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Policy Name:MTD Fund Transfer
Scope:All Employees & Associates
Revision Date: March 10, 2021
Last Review Date:June 9, 2023


Ministry donations received by Reliant Mission belong to Reliant and are under the control of Reliant. Reliant employees may request that Reliant transfer MTD funds internally out of the MTD account for which they’re responsible, to another Reliant ministry account, including another employee MTD account or Reliant church/project account.

MTD Transfer Requests

The following rules apply: 

  1. Requests must be submitted by the employee responsible for the MTD account. 
  2. One approved MTD fund transfer request is allowed per year. 
  3. The MTD account balance must be more than or equal to two months of the MTD goal plus the internal transfer amount requested. 
  4. Transfers can be made from an MTD account to other MTD accounts or to a Department account based on the following guidelines:
    1. Transfers cannot exceed $5,000 for staff MTD account to MTD account transfers. 
    2. Transfers cannot exceed $8,000 for staff MTD account to Project account transfers.
    3. Total of the entire transfer request cannot exceed $13,000 combined.
  5. Special Condition: Employees who are part of a fixed-term program with a church or other ministry partnership (international or domestic) must have approval from their Church/Ministry program Leader as well as their Reliant Program Team manager to be eligible to submit an MTD Transfer Request. 
  6. A Reliant Staff Accountant, manager, or director (typically the Director of Organizational Affairs & Treasurer) must approve all transfers made under this policy.

Communication Info

Communication about MTD Transfers

MTD Transfer Requestor 

  • Reliant will NOT send a special communication to MTD transfer employee/recipient(s) informing them of the MTD transfer. 
  • Reliant recommends that the requesting employee consider drafting a simple email or calling the employee/recipient(s) personally to inform them of the MTD transfer.
  • If the Requesting Employee does NOT want the employee/recipients of the MTD Transfer to be able to find out details of the source of the transfer then they should indicate that preference by selecting the ANONYMOUS box on the MTD Transfer request.   

MTD Transfer Recipient

  • MTD Transfers can be found by viewing the Account Statement on Toolbox (under Financials>Account Statement). The Account Statement has different categories for Revenues, Expenses, and Transfers. MTD Transfers are listed as Transfers In within the Section: Transfers. The Account Statement does not indicate specific details of where or from what MTD account the MTD Transfer originated from. 
  • If an MTD Transfer recipient would like to know details of an MTD Transfer, they may email us at payroll@reliant.org to request additional information. As long as the MTD Transfer was not ANONYMOUS, Reliant will be able to tell them the origin of the MTD Transfer.

Access the form below and share the completed form to payroll@reliant.org. 

MTD Transfer Request Form

Requests from Exiting Employees


Procedure Name:Exiting MTD Funds Transfer
Scope:All Staff
Revision Date:October 22, 2020
Last Review Date:June 8, 2023

Any remaining funds are handled differently for ongoing employees and those that are part of the specific programs listed below. Please review the eligibility criteria to submit an Exiting MTD Transfer Request based on your status as outlined below.

Eligibility Information - Exiting MTD Transfers

Collegiate/GCC Intern/Residency Programs

If the exiting employee is involved in Collegiate/GCC Program Team and is completing an internship or residency, excess funds will be distributed as follows:

  • If an employee is exiting a summer-long project Collegiate project, such as LT, and is listed as a Collegiate Intern, excess funds will be transferred to the Collegiate Church Network fund.
  • If an employee is exiting a residency or internship serving at a Collegiate or GCC church, the excess funds will be transferred to their church's residency or church fund within Reliant.
  • Residents are not eligible for the fund transfer process, as any remaining balance will be distributed as listed above.
Domestic (US) Fixed Term Programs

Exiting MTD Transfers are generally NOT permitted for exiting employees in Domestic (US) Fixed Term Programs.

If the exiting employee is involved in a one-year or fixed-term Reliant intern ministry program experience where the church or ministry has a Reliant Ministry Project Fund, the full amount remaining in the intern's MTD fund will be transferred directly to the specific corresponding Reliant Ministry Project Fund, per the agreement Reliant has with the Church/Ministry Partner. 

If there is no specific corresponding Reliant Ministry Project Fund, then any leftover MTD funds will be transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund.

International Fixed Term Programs

If the exiting employee is involved in a one-year or fixed-term Reliant international intern ministry program experience, where the church or ministry has a Reliant Ministry Project Fund, the full amount remaining in the intern's MTD fund will normally be transferred directly to the specific corresponding Reliant Ministry Project Fund, per the agreement Reliant has with the Church/Ministry Partner. 

If there is no specific corresponding Reliant Ministry Project Fund, then any leftover MTD funds will be transferred to another closely associated employee's MTD fund or the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund. 

 A Reliant employee in one of these International programs may request an exiting MTD Transfer. To do so, consult with the International program team liaison  (email: international@reliant.org). MTD Transfer requests of this nature must be approved by the Reliant program team leadership and, in most cases, the associated Church/Ministry Partner.

