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Page History
| Policy Name: | Funds and Grant-Making Policy for Churches and Projects |
|---|---|
| Relevant Standards: | Church and Project Fund Standard, Grant-Making Standard |
| Creation Date: | 8/4/2023 |
| Last Review Date: |
Purpose
Provide guidance on establishing and uitilizing project and church funds and distributing monies from those funds using grants.
Scope
This policy applies to all church and project funds and to grants used for distribution of funds
Standards Supporting This Policy
- Church and Project Fund Standard
- Grant-Making Standard
Policy Statement
The Reliant Board of Directors ("Board") delegates to Reliant leadership the authority to establish church and project funds in order to further Reliant's tax-exempt purposes and to make grants from the established funds, in a matter compliant with applicable laws and regulations and according to the criteria outlined below.
Standard
Standard Statement: The Reliant Board of Directors designates Reliant leadership to approve restricted church and project funds to further Reliant’s tax-exempt purposes by establishing these new funds based on the criteria parameters outlined below. The Reliant board will approve any funds deemed necessary.
Project and Church Fund Approval Criteria
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Partnership:
All restricted church and project funds must be vetted first
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to confirm the church/ministry partnership with Reliant
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Purpose:
The
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purpose of the fund
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must be consistent with Reliant's tax-exempt purpose.
| Info |
|---|
Reliant's tax-exempt purpose of Corporation filed with the IRS reads as follows: The Corporation is organized primarily to serve as an Evangelical Christian Missionary Society, whose purposes shall be to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to conduct and extend missionary work, to lead souls to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, to teach the Word of God, and to instruct and edify the body of Christ, by a true and faithful ministry of His previous Word: to train and raise up workers for mission fields, both within the United States of America and abroad, and to establish, maintain and conduct schools for so training missionaries; and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to all of humanity and to that end to