Giving

View the offerings calender online - click here

Download the offerings calender - click here

Read the donor ID privacy policy for tithes & offerings registration - click here

Register your donor ID for giving tithes & offerings - click here

View the conference acounts staff list - click here

Changes to the Charities Commission

As you will be aware the Government has introduced many changes to the legislation affecting Charities and the donations made to charities. These changes have a significant impact on our church and church members and we must make some changes in the way we have handled our church finances and giving.
The main change is the availability of a 33.3% rebate against tax on all donations made to the church. This rebate replaces the limited tax rebate on donations previously available to individuals and other entities such as companies and trusts.

Executive Committee Decisions:

The Executive meeting on 24th September 2008 took the following action:

That the conference proceed with the development and implementation of an "online" financial recording and reporting system to cater for local church finances. Such a system to be implemented in stages as outlined below.

Stage 1 Redesign of the Tithe and Offering envelopes.
Stage 2 implementation of an online giving system for individuals, with weekly reports to local church treasurers for incorporation into the current systems, and automatic distribution of donations received to the respective entities.
Stage 3 Training in the use of the online giving system for church treasurers where the church elects to retain a full church treasurer to care for their financial recording and reporting.
Stage 4 Implementation of an accounting software package to record financial data and produce reports for local churches that elect to move to a centralized system.
Stage 5 Recording of data for churches that elect to move to a centralized system, with full reports back to local church treasurers for presentation to board/business meetings.

That concurrent with stage 2, the conference employ data entry personnel to input giving data from the local church T & O reports as from April 1 2008.
That the system be set up, implemented and operated at no or minimal cost to local churches.
That the conference advise church members that all donations made to the "church" as tithe, weekly church and Sabbath school offerings, and local church operating are eligible for a 33.33% rebate from the IRD.
That the conference work with local churches leaders in educating churches and church members to ensure that funds receipted as donations are actually donations under the legislation, and that GST is accurately recorded and reported.

At the Executive meeting in March 2009, the following recommendation was adopted:

That local churches be given a choice of having either:

A local church treasurer, who is adequately trained and capable, who collects funds and envelopes received each Sabbath, checks and banks the funds received, enters the data on the spreadsheet supplied ,forwards the spreadsheet to the central facility, enters the income data and all expenses in the local system and provides the necessary reports to the local church board/business meetings.
Or
A local church treasurer who collects the funds and envelopes received each Sabbath, checks and banks the funds received, forwards used envelopes and details of cash received to the central facility who enters the data and provides a weekly summary report and receipts to the treasurer as required. The local treasurer would also pay all expenses and forward invoices etc to the central facility to enter the data and provide monthly operating statements to be presented to church board/ business meetings by the local church treasurer.

Actions taken to date:

Identification of Donors
The new legislation requires a charity, (the SDA Church), to provide a yearly report to each donor of the total given for the year. In addition receipts can be requested by a donor at any time. In checking the church membership, it is apparent that there are many instances where members have the same first name and surname as another member. In order to clearly identify individual donors, and thus be able to provide the necessary reports, it has been decided to request all donors to provide a 6 digit Donor ID number comprising of 2 letters and 4 numerals. A registration form has been developed for members to complete and choose their Donor ID number. This registration can also be completed online at the conference website.

Further information to be updated.