Ongoing US, Collegiate, & International Employees

When a Reliant employee exits with a balance remaining in the MTD account they’re responsible for after all other expenses have been paid, the following policy will automatically apply toward the treatment of any remaining funds in the closed MTD account. The Exiting MTD Transfer policy is a different policy than the annual allowed MTD Transfer Request policy, and the one transfer per year rule does not apply to exiting transfers,

  1. The employee may request an Exiting MTD Transfer
    1. The first $13,000 can be transferred to Reliant MTD and/or Project accounts based on the wishes of the employee
      1. A maximum of $5,000 can be transferred to other MTD accounts
      2. A maximum of $8,000 can be transferred to project accounts
    2. The next $2,000 will be transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund (SMF)
    3. Any remaining amount after the Exiting MTD Transfer and the $2,000 will be transferred to the project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role. 
  2. If an Exiting MTD Transfer is not requested
    1. The first $2,000 will be transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund
    2. Any remaining amount after the $2,000 will be transferred to the project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role. 
    3. If there is no project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role, the remaining funds will be fully transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund

Example:

$16,000Remaining final balance in MTD account of College Church Ministry/Ken Jones
($5,000)Ken Jones' request for MTD fund transfer to another Reliant staff MTD account, approved by Reliant management
($8,000)Ken Jones' request for MTD fund transfer to Reliant project/church/ministry fund FD####, approved by Reliant management
($2,000)Transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund
$1,000

Total remaining amount transferred to the project fund most closely related to the employee's role upon final closure of MTD account.

Deadline for Transfer Requests

Exiting employees must submit an Exiting MTD Transfer Request by the 16th day in the month of their exit. If a transfer request is not received by this deadline, an appeal may be submitted to payroll@reliant.org within 3 months of the employee's exit for a late transfer request to be considered. Appeals submitted more than 3 months from the employee's exit date will not be eligible for consideration. 

Fill out the Exiting MTD Fund Transfer request form below and email the completed form to payroll@reliant.org. 

Exiting Employee Transfer Request Form

Contributions to a Non-Profit Organization: 

It is Reliant's desire to be generous when the employee's exit is to work in a position at another formal support-based deputized mission agency role (like Reliant). 

The Reliant employee should contact your Program Team Liaison by the 16th day of the month of exit to discuss the process of requesting a contribution from Reliant of any remaining MTD fund balance to the new 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry or church.  

Reliant will generally allow for the contribution of any remaining MTD account funds to be contributed to the new ministry, mission agency, or church if the Reliant employee is exiting and:

  1. Will be employed by another 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, mission agency, or church that is using a dedicated 100% support-based deputized fundraising model (like Reliant). 
  2. The exiting Reliant employee will be responsible for raising 100% ministry support for their new role.
  3. Anticipates that there will be an MTD account balance remaining upon their exit from Reliant
  4. The ministry, mission agency, or church provides adequate substantiation that they are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. 
  5. The employee must be eligible to request an Exiting MTD Transfer  - see criteria above based on the employee's status. 

Please contact your Program team Liaison to help with this process. 

It is Reliant's desire to be generous when the employee's exit is to a formal support-based deputized mission agency role (like Reliant). However, if the employee is not transferring to a fully support-based position, then the first $15,000 of the exiting MTD account balance must be distributed to other accounts within Reliant. The employee must also be eligible to request an Exiting MTD Transfer  (see criteria above based on the employee's status to request a transfer of funds to another 501(c) 3 organization. 

Please see the parameters below for transferring funds to other MTD and project funds within Reliant.  

The Reliant employee should contact Program Team Liaison by the 16th day of the month of exit to discuss the process of contributing any remaining MTD fund balance to the new 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry or church.  

  1. The employee may request an Exiting MTD Transfer
    1. The first $13,000 can be transferred to Reliant MTD and/or Project accounts based on the wishes of the employee
      1. A maximum of $5,000 can be transferred to other MTD accounts
      2. A maximum of $8,000 can be transferred to project accounts
    2. The next $2,000 will be transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund (SMF)
    3. Any remaining amount after the Exiting MTD Transfer and the $2,000 will be transferred to the project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role. 
  2. If an Exiting MTD Transfer is not requested
    1. The first $2,000 will be transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund
    2. Any remaining amount after the $2,000 will be transferred to the project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role. 
    3. If there is no project fund most closely related to the employee's ministry role, the remaining funds will be fully transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund.
  3. After the above transfer process is followed, Reliant will generally contribute the remaining funds to the employee's new ministry, mission agency, or church.  

