How does your faith-community handle contributions?

[HSmomNY]

I was reading a news article about one of the candidates and it talked about his contributions to his church of stock he owned. I thought "this is news?". Then I remembered a event when I was a teen. I went to a friends church and they 'passed the plate' during the service. I was very surprised by this and some what confused because this is not something we do in my church.

So I was wondering how other faith-communities ( ie. churches, mosques, temples, fellowships etc.) hand collecting donations? Do some members give stocks?

 

It would be great if you could tell what faith community you are talking about.

Edited January 19, 2012 by HSmomNY

[Jennifer in MI]

Both. We have a collection during the service and people can give stocks (and do!). Basically, any way they want to give, they can! :001_smile:

[Daisy]

Our church has a box in the back for offering.

 

They accept donations of clothes and food for the needy in our area.

 

They've had vehicles donated to them before. I imagine if someone wanted to donate stock, land, etc. the church would take it. I'm not sure how they would actually handle it (sell it, hold on to it, etc).

 

We have a small church though.

 

I know some of the bigger churches in the area have automatic withdrawals, pass the plate, accept gift annuities, etc.

[Bluegoat]

Well, we have an offering plate during services, and direct debit if people want it. But people canmake gifts of other kinds - for example we have a trust fund for the deaf fellowship that was set up as a gift by a parishioner. I'm not sure how those things are invested.

[Whereneverever]

We have direct deposit and pass a plate. We also have special collections for specific needs in the community and church.

[Bootsie]

Tax advantages exist for donating stock to a non-profit organization. If I buy a stock for $10, it appreciates to $25, and I sell the stock, I must pay taxes on the $15 gain. If I give the church the $25 stock, I can claim a $25 charitable contribution deduction and do not have to pay taxes on the appreciation of the stock.

[Xuzi]

I'm LDS, and there are donation envelopes next to the Bishop's office door that you fill out and tuck a check or cash into, then give it to the Bishop or one of his councilors (or you can put it in the mail). There's a form that comes with the envelope where you state where you want your contribution(s) to go (tithing, missionary fund, humanitarian aid, etc.) I know you can donate stock, although I'm not sure exactly how the process works. You can also donate land, although every occurance I've heard of people giving the church land it's been through their Will.

[Parrothead]

We have the weekly Offertory, and one is allowed to give in whatever other ways one feels led to give.

[KarenNC]

Midsized Unitarian Universalist church. We have a pledge drive once a year where people pledge the base amount they plan to give the church in the following year and note how they plan to do so (weekly, monthly, quarterly, lump sum, etc). This is so the budget can be set, but there is always the expectation that there won't be 100% collection due to a variety of factors (folks lose jobs, move away, etc). AFAIK we don't have direct deposit available or automatic debit yet. Each Sunday, we pass the plate. Some people put their pledge payments in the basket, some put in extra. I send our pledge check in monthly as part of bill paying because it's easier for us. Half of the non-pledge payments each week are given to a designated charity. Sometimes we will put extra cash in the plate if we specifically want to support that month's designated charity (we've had homeless shelter, food pantry, teen parenting support and pregnancy prevention program, animal shelter, support for LGBT teens, etc).

 

There are other ways for people to donate to the church or one of its projects. We have fundraisers periodically, folks may choose to donate more if they have a better financial year than they thought they would when they pledged, or the church may have a special project and ask if folks want to donate to that, in goods, funds or service (things like the school tools drive in August, adopting families at the holidays, food drive for food pantry, etc). We have an endowment fund that will eventually be used to support the running of the church and folks are encouraged to make donations to that in honor or memory of others. Many folks choose to use their talents to make things for the church or provide a service like grounds maintenance. People can choose to give things like stocks and there are, I believe, IRS guidelines for how that should be handled.

[jennsmile]

I'm LDS, and there are donation envelopes next to the Bishop's office door that you fill out and tuck a check or cash into, then give it to the Bishop or one of his councilors (or you can put it in the mail). There's a form that comes with the envelope where you state where you want your contribution(s) to go (tithing, missionary fund, humanitarian aid, etc.) I know you can donate stock, although I'm not sure exactly how the process works. You can also donate land, although every occurance I've heard of people giving the church land it's been through their Will.

 

 

My brother had a mission president that paid tithing with stock.

 

Here is a link if this is something you would want to do. http://lds.org/deserettrust/stocksandbonds.html

[Carol in Cal.]

We have direct deposit and pass a plate. We also have special collections for specific needs in the community and church.

 

Here, too, and also we can give appreciated securities directly.

Generally the amounts we donate are kept quite private.

We are encouraged to give in proportion to how God has prospered us but with no specific percentage specified.

We are also encouraged to give regularly in a planned way, and 'over and above' in special circumstances--that seems to me to fit the Biblical model best.

[*********]

We homechurch.

 

We do not do a collection or anything when we get together to fellowship. Basically, if dh and I know of believers who are in need, and the Lord leads us to help them, we do. We would never knowingly let a believer in our fellowship go without proper food, clothing, or housing. It's all kind of part of/tied up in homechurching. We actually know many of the famililes that we fellowship with intimately. We know about needs, about stuggles, things like that. And we just help directly if we are led to.

 

Dh and I also have seeked out opportunities to help orphans and widows. We only have one widow in our natural families between us, so we help her as much as she needs/we can. But we also find ways to help orphans and widows in the Church across the world.