Tech Forum

Here it says that temple (specific) Donations are charitable. Our finance clerk says that with the new CUBS system, these donations are not being shown on members statements as charitable now. Are we missing something or are others seeing this too?

It is my understanding that Temple Specific donations aren't allowed anymore. I realize you might be talking about old donations (when that was allowed). You may have to go back to the donation record and change the donation to the general "Temple Construction" fund instead of Temple Specific. But then you have to worry about a negative balance because you probably already sent a check to HQ in order to make the "transfer" of the Temple Specific money. Hmmm. A puzzle.

Hey Greg, thanks for replying.
Is there some documentation that indicates that temple specific funds are not allowed anymore? The donations are only old in the sense that most of them were made before CUBS was implemented, probably even some donations were donated after CUBS. We are in Brigham City so you can understand that we are getting Temple Specific donations. If they aren't allowed, it would have been nice to receive a notification via MLS messages from the finance department. If there was a message we surely missed it some how.

Can anyone shed any further light on the current official status of Temple Specific donations.

Thanks

elderlarryhawkes wrote:Here it says that temple (specific) Donations are charitable. Our finance clerk says that with the new CUBS system, these donations are not being shown on members statements as charitable now.

Temple specific donations may not be appearing on member statements now. However that does not necessarily mean that the donations are no longer considered a charitable donation. The MLS programers are still trying to catch up to the CUBS system. This may, or may not, be one of those areas that has not caught up (my speculation only).

GregAnderson wrote:It is my understanding that Temple Specific donations aren't allowed anymore.

Has there been an official statement from CHQ to this affect? What is the source of this new information? Before any information of this sort gets passed around we need to make sure the source for what appears to be a change is not just someone's speculation. There are several aspects of the transition to CUBS that may be cause for speculation about changes in the way the Church does business. The best source for questions such as this one about temple specific donations is the tax administration office.

Tax Administration
50 East North Temple Street, Room 2223
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3620
Telephone: 1-801-240-3003 or 1-800-453-3860, extension 2-3003

Calls to this office should originate from the bishop or stake president.

elderlarryhawkes wrote:Is there some documentation that indicates that temple specific funds are not allowed anymore?

Certainly. It is in the long MLS message that was first sent out about CUBS, and which is now in the Church Unit Banking Services wiki article in the Subcategories section. It says simply:

Other:Temple Specific has been eliminated. Donations can still be made to the Temple Construction category.

So there's no need to bother the Tax Administration office. Just make donations to the Temple Construction category as is documented. I'm sure that the change was made on purpose, and that there is no need to be concerned whether a donation is going to a particular temple -- such donations will be used for temple construction where the funds are most needed.

I imagine that these specific donations caused unnecessary headaches for the Church. For example, what do they do with donations earmarked for a temple that has already been completed, or for which all necessary funding has been procured? Should such donations be returned if they can't be used for the intended temple? That is obviously rather silly. I think the new simplified system will work just fine.

elderlarryhawkes wrote:Here it says that temple (specific) Donations are charitable. Our finance clerk says that with the new CUBS system, these donations are not being shown on members statements as charitable now. Are we missing something or are others seeing this too?

On a similar note, members have complained to me this week that their "Temple Patron Assistance" donations are marked as non-charitable on their year-to-date summaries given in advance of tithing settlement. I researched and found that apparently the CUBS changeover reclassified all temple patron donations into the Other:Authorized Member Financed Activities category, even though the Other:Temple Patron category still exists. I edited the 15 or so batches, changed the category back, and the donations are once again charitable.

86Bengal wrote:On a similar note, members have complained to me this week that their "Temple Patron Assistance" donations are marked as non-charitable on their year-to-date summaries given in advance of tithing settlement. I researched and found that apparently the CUBS changeover reclassified all temple patron donations into the Other:Authorized Member Financed Activities category, even though the Other:Temple Patron category still exists. I edited the 15 or so batches, changed the category back, and the donations are once again charitable.

I seem to remember that Temple Patron Assistance is a now-obsolete category as well. Recategorize old donations so they show up, but do not accept future donations to this category.

crislapi wrote:I seem to remember that Temple Patron Assistance is a now-obsolete category as well. Recategorize old donations so they show up, but do not accept future donations to this category.

I don't remember an announcement on this category. Do you have a link or a hint where I could learn more?

86Bengal wrote:

crislapi wrote:I seem to remember that Temple Patron Assistance is a now-obsolete category as well. Recategorize old donations so they show up, but do not accept future donations to this category.

I don't remember an announcement on this category. Do you have a link or a hint where I could learn more?

I too really doubt this. I recall no such announcement, and the category is still active. Furthermore, there is still a page for this fund on the LDS Philanthropies site, so unless we receive specific direction to the contrary, I would think that wards should continue to receive donations in this category.

Since the category is specifically set up as a subcategory of Other, and not with the Authorized Member Financed Activities subcategories, it should be swept automatically and indeed be treated as a charitable donation.

Alan_Brown wrote:Certainly. It is in the long MLS message that was first sent out about CUBS, and which is now in the Church Unit Banking Services wiki article in the Subcategories section. It says simply:

Other:Temple Specific has been eliminated. Donations can still be made to the Temple Construction category.

Thanks Alan,
Your help is greatly appreciated.
The information in this following link needs to be updated too. It just provides for additional confusion:

elderlarryhawkes wrote:Here it says that temple (specific) Donations are charitable.

This is nothing against you Alan, but it's also ironic that at the bottom of each of your posts it suggests the use of the Wiki for answers. It provided the wrong answer in this case.

May I suggest that not only does the programming code need to be as correct as possible when released, all documentation needs to be updated to exactly match the new policies and procedures as well.