be paid for out of the budget funds only, and members should not be asked to pay for it. On the other hand, on the "other" category instructions page, it says money can be retained for specific activities planned for the next year "Such as youth conference." The only way (that I know of) that money would be getting in to the "other" category is through either fundraisers, or asking the family for contribution toward the expense. In my mind, that doesn't mesh well with the handbook's instructions to not ask members to pay for it, but I'm very open to the likelyhood that I'm missing something here.
I think what's missing is that "youth conference" is to be paid for only by budget funds, but a camp can have funding from other sources. See Handbook 2: 13.2.8. The rest is just sloppy writing editing.

Re: Youth Conference expenses paid from "other" or not?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:40 am
by russellhltn
I got feedback from someone about that Help Center article. The sentence in question comes from Handbook 1: 14.7.2 Budget Allowance. in a paragraph that starts with a reference to Unneeded Budget Allowance. Given that context, there is no confusion.

The confusion stems from the change in context from the original Handbook and the Help Center page.

Re: Youth Conference expenses paid from "other" or not?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:20 pm
by brettbkg
Many thanks for your help. This is the clarification I needed.