Example for when the receiving 501(c)(3) does NOT use a dedicated 100% support-based deputized fundraising model:

$18,000Remaining final balance in the MTD account of College Church Ministry/Sue Smith
($5,000)Sue Smith's request for MTD funds transferred to another Reliant Staff MTD Account, approved by Reliant management.
($8,000)Sue Smith's request for MTD funds transferred to a Reliant Church/Project Fund FD####, approved by Reliant management.
($2,000)Transferred to the Reliant Staff Ministries Fund.
$3,000 Excess contributed to outside ministry, mission agency, or church.
Church Funded (Single-Donor) Employees

If a local church or ministry is the single donor to Reliant for the ministry of an employee and the employee is exiting Reliant employment, Reliant will generally transfer all remaining funds in the exiting MTD fund to another Reliant MTD/Dept. Fund(s) at the request of the leadership of the local church or ministry. This allows the local church or ministry to give additional donations to Reliant to keep the employee's role well-funded, without experiencing any shortfalls in paying salary, benefits, or ministry expenses. It also keeps Reliant from having a negative balance in the MTD account. If the local church or ministry does not request an internal transfer of the remaining funds into another Reliant MTD/Dept. Fund(s), Reliant will donate the remaining funds in the exiting employee's MTD fund back to the local church/ministry.

Exiting Employee Transfer Request Form

Requests for a Department Transfer


This page only applies to any transfers out of a church or ministry project fund. If you are looking for instructions and the form for transferring money out of a Field Workers MTD account, please see MTD Fund Transfer.

A Transfer Request form can be submitted to request a transfer of funds from project to project, or project to individual MTD accounts. Project fund (may also be known as Departments) transfer requests are not subject to the same requirements as an MTD fund transfer request. 

The request must be either submitted by, or approved by, the appropriate signer for the fund. If the requester is both a signer for the fund and one of the transfer recipients, then a second signer approval on the fund is required. If the requester submitting the form does not know who the approved signers are, contact accounting@reliant.org for assistance. 

Guidelines

One-Time Transfers

  • Requests received by the 20th of the month will be processed for the same month. Requests received after the 20th of the month will be processed during the next month.
  • The amount of the request must not exceed the current balance available, calculated using all giving received prior to the current month, in the project/department fund. 

Monthly Transfers

  • If the request is received by the 20th of the month, the first transfer will happen in the month it is received. If the request is received after the 20th of the month, the first transfer will be processed the following month.
  • Project fund must have a sufficient amount in recurring giving to cover the monthly transfer request. 

Instructions

Project or Department Transfer Request Form

  1. After placing a copy of the form in your Google drive, complete the "Request" tab with the following information:
    1. Your name
    2. The ministry project fund's name and FD#
    3. If you would like for the transfer to remain anonymous so recipients cannot find out who the transfer came from, please place an "X" in the designated area.
  2. Using the drop-down selections available, choose whether this request is for a one-time transfer, or if you would like a monthly amount transferred.
    1. If you select monthly, a box will appear below that line for you to enter the final month the transfer should be processed.
    2. If you leave the final month box blank, the transfer will remain in effect until the fund signer either:
      1. Requests that it be stopped by sending an email to accounting@reliant.org.
      2. Or submits a new transfer request for the same recipient(s).
  3. Fill in the table with the fund number, name, and amount of the transfer you would like to request.
    1. Please add lines if what is provided is not sufficient.
    2. The total will auto-populate both at the bottom of the table and in the box at the top of the form.
  4. A fund signer must give approval on the "Approval" tab. 
    1. If you, as the initiator of the request, are both a signer for the fund and one of the transfer recipients, then a second signer approval on the fund is required. Please use the blue "Share" button in the upper right to share the form with the signer.
  5. Share your completed and approved form with accounting@reliant.org for processing. 



 

Questions/Comments/Etc.

If you have questions about this process, the policy, or its parameters, please contact your Program Team Liaison (for MTD Transfer questions) or accounting@reliant.org (for Transfers from a Department).

68 Comments

  1. Barb Seckler

    Mike Swann and Dave Meldrum-Green - I updated this policy to add the Sojourn TSF policy and have assigned a workflow for Dave Meldrum-Green to approve it.  Please edit this policy it if there are details I am not aware of that apply.  Any back-up can be attached to this page as a child page.  For example, the Sojourn internship parameters would be helpful to have to substantiate the TSF policy. 

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Barb, I would also like Tom Mauriello to be added to the approval process for this policy amendment.

  2. Barb Seckler

    Danielle Martin please note this policy has been approved with the addition (adaptation) of #3 for Sojourn interns

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Barb, I would also like Tom Mauriello's approval before this becomes official.

  3. Barb Seckler

    Tom Mauriello - Dave Meldrum-Green wants me to amend the workflow to add you as an approver but I don't think I can do that without removing the current workflow and having Dave re-approve it?  Any thoughts? BTW - I would love it if we could have some more training in using workflows as a management team. 

  4. Tom Mauriello

    If you edit the page (i just removed the red coloring as a test) it changes it from approved to draft again.  Now we can re-assign all the approvals.

    Yes, I will make note to add that to a meeting, maybe with tasks as well!

  5. Barb Seckler

    Ok I attempted to add Tom Mauriello but it was pretty weird. Please Tom Mauriello and Dave Meldrum-Green approve.

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Barb, I already approved this a second time so I should be good.

  6. Barb Seckler

    Kathy Zellinger and Dave Meldrum-Green -Based on the circumstances with Wyntre Denne's exit and JR Rozko's, I think we need to add after 3. Sojourn details a new number 4. for fully funded, if we're moving towards internal Reliant approval to TSF funds to another fully funded person (or person that has the same sponsor church etc.) based on the expressed wishes of the organization or ministry that was "fully funding'" the exiting missionary, and therefore we are not requiring the missionary to fill out a TSF request. 

