Tithing paid through United Way

[mfmohlma]

...so the best would probably be to direct it to the ward rather than the Church in general...but this last part is just my opinion.

Please don't send it to the local ward. Your ward finance clerk will thank you. The folks at headquarters know how to set you up if you email them or give them a call. The contact info is in the wiki.

[mikpits]

I work for a company that does 100% matching funds AND pays all administrative overhead for United Way. The matching funds go to the same place you designate with your money.

So I was wondering about donating Tithing to the Church through the United Way.

The advantages are:

The Church gets a matching donation from my company (more money for the church).

My company get to claim my money as being given to United way which makes them a better corporate citizen. (they don't care WHERE it's donated to)

People at my company smile because their employee is donating to United way (end recipeint the Church - but again, they don't care where it goes).

United Way increases their pie of donations received (yes it goes to the church but they get to count it in their total received and dispursed which makes them look better).


The disadvantages are:

Any donations do not show up in my local unit (Which may be an advantage depending on how you think of it).
You will get a tax receipt from the United Way, not the church.
Depending on your bishop, you may get a quizzical look when you go in for tithing settlement and declare you're a full tithe payer when there is nothing recorded at the local level. - This is not a big deal, most bishops see this a couple times a year, no recorded donations, yet the member says "I'm a full tithe payer". The bishop says "thank you" shakes your hand and doesn't question why. It is common, I was a bishop.

After talking to some nice people in the donations department at the Church they said, Yes you can do that but it's discouraged because Tithing is viewed as an obligation. I didn't really understand this. Sure it's a commandment, but it's my privelage to pay 10% of my increase. But he said, they don't say you can't, but beause it's an obligation, it's viewed differently than other charitable giving like fast offerings, humanitarian aid, missionary funds, etc.

HOWEVER, the guy at the donations dept said, it doesn't matter where you designate matching funds - the money that comes from you goes to tithing, the matching funds from corporations always goes to humanitarian aid. Because the Church doesn't feel comfortable using donations from corporations for operations of the church as Tithing funds are. Tithing from members pays for lights, water bills, support of local units (i.e. youth conferences), building of temples, upkeep of temples, etc. Because United way corporate matching funds shouldnt' really be used for daily maintenance of the church, they earmark all matching funds for Humanitarian aid. Good for them!

I dont' know, I still feel a little funny about it. So I probably won't, but there are a number of people around my work that do, they seem happy about it, my company seems fine with it, United Way seems fine with it, The Church seems OK with donations, but again, discourages tithing through the United Way.

[lajackson]

I work for a company that does 100% matching funds AND pays all administrative overhead for United Way. The matching funds go to the same place you designate with your money.

So I was wondering about donating Tithing to the Church through the United Way.

I don't know, I still feel a little funny about it.

You didn't really ask for a response, and this is a very old thread, but . . . [grin]

I feel about the same way you do. In the past, I have contributed to the Humanitarian Aid Fund through United Way and let my employer double the contribution. But I usually just give my tithing to the bishop.

My only added personal thought is that I do not feel comfortable asking my employer to donate a tenth of my income to the Church on top of what he already pays me. At the place where I am employed, that large of a "contribution" to any source would be far and above the amount they would expect any other employee to donate.

Now, if I worked for an employer where many employees were donating very large sums of money to their churches and the company was happily matching it, I might reconsider.

[JamesAnderson]

I saw United Way materials, we'd hold a drive each year, and their materials stipulate explicitly that you cannot name a house of worship to receive your donation. That would mean any church, unless the church had an organization it was sponsoring that handled humanitarian needs which is what United Way is about, and the donation would go directly to that sub-organization, not the parent church.

[kylehart]

My company matches 100% but company policy (I don't believe United Way has a policy but they may) states they don't match to religious orgs. In my case, the contribution and the match go to the designated organization (with the firm paying a fee to United Way, and the firm getting great PR that employees are generous).

So I pay tithing the normal way.

I was able to get a company match for my FOS contribution.

[crjewell]

This is an old thread, but I thought it would be beneficial to respond for anyone else searching on the topic.

My employer matches donations to the United Way as well. In fact, they strongly encourage us to do so. They WANT to donate the matching funds.

I've made it clear to my employer and to the United Way that I'm donating 10% of my income to the United Way to be forwarded to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to pay tithing. My employer matches it and so the church gets another 10% of my income for Humanitarian Aid. I donate a bit more to the United Way for them to keep (again matched by my employer) so that they also get a benefit from this.

So, I pay 10% of my income in tithing satisfying the commandment.
I pay in a way that the church gets another 10% for Humanitarian Aid (the parable of the 10 talents comes to mind here).
The United Way approves of this.
My employer enthusiastically approves of this.
My Stake President approves of this.
My Bishop approves of this.

What is the downside? I am still willingly paying my full tithing.