This past week, we received an inquiry from a mission recruit joining an agency in UK that doesn’t have a centralized support-receiving system. This recruit was curious as to how to allow donors in Europe and North America to send gifts (especially monthly automatic payment gifts) that could be received in the UK. Can anyone make any recommendations for such a situation? If so, please click “Comment” following the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
I will tell you what I know. Unless the ministry has a US corporate entity or church and donations go from a U.S. Bank to a US Bank the missionary can’t receive donations, at least tax-deductible donations from American givers. However, offshore ministries often have giving tools that utilize the banks of their home country. But American givers cannot expect a tax deduction for those gifts. Next year however, the standard US deduction will be $12,000 or 24,000 for those filing jointly. So you may not care if you get a deduction. So research what giving tools are available in the UK and get your UK ministry connected to them.
Stewardship (www.stewardship.org.uk) are the main people in the UK who manage Christian giving, so they are the people to contact.
Does anyone know if the D M Stearns Missionary Fund is still operating? They use to enable tax deductible giving from the US to individual missionaries.