  7. Sarah Swann

    Dave Meldrum-Green, I will be updating the formatting on this page and Barb wanted to get your approval to add a new #4 for full-funded staff at the same time. See her comment above. It could be worded something like: "If the exiting Reliant missionary is fully funded, the fund balance will be transferred according to the expressed wishes of the organization providing the funds. The missionary is not required to complete a TSF request."

    1. user-1a794

      I think what Barb is trying to say is this:  "if the exiting missionary is fully-funded (i.e., one organization provided funding, rather than the traditional MTD process where missionaries secure funding from many donors), then the organization who provided the funds is responsible to request fund transfers, not the exiting missionary. Funds would be distributed according to normal exit and transfer policies." 

      1. Barb Seckler

        Hey user-1a794 that is actually a question mark in my mind.  I am unsure if the procedure Dave prefers is an automatic transfer or  can the authorization for a transfer be made by a phone request etc or would the sponsoring organization that fully funded the missionary need to fill out the MTD Transfer form.  In the case of JR Rozko and Wyntre Denne, Kathy Z simply told me funds should go to other staff the sponsor partners were still sponsoring through Reliant.  I was a little uncomfortable with that (as it was not technically following this written policy) and felt this policy needs to clearly lay out what is expected in that case - does Finance do an automatic transfer, is a phone authorization that is relayed to Finance by Kathy Z acceptable, or do we need a MTD transfer form from the sponsoring organization.  I am not sure what Dave Meldrum-Green envisions. 

        1. user-abbc8

          Barb Seckler, user-1a794, I think we need the form with a written request. Part of the parameters that allow donations to our organization remain tax free is that we maintain control of funds for the purposes of the organization.  That said requests to move or return/refund donations have been approved by Dave Meldrum-Green  and myself, indicating a control of the funds as we do have the option to deny or use them in accordance with what we believe would be the best fit.

           

  8. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green, user-b069a - I just learned of some new policy changes allowing external transfers in discussion with Cori about some other issues. I am understanding from Cori that you were already planning to re-write some of this policy based on these new parameters that would allow TSFs to other 501c3 organizations if a misisonary transfers to a new ministry.  Let's discuss.  I don't mind having Beth help draft some of that policy for you if that would be helpful. 

  9. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Yes, I was going to work on re-writing this policy. But I'm working through some issues as I think through all of this. Also, this maybe should even be a separate policy and technically not under the MTD Fund Transfer Policy since these funds going to the other organization are not being transferred, but are instead being contributed as a donation to the to the other church or ministry organization. Also we have to avoid the use of the wording "according to the expressed wishes of the organization"....because this comes across that Reliant Mission is not in control of these funds but are simply doing whatever the organizational donor wants. I know this is probably more info than you were looking for, but it's important to lay a back drop for this scenario and how we approach that policy amendment. Also, this policy was adopted by the Reliant Board of Directors originally, so I don't feel 100% comfortable making amendments without securing board approval. Even though I'm sure they would vote unanimously to support it. Our next Board meeting is May 24....can this possibly wait til then for finalization?

  10. user-abbc8

    I agree with Dave, that we need to be thoughtful about how to address this, and at what point does "donation" look like "grant", etc.

  11. user-1a794

    Thanks, Beth for editing. A couple of thoughts: 

    1. this page would make more sense if we started with MTD fund policy page.  including the basics like : funds belong to Reliant. Funds are held in MTD accounts according to the designation of the donor, etc. 

    2. thanks to whomever is going to change the font.  The caps thing is really hard to read. 
    3. when we use examples, it's a little confusing bc the word say $5000 can be transferred in one case, but only the $3000 transfer is shown.   Let's not have the example start with $8000, bc we are using the same numbers illustrated, but with differing purposes. 
    4. Also, the Sojourn thing on this page makes me keep reading to understand.  

     

     

     

  12. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Sorry I haven't been able to reply sooner to this string. First of all, let me say that Reliant has an MTD Transfer Policy. With an emphasis on the word "Transfer". If you look close, no where does our policy cover funds that leave Reliant. So we have been calling this situation of returning funds to the sponsor church of a one donor missionary....a transfer. When in fact it is really a contribution from on non-profit to another, or return of contribution to a donor (sponsor church). Therefore it is not really governed under our MTD Transfer Policy.

    Therefore I believe that the best alternative is come up with a Policy that deals specifically with the return of contributions. Remember, whenever Reliant or any other mission agency simply returns contributions to a donor (whether it's a person, church, or even a sponsor church) we can undermine the fact that we are in control of the funds. So we need to be very cautious on how we put together a policy. Now I am almost certain that the board will have no problems approving the return of funds to a sponsor church for a one donor missionary, but we just separate it from our MTD Transfer Policy....since again this is not a transfer when the funds leave Reliant. I will work on preparing something for the May Board meeting for board approval. Let me know if you have any comments or questions in the meantime.

