Category
Church Money, Donations & Financial Controls
Should Your Church Get an Audit, Review or Compilation?
Church audit vs review vs compilation: what each level actually tests, what none of them will catch, and which one your church really needs.
Cyber and Data Coverage for Churches
Church cyber insurance covers a breach of your donor database. The loss most churches actually suffer is a fraudulent transfer, and that sits elsewhere.
Sexual Misconduct Coverage: Claims-Made vs. Occurrence
Abuse claims often surface decades later. Whether your church abuse coverage is claims-made or occurrence decides which policy year has to answer for it.
Paying Someone's Rent or Utilities Directly
Can a church pay a member's rent or utilities directly? Usually yes, and paying the provider is the cleaner route. Here's why, and what to document.
An Annual Insurance Review Agenda for the Board
Church insurance renews on autopilot until a claim finds the gap. Here's a church insurance review board agenda you can work through in about an hour.
Vehicle and Van Coverage for Church Trips
Church van insurance, rented vehicles and volunteers driving their own cars: what each needs, plus the driver rules that decide whether cover responds.
Workers' Compensation for Churches
Church workers compensation is set by state law, and religious exemptions are narrower than boards assume. What to check, plus the volunteer gap.
The Coverage Gaps Churches Discover Too Late
The church insurance gaps that surface at claim time: abuse sub-limits, employment claims, non-owned auto, funds transfer fraud and rebuilding to code.
Reading Your Church Insurance Policy: A Walkthrough
A church insurance policy review in order: declarations, forms schedule, endorsements, exclusions, conditions and definitions, and what to check in each.
What to Do If You Suspect Financial Misconduct
Suspect church financial fraud? What to do in the first 48 hours, why you shouldn't confront the person yet, and the order your board should work in.
Documenting Benevolence Decisions for the Auditor
Benevolence documentation an auditor will accept: what belongs in each file, how it ties to the ledger, and how to keep sensitive detail confidential.
Setting Benevolence Limits and Approval Authority
How to set benevolence approval limits a church will actually follow: four tiers, an annual household cap, an emergency path and the insider rule.
Helping a Church Employee in Crisis: The Extra Rules
Benevolence to a church employee is presumed to be compensation, not charity. Here are the extra rules, the insider risk, and how to help correctly.
Is Benevolence Taxable to the Recipient?
Is benevolence taxable to the recipient? Usually not. Three things change that answer, and the employee case catches churches every single year.
Writing a Benevolence Policy: The Essential Sections
The benevolence policy sections that do the work: purpose, eligibility, what it pays for, limits, approval, insiders, payment method and records.
Refunding a Donation: When You Can and How
A completed gift belongs to the church, so most refund requests should be declined. Here's when you can refund a church donation and how to process one.
Online Giving, Text Giving and Processing Fees
Church online giving fees come out of the gift, not off the receipt. Here's how to record gross, date a gift correctly and avoid the platform trap.
Handling Missionary and Mission-Trip Support Correctly
Is a mission trip donation deductible? It turns on who controls the money. How to word support letters, handle drop-outs, and send funds overseas.
Can a Donor Direct a Gift to a Specific Person?
A donation to a specific person, routed through a church, usually isn't deductible. The control test, the wording that fixes it, and what to do next.
Non-Cash Donations: Cars, Stock and Property
Non-cash donation rules for a church: describe what arrived, never value it. How car, stock and property gifts work, and which ones to decline.
Quid Pro Quo Donations: Banquets, Auctions and Gifts
Quid pro quo contribution church rules in plain English: when a donor gets a meal or an auction item, what you have to disclose, and how to value it.
Year-End Giving Statements: A Church Checklist
The year end giving statement church treasurers dread, turned into a checklist: what to reconcile in November, how to date December gifts, when to send.
The $250 Rule and Why Timing Matters
The 250 donation receipt rule applies gift by gift, and the letter has to reach the donor before they file. Here's how it works and where churches slip.
The Magic Words Every Contribution Statement Needs
The no goods or services statement is the line accountants look for. Here's the exact wording, when it's true, and when the statement has to say more.
Church Insurance: The Coverages You Actually Need
The church insurance coverage a program should contain, the three parts most often missing, and how to read a limit before a claim reads it for you.
Church Benevolence: How to Help People Without Losing Your Exemption
Helping people in need is core church work. A church benevolence policy handles the real risks: cash with no record, insider payments, earmarked gifts.
Designated and Restricted Gifts: What You Can and Cannot Do
A restricted donation binds the church to the purpose. Here's the line between a donor restriction and a board designation, and the gifts to decline.
Church Donation Receipts: The Rules in Plain English
Church donation receipt rules in plain English: what the statement must say, when it has to reach the donor, and the gifts you should never receipt.
Guest Speaker and Musician Agreements
The guest speaker agreement church offices need: the fee, travel, recording rights, tax paperwork, safeguarding, and what happens if either side cancels.
The Benevolence Application: What to Ask For
The benevolence application church staff can use in a hurry: what to ask, what never to ask, and what the file has to show two years afterwards.