Other Member Financed Activities - Online Payment

[lajackson]

There's a "Notes" field in the online donation form that might be usable for audit-trail purposes for folks that do the "Other" reclassification, but I don't know if/where that shows up in LCR. I'll have to add a note on my next tithing payment and see if I can find it on the backend...

The Help Center FAQs say you can add a note to a new donation or to an existing donation by clicking the Notes icon at the bottom of the slip. It was my understanding that any note is for the benefit of the member and does not display anywhere else. I do not remember if I actually read that somewhere, but it would seem to me that if I added a note to an existing donation it would not be processed through the system again just to show up on a clerk administrative computer or anywhere else. You may discover something different, of course.

[nitzmahone]

There's a "Notes" field in the online donation form that might be usable for audit-trail purposes for folks that do the "Other" reclassification, but I don't know if/where that shows up in LCR. I'll have to add a note on my next tithing payment and see if I can find it on the backend...

Just to close the loop on this one: nope- notes made on the user-side donation form don't appear to be accessible in LCR, so it doesn't look like there's any decent inline (and audit-kosher) way to let submitters direct the adjustment of an "Other" donation. I even checked the JSON responses- wouldn't surprise me if it'd cough them up if you asked for the right key name, but the notes don't come over in what LCRFFE asks for anyway.

[johnshaw]

In the US/Canada, this is a ridiculous requirement - The ONLY check I write each year is for YW Camp. And, it's been that way for a very long time. I know many, many, many, many, many people where that is the same situation. It's only a Category. If Ward Missionary can be 'variable' there is no reason that people couldn't choose a drop down from 'other'.

I've found over the decades of working in the clerking areas of the church that someone has an 'opinion' about a rule or policy or just doesn't 'feel' right about it. Because, literally, WHAT is the difference, I mean, what is the actual difference between filling out a form, indicating other:[whatever] on the form and sending a check -vs- the drop-down of selecting 'other:[whatever]' online and paying through a check online. Seriously, tell me the privacy/security/policy difference of doing it in person vs online.

While we're at it, why can't I setup a recurring donation? An ExPat can do it by paying directly to the church. The Wealthy who don't want the $$ known by other church members are able to setup recurring donations. In this particular case there is a policy or a 'feeling' or belief from people making the decisions about the solution as to why it shouldn't be there. [I don't really want an 'explanation' because it's not the point, the point is it's arbitrary, a decision made by committee or by a person about how they 'feel' about a thing - Regardless of what one might use to justify the action]

[lajackson]

The ONLY check I write each year is for YW Camp.

I do not write checks. My "checking" account no longer allows it. I pay for things electronically or I do not pay for them. I told my ward clerk that he ought to try a negative reimbursement to the proper Member Financed Activity account, but I do not think he is brave enough to try it. I would also hope that the system would not allow a negative number as the reimbursement amount.

It's only a Category.

While I do not disagree, it would require thousands of drop down selections to cover all the options wards are using. And it would require a separate tracking system to keep nondeductible donations apart from deductible donations. Accounting wise, it is a very different category from the others.

[johnshaw]

I get it, it can be hard, but they were OK with it when it was MLS. So, there could be many reasons NOT to do it this way, but none of them involve what's good, better, or best for the general membership of the church, nor is it better for clerks who have to figure it out and hear about it All-the-time. I just don't see the difference between having it available in MLS and not when it's an online app.

[jonesrk]

I just don't see the difference between having it available in MLS and not when it's an online app.

One difference is that in MLS the clerk/bishopric member is choosing the category and hopefully has a good understanding of what it is intended for and the rules around OMFA accounts, while in donations you are dealing with all the members who may not understand those things. I don't really know if that is why or not, but I'm guessing it was a business decision not just the programmers whim.

[russellhltn]

There's already been posts about problems caused by well meaning members who thwart a clerk's efforts to zero out a returned missionary's account.

That may have played a part in the business decision.

[johnshaw]

I just don't see the difference between having it available in MLS and not when it's an online app.

One difference is that in MLS the clerk/bishopric member is choosing the category and hopefully has a good understanding of what it is intended for and the rules around OMFA accounts, while in donations you are dealing with all the members who may not understand those things. I don't really know if that is why or not, but I'm guessing it was a business decision not just the programmers whim.

While programmer whims always exist, the issues we normally see with members ease-of-use, not understanding why things get done are always a business decision in my book, I'd never blame a programmer for anything.

I get that, but I also don't really understand how it's different, in fact having the specific donation makes it easier, sometimes, on clerks who have to deal with donations written out by members that are all-over-the-place though I don't think it's as big a deal as we're making it out to be.

It's easy enough to have a check mark that says - make this visible for online donations or make visible from X day to Y day and inform members they can donate between those dates, otherwise they'll need to use a check.

Of course, I get that some clerks want to put as little into their effort as possible and it can get messed up... but that doesn't change online/in-person. The issues apply to both, regardless, as I see it.