  13. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green - Hi yes that would definitely address having us send funds outside of Relaint.  But the JR Rozko/ Wyntre Denne exit situation also needs to be addressed within this policy.  Are we allowing the sponsoring partner organization for a fully funded missionary to direct excess funds in the fully funded MTD acct when the fully fundd missionary exits to another missiionary MTD fund or dept FD within Relaint?  And if so, who is authroized to make that TSF request and does it need to be using the MTD transfer request form or is it an automatic agreement that upon the exit of the misisonary we will make such a transfer. 

    1. user-abbc8

      Of course Dave Meldrum-Green needs to address this for you Barb Seckler, but noone outside of the "Reliant Mission" has authority to direct charitable donations received by Reliant.  Reliant can choose to use the funds according the purposes of our mission.  If we deem that in fact we choose redirect the funds that is of the decision of Reliant not the exterior funding organization. 

      1. Dave Meldrum-Green

        Darlene....your comment is right on. I would just add that in relation to your last sentence...."If we deem that in fact we choose redirect the funds that is of the decision of Reliant not the exterior funding organization."....that this could be done by the Reliant board or management adopting a pre-approved policy dealing with type of situation....which again shows the Reliant is in control...and not the exterior funding organization.  I realize that in the past we have not really scrutinized these situations where a one donor missionary leaves....we simply have returned the unspent funds to the exterior funding organizaiton....i.e. Great Commission Churches (GCC)....but I believe the time appears to have come where we have new policy governing those situations. Which is what I need to work on proposes to the Board.. Thanks!

  14. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green yes - but I still think you're missing part of my point.  We have 2 situations in need of being addressed.  1) We need a policy for releasing funds to an exterior ministry - I agree with your approach and will wait to see what the board says. And yes, my terminology was not totally kosher and I agree you and darlene have the right teminology.  But  2) the second is the procedure by which we will handle remaining funds internally when a fully funded missionary exits. You specifcally wrote into this existing policy a procedure by which Sojourn misisonary exiting funds would go to FD0840.  But, we recently have had 2 fully funded staff exit that were not handled according to this polocy and I want clarification to know if we're ok with what happeend or if that should NOT happen again.  I heard verbally from Kathy Z that we agreed to move the remaining funds from the MTD account associated with JR Rozko directly into the MTD account associated with Chris Backert as a courtesy to Ecclesia. No transfer request forms were submitted by JR Rozko or someone at Ecclesia.  The situation with Wyntre Denne was similar.  We moved the funds based on the verbal request of the sponsoring church (communicated to us via Kathy Z) into the MTD fund of another missionary they support.  I need to know  - What does Reliant want to do in these fully funded exit situations? I get that we have full authority to decide where to move the funds (into 7001 or otherwise) but what I don't know is -Does Reliant prefer (based on our own authority) to move the funds to another Reliant missionary that is closely associated to the partner ministry that sponsored the exiting missionary and sent in those funds?  Is that an automatic decision just like with Sojourn? Or, do we require a MTD Transfer request form.  If we require a MTD transfer request form does that need to come from the exiting fully funded missionary or can an authorized representative from the partner organization that sponsored and sent in the funds submit that MTD transfer request? And finally, if we do require a MTD Transfer request form and finance sees a fully funded missionary exiting and we have not received a MTD transfer request, do we need to hold off and seek out a form or do we proceed with the normal TSF to 7001?  It may be good to even spell out that if we want a MTD transfer request form from an exititng fully funded misisonary or sponsoring partner organization - does MR seek that out as part of the exit process?    

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      I made this an agenda item for our next Manager's meeting.....2016-05-06 Dave: One Donor Missionary Exits

  15. Sarah Swann

    Dave Meldrum-Green, I added an info box at the bottom per the email discussion with KZ, etc. Would you like the box to be moved elsewhere on this page? I'll add this wording to the exiting MTD transfer form as requested as well.

  16. Dave Meldrum-Green

    No the way you have it is just fine. Thanks.

  17. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

    Mike Swann This is the page I said you probably want to keep out of the Field Manual for now.

  18. Mike Swann

    Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org), I will work on taking a portion of this into the manual.

  19. Barb Seckler

    Mike Swann Sarah Swann - we have some isues with this because this is proposed but the board has not voted on adding the section 4 for fully funded.  So what we really need is a version through section 3 that is public and then hopefully after the baord meetong Dave Meldrum-Green will approve the wording in Section 4, or edit it accordingly.

  20. Barb Seckler

    Mike Swann Dave Meldrum-Green - I can't find the link that waa removed but I suspect it was a link to something Operations uses (not the field) for tracking these.  There is a google doc of all the processed and apprpged TSFs.  I think Tom Mauriello's suggestion to move some of this back to operations is smart and then we can add the link to the google doc for those that need it (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oIjtkrNrGZQQCmiGvOmzf-SURIGQ_lOjfAAdantvDJM/edit#gid=296765123)

  21. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Barb Seckler I'd like to remove this sentence....Reliant missionaries may request the Reliant Finance Department to transfer funds internally out of the MTD account for which they’re responsible to another Reliant ministry account, including another missionary MTD account or church/project account. The request is usually made due to an ample fund balance in the missionary MTD account and a financial need in another. Requests come from active missionaries and exiting missionaries. 

