Giving

A note on taxes

Missionary Lane's giving is designed so that gifts stay gifts to your church. This page explains the design. It isn't tax or legal advice: confirm how it applies to your church with your church's CPA before you turn giving on.

Why the church decides every payment #

In the United States, a gift is generally treated as a contribution to the church when the church has full control over how it's used. A gift earmarked for a particular person may not be. That's why Missionary Lane works the way it does:

• Givers give to your church's missions fund, through your own giving page. The gallery never asks a giver to pick a missionary.
• The church decides every payment to every missionary, and reports those payments itself.
• My missions only describes, after the fact, which payments the giver's money ended up funding.

The words givers see #

Your What givers should know text appears beside the Support button. A suggested starting point is: “Gifts go to our missions fund. The church decides how the fund supports each missionary.” Ask your CPA whether your church's wording, and any wording already on your giving page, says what it needs to.

Receipts and statements #

• Missionary Lane doesn't issue tax receipts or contribution statements. Those come from your church, usually through your giving platform.
• My missions and Our missions aren't receipts. They show where missions money went, using your church's records.
• Amounts labelled Estimated or Pledge are descriptions, not records of a specific gift to a specific missionary.

Questions to take to your CPA #

• Does our missions fund, and the way we pay missionaries from it, keep gifts deductible as contributions to the church?
• Is our What givers should know text right for our church?
• Should our giving page or year-end statements say anything about missions giving?
• Outside the United States, which rules apply to us?