MONDAY THOUGHTS: SCENARIOS: DONATIONS

Those who have been given authority often forget about the person or persons who will ultimately be held responsible for their actions.

 
Specifically, church auxiliaries and groups can't forget they are merely an arm of a tax exempt organization. 

The hands attached to those arms have to be clean. An auxiliary is not a private club that can act independently of the parent body. Those who want to run their own enterprises, without scrutiny or oversight, should establish their own organizations.

It's kind of a tradition in churches for auxiliaries, like choirs and Sunday School classes, to collect dues for one thing or another, but sometimes it can get out of hand--especially if the people handling the money lack integrity. 

Ignorance, even when people are well-meaning, can be a problem. 

Every leader should direct all church auxiliary leaders to turn over all monies collected at the church, for any reason, to the church accountant or treasurer. 

The accountant can then count the money, record the amount, and write a check drawn from the church's account, payable to the person, persons, or organization for whom the auxiliary collected the funds. 

Those who write checks should ALWAYS make them payable to the church, unless they intend their donation to be a gift.  

Everyone who gave, little or much, cash or check, should know the final total that was collected. 

It should be counted in the presence of witnesses. 

If monies have been collected, for example, to give to a needy child or family, ALL of said monies should be given,  whether someone thinks it is excessive or not. 

There's no using some of the money to buy paper plates for the Christmas party, or making executive decisions to give a portion of the money to somebody's friend who's behind on his cell phone bill. 

Those things have to be decided upon by the donors. They heard, "needy family" or "needy child", and opened their pockets and purses. 

They should not be misled, and no one should be helping themselves to the collection. 

The money should never find it's way to anyone's home--except the intended recipient's. 

There should be no private discussions between auxiliary leaders about whether the amount collected is too much, for example, to give to a young child, or is more than was expected to be donated. 

No one should suggest using the money in a manner other than that agreed upon/understood by the donors. 

Those who gave, did so with the understanding that their money was for a specific purpose. 

No one should be skimming their cut off the top, or shortchanging the recipient. 

If there was no discussion, for example, that the person distributing the money should get, say, $20.00 for gas to deliver the money, then EVERY penny given should go to the intended recipient. 

No one should be getting change for their large bills, or using any of the money to pad auxiliary entertainment or refreshments coffers. 

No one should go to their personal bank and deposit donors checks in their own personal accounts in exchange for cash, or convert the cash portions of the donation to a check drawn on their own personal account as if they, alone, gave it the donation. 

Handling resources in a non-profit organization is nothing to be careless about. 

When in doubt about the right and legal thing to do, even in the case of worthy causes, ask.