    1. Barb Seckler

      Done Dave Meldrum-Green.  Can you mark it approved/reviewed? Thanks!

  22. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

    Mike Swann I'm not sure what section you want this to be under on the Staff Policies home page. Right now I put it in Miscellaneous.

  23. Barb Seckler

    Mike Swann Dave Meldrum-Green I think it would be good to add this note at the bottom so if someone wants an exception they know how to begin that process. 

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Barb Seckler I'm not real comfortable with listing with our policy a way to request an exception. It sort of undermines the purpose of a policy since we're kind of "telling staff...hey, here's a way you can get what you want if you don't like the policy".  I know that practically you'd like to display this....but I'm wondering if maybe policy exception request can be covered in another way or on a separate page. Also, it's something that I'd like to get an outside opinion on this from our internal auditor. 

  24. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green yes let's discuss.  I do think we should have this somewhere because otherwise I feel we're being a little deceptive and only people that push boundaries then find out about the ability to request an exception.  Rule followers who may really be disappointed and want and execption would then not know there is an avenue to appeal/request an exception. Which in my mind then rewards those who don't take "no" for an answer and penalizes others who do accept it but might have hard feelings about it...But that's more my take as a rule follower. If there's an avenue for an appeal I think we should make it known.      

  25. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green - I just sent you an email (from April) in which we were discussing this policy and you proposed adding a 3 month appeal time limit.  Maybe we could incorporate that into the changes you're sending to the Board? 

  26. user-1a794

    Dave Meldrum-Green,  In provision #5, we have been saying internally that the request for transfer of funds can be made when that missionary will continue in a support-raising role.  This provision you have written opens the door for any role in any 501 c 3.    The issue of continuing with support raising seems like a good condition to have.    

    Also, I would like you all to address the reality that we are getting requests now when people have $30k surplus in the MTD accts that fund their ministries.  Are we really happy to transfer that much?  I wonder if we prefer a proviso, for example, that $2500 go to staff emergency fund if the fund balance is over $20,000.  The amounts don't have meaning to me – but some allowance for staff emergency fund seems reasonable. 

     

    1. user-abbc8

      Cori I do see your point in the excess balances, however, then I also think there should be clarity in the "staff emergency" funds we reference.  What is it? how is used?  how is a request made for emergency funds?  what is the limit?  will we grant funds a certain number of times annually?  etc.

      1. Dave Meldrum-Green

        user-1a794 and user-abbc8 these funds will be transferred into the Staff Ministry Fund....Cori you may think this is a staff emergency fund....but it really doesn't operate like that. For example, Reliant uses these funds to buy 20 year staff their anniversary gifts, pay for annual staff Christmas presents, etc. 

    2. Dave Meldrum-Green

      user-1a794 good point about the transferring missionary needing to continue on in a support-raising role with a different ministry. However, this could be a bit touchy. I don't think we followed this protocol for this situation with Prisca Youn....see excerpt from our letter....

      Reliant Mission would like to contribute $1,451.70 to Adullam Church to go specifically towards ministry expenses for Prisca Youn who is now one of your church employees after having faithfully served as a Reliant missionary. 

      I truly believe our intent (and my intent) is to simply enable the transferring missionary to be successful in their new support based role with the new ministry (Cru, Wycliffe, IV, NAVs, etc.). And see to it that the funds continued to be used in a like manner (just as Reliant operates). BUT.... there may be occasions where the new ministry is actually a local church that is seeking those funds to help them to employ the transferring Reliant missionary. As was the case with Prisca, I believe. So are we ready to completely shut the door on those situations? I'm not quite sure. 

      Tom Mauriello may additional thoughts. And our board can always debate the issue at the board meeting. 

      As for your thoughts regarding the minimum hold back of say $2,500 to the Staff Ministry Fund, I'm all in favor of that....but I'm not sure if the Board would want to go to that same extent. Again...we can always debate the issue at the board meeting. 

  27. Tom Mauriello

    To clarify, we have wanted to be more generous when the exit is to a formal support based mission agency role.  i.e. a move to Cru.  When it is to a church, it has either been wanting to get what they can, but not truly support based position.  Or it is quasi-support based, not being done well or in a healthy manner.  It has felt more like a professional and appropriate curtesy when someone is going to continue to be vocationally support based to have the funds follow them.

    To codify this we might say we consider 100% transfers to ECFA accredited member support based mission agencies.  Everything else follow our normal distribution where some of the funds may remain with Reliant.

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Tom Mauriello just to be sure then.... the Prisca Youn contribution to Adullam Church would NOT have been possible since there was only $1,450 left in the MTD fund, and that would have been either eligible for a MTD Transfer Request to another MTD account....or swept into the Staff Ministry Fund if no such MTD transfer was presented upon Prisca's exit. 

