Church Planting: Mother/Daughter Administration

With more and more of our churches catching the vision for church planting, the question has been: 

What is the proper method for accounting and administration of church plants?

Both the Administration Manual and the Administrators' Guide clearly outline the policies and procedures for administering church plants.  You can also access resources and information on our Foursquare website: 

http://www.foursquare.ca/index.php/20090323157/Downloads/nfcd-resources.html

Some important things to remember:

• The mother church is fully accountable for all income and expenses of the church plant. Until the church plant has been approved by the national board as a chartered church and is fully registered as a charity with the CRA, they are in essence considered an outreach of the mother church and must be accounted for as such. 

• There was a time when the church plant would simply swap cheques in order for the mother church to issue tithe receipts.  From the CRA's perspective this is "lending" the charity number and does not provide adequate proof of the operations of the church plant.  Using this form of accounting could have the potential of jeopardizing the charitable registration of the mother church.

• The mother church, at the very minimum, should have accounts for the following information in their accounting system:  bank accounts, one receipted income account, one non-receipted income account, and one expense account.  Upon receiving monthly financial reports from the church plant, one entry could be made into the accounting system.

• As early as possible, the church plant should be set up with their own accounting system (Confluent) and administration.  The mother church would work with the plant to help train and support in the daily operations of the church.  This will enable the plant to be fully operational by the time they are ready to be chartered and on their own.

• The church plant should be able to provide full details of all funds received.  For those amounts that will be receipted by the mother church, there should be detailed records including full name, addresses, amounts given and should all be supported with tithe envelopes.

• A Mother/Daughter Church Sponsorship Agreement should be completed at the start of a church plant.  This is a very useful tool to help both the mother and daughter church understand the relationship and responsibilities that each has for all aspects including accountability, mentoring, and administration.  Please contact the national office to obtain a copy.

Church planting is not easy but there's no way to put a value on the impact for the Kingdom that comes through reproducing healthy churches.  It's a labor of love that will bring eternal rewards.


Useful Quote of the Day:  We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. George Washington

Designated Funds: Giving Policy

To designate or not to designate, this has been the question.

I've had several churches in the past while ask about the proper handling of Designated Funds; that is donations given for a specific purpose.

Question:  can we change the designation of funds that have come in for a specific purpose?

Answer:  No, Yes & Maybe.

No, if you have already accepted a designated gift you cannot change the designation.  When received, it becomes a legal obligation of the church to disburse it for its designated purpose.  The only way to change the designation would be to appeal to the courts.  In most cases, this is not cost effective.

Yes, if you have a Designated Giving Policy in place prior to receiving a gift then the church may redirect funds to other purposes if they are no longer required or are needed for other projects of the church.  This policy must be communicated and can be done by printing the policy on the tithe envelopes. 

An example of this statement can be as follows:

“When any given need has been met, or where projects cannot be reasonably carried out the donor agrees that designated gifts may be used where needed most.”

A couple of things to remember.  Gifts received prior to adopting a Giving Policy will still need to be used as designated.  Once the policy has been set in place, council should determine the approved projects of the church and communicate that these will be the only projects the church will accept designated funds for.

Maybe, designated gifts may come in that are for a ministry area of the church that is already funded through the operating budget.  Examples would be youth, children, adult, Alpha, missions, etc.  In this case, designated funds that come in can be used to offset the budget of ministry costs. 

The church could choose to use the funds over and above the budget, or use it to reduce the amount from the budget.  If the gift is not fully used up in the year the remaining balance should be carried forward to be used in the next budget year.

Whatever way the church decides, may you be blessed in your givings and receivings!


Useful Quote of the Day:  We shall never have more time. We have, and always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going... Concentrate on something useful.
Arnold Bennett

Donation Receipting: Due Date for Issue

It's so interesting how we can go along for years, doing something a certain way, all the time thinking this is the way it needs to be done.  That is until someone questions it and does a little research for themselves.  Well, that's the case of the question I received today about the official due date for issuing donation receipts:

A quick question on the donation receipts.   Do they have to be in the mail tomorrow, or can I bring them to church next Sunday to hand out?  CRA's website seems to indicate that there is not a deadline to get them out.

Answer:  The CRA only suggests that receipts be issued by February 28.  However, they also recommend that it is a good date to have them ready and available so individuals can complete their personal tax returns on time which is on or before April 30.


There is no consequence to the church or its charitable status if they do not have receipts out by this day.  However, it does show due diligence on the part of the church and also consideration for givers to have them done in a timely manner.

For those churches that have a large number of receipts they do have the option of issuing receipts at periodic intervals.  This can help greatly to reduce the February crunch.

That was a great question! 

Check it out for yourself at:  http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/prtng/rcpts/whn-eng.html