      AND...you're purposefully stating the other deputized fundraising-based ministry that the Reliant missionary would be transferring to, HAS to be a member of the ECFA....thus completely avoiding having Reliant "contribute" to:

      1. a church where the exiting Reliant missionary will not truly be in a support based position. 

      2. a church or ministry that carries on quasi-support based positions, not being done well or in a healthy manner. 

      The second point above seems a bit subjective. Who at Reliant, would make this call (which would result in that missionary exit to follow our normal distribution where some funds remain with Reliant)?

      Thus, I'm wondering if the position Reliant might take is....if the future position is 100% support based (just like Reliant missionaries), then Reliant will contribute the remaining funds. If it's a quasi-support based, or non-support based (like Prisca Youn and her church), then the we follow our normal exiting distribution processes. 

  28. Tom Mauriello

    The current policy allows the first $5,000 so that would have been more than enough for Priscilla.  I am saying where it is a mission agency will transfer fully.  So I would not be eliminating the transfer for churches or ministries, just removing the limits that are currently in place when its to another fully fledged mission agency.

    Any church can say a position is support based.  They are really running healthy deputized fund raising programs.  Without evaluating each, ECFA or internal evaluation that it is a dedicated support-based model ministry might be the cleanest way to do it.

  29. Mike Swann

    I don't think the current policy wouldn't have worked for Prisca, because the current policy on the books says it has to go to a Reliant fund, and their church did not have a Reliant fund. I am okay with it not working for them, as we made the exception for Prisca because MR made a mistake, and we were making up for our mistake.

    I don't want us to just give it back to a local church every time, unless they are support raising, so I like the verbiage of fully transfer for a missions agency.

     

  30. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Tom Mauriello and Mike Swann how does this sound then:

     5. Reliant Missionaries Transferring to Another 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry

    Reliant will generally allow for the contribution of any remaining MTD missionary account funds to be contributed to the new ministry, mission agency or church, if the Reliant missionary is exiting and:

    1. Will be transferring their ministry employment to another 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry, mission agency or church that is using a dedicated 100% support-based deputized fundraising model (like Reliant). 
    2. The exiting Reliant missionary will be responsible to raise 100% ministry support for their new role.
    3. Anticipates that there will be an MTD account balance remaining upon their exit from Reliant
    4. The ministry, mission agency or church  provides adequate substantiation that they are a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

    It is Reliant's desire to be generous when the missionary exit is to a formal support based deputized mission agency role (like Reliant). 

    If the ministry, mission agency or church that the Reliant missionary is transferring does NOT use a dedicated 100% support-based deputized fundraising model (like Reliant), then the missionary exit will follow our normal MTD funds distribution process as listed above where some of the funds may remain with Reliant. In these specific cases if the remaining fund balance at the date of exit is over $10,000, then: 

    1. Any amount over $10,000 will generally be allowed by Reliant to be contributed to the missionaries new ministry, mission agency or church.  

  31. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green - 4 and 5 help with most scenarios but we still have another scenario unresolved by these changes. I still think we need an external TSF policy.  In the case of a church/ministry that fully funded a Reliant employee and that employee is no longer being employed by Reliant and the church/ministry has no other affiliated staff or Depts with Reliant to TSF the excess funds to.  In this case, the sponsoring church/ministry may want the excess funds remaining in the MTD account returned directly to the church/ministry.  This is different than 4. because the employee is no longer remaining employed in a MTD role with a new501C3.  I added a comment to you on 4. above.

  32. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green - how about this for the 3 month appeal time limit? FYI Mike Swann (see the note box I added at the top of the policy).  This was discussed in earlier emails (included below)....I used finance@reliant.org as the appeal email address so that we can be aware and work with MR/Dave on situations without further delays, should it get submitted closer to the 3 month extension.

     

    From: Dave Meldrum-Green [mailto:dave.meldrum-green@reliant.org]
    Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 11:08 AM
    To: Barb Seckler <barb.seckler@reliant.org>; Darlene McKay <darlene.mckay@reliant.org>; Finance Department <finance@reliant.org>
    Cc: Mike Swann <mike.swann@reliant.org>
    Subject: RE: TSF Request from 7001 -- Exiting Staff_Tyler Crandall

     

    Barb,

     

    In reference to your comment below regarding guidelines…..

     

    But, I think we need some guidelines from Dave and Darlene on what they want to see in these circumstances so we can create a Solomon page of instructions. 

     

    I would be in favor of allowing an appeal time limit of 3 months after an MTD account is closed out for any appeals to be considered by the MR Dept. This seems to allow ample time for any odd or mis-handled items to surface.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Dave

     

     

  33. Tom Mauriello

    We can approve and publish this page, but all of the red and formatting will need to cleaned up.  Thanks!

  34. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

    Published.

  35. Mike Swann

    We may want to decide if we want all of this to be in the Field Manual or just a summary.

  36. Sarah Swann

    Dave Meldrum-Green, I see you last edited this page in August but it was never published for the field. Are you still making edits to it?

  37. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green Danielle Martin user-b069a we've tweaked this process a little so I may change this and have Dave re-approve.  

  38. Barb Seckler

    user-b069a user-2ce9f - I changed some of the instructions based on how we've split MTD transfers going to payroll@reliant.org (for review and posting by me) and Dept transfers going to Danielle/Beth (finance@reliant.org) but giving me and bBth the freedom to cross-post as needed.  Let me know if this version works for you and I'll have Dave Meldrum-Green approve the changes.  

    1. Sarah Swann

      Barb Seckler It looks fine to me. 

    2. Sarah Swann

      Looks good to me too. I'll update the email address though to accounting@reliant.org in the various spots on this page.

  39. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green we want to have you approve the changes to the email addresses made on this page please.  I assigned review to you.  Then we can edit further next week.  

  40. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Barb Seckler  Just wondering where the exception approval can be found in our MTD Transfer Policy? Or is it listed somewhere else on Solomon? 

    MTD Transfer Policy Exception Requests Review Process

    1. All exception requests for a MTD fund transfer above the $5,000 policy limit up to $20,000 will need to go to the Executive Management Committee (EMC) for review and approval.
    2. All exception requests for a MTD fund transfer above $20,000 will need to go to the Audit Reivew Committee (ARC) for review and approval.

  41. Barb Seckler

    Dave Meldrum-Green  I will have to look at previous versions of this page.  Because this page Exception Process - MTD Transfer Policysays it shoul d be on this page.  Let me look into this - FYI user-2ce9f

    1. Barb Seckler

      Dave Meldrum-Green  I see between version 42 and 43 the exception policies were removed. But I believe that was based on some of your comments - 



      Would you like us to re-add that back to the field manual?


  42. Joshua Dull

    Barb Seckler , Dave Meldrum-Green : I would like us to alter the wording/ change the current policy on the Fixed Term implications of this policy.  


    In general, we don't want Fixed Term people doing transfers because they may be depleting their account at the expense of their future pay.  But we don't need to exclude them from the opportunity altogether.  We just need the transfer to be vetted/approved by my team and by the Church Program Leader.  Here's what I propose:

    •  Remove the line. "This is not available to those in fixed term programs...".  You may want to move that "fully funded" piece while you're at it but that's not my concern.
    •  Add to #5 or create a #6 that states: Those in a Fixed Term Program must have the approval of both the Reliant Program Manager for Residencies & Internships and the Church/Ministry Program Leader.

    1. Barb Seckler

      Joshua Dull - Dave asked me to go ahead and tackle this but I'm a little torn because user-1a794 would be quick to point out that we have international that are also fixed term and I believe the desire from her International program team is to not allow this option for them.  So I may tweak this and send to you and Cori to both review what i come up with.  We may need to differentiate even further.

      1. Joshua Dull

        Thank you Barb. With Cori's concerns addressed below, can we move forward with my proposed wording changes (or your preferred edits of them?). To be clear, the changes I'm looking to make are for Active Missionaries, not exiting ones.  The exiting process for Fixed Term Domestic is sufficient as written.

        1. user-1a794

          Joshua Dull Joshua, I"m aware of two uses of the word "active" and I don't know which you are referring to here.  Also, I don't know which one this page is written to. 

          1. Active MTD status is when someone is doing ministry, but has not yet reached 100% of the goal.  This is something managed by MTD or program teams, and CRM. 
          2. Active by FE classification indicate the missionary record is active in FE. I'm a bit flat-footed in the fuller meaning. However, seeing that this page was created by Employment services .... my guess is that it is NOT referring to our CRM definition of fund-raising status. 


          Barb Seckler  in light of two uses of the word, if Active is an FE definition, can we find a way for that to be held in-house, and use a more field-friendly word in Solomon?  Maybe requests from missionaries whose funds are open for gifts? Missionaries active on reliant.org? idk what to  suggest fully.  


          Then, if JOshua is referring to  Active MTD status., what we need to do is limit transfers so they can only request a transfer if they have been Released to Assignment. By definition, Active is also not-yet-released. 


          1. Joshua Dull

            user-1a794 , I was referencing the titles in the policy as is.  I agree about the confusion, but it seemed common sense enough to follow.  While there is some overlap, my concern is that Fixed Term folks have a way to do transfers at any point in their employment, as long as those transfers get approval by my team and the supervisor. 

          2. Barb Seckler

            user-1a794 we were using "Active" to distinguish from someone exiting - I have changed it to just say "MTD Transfer Requests" for regular requests and Exiting (by definition) explains the difference between normal ones and exiting ones.  I think this satisfices your comments above but if not please suggest preferable language.  

  43. user-1a794

    Barb Seckler Thanks for thinking of me. I don't have an objection to allowing Int'l fixed term folks to make a transfer. Sorry. I thought it was not an option due to the admin fee.  Either way, i don't have a problem w Int'l people making transfers. 

    1. Barb Seckler

      Thanks user-1a794 - Can you review the new section "International Fixed term programs" and let me know if that wording and process fits what you envision for your vertical?  Or suggest revisions if it does not.

  44. Amber Blais

    Barb Secklerit won't let me make an edit to this info-bubble... I have one minor suggested edit: "Remaining funds are handled differently for ongoing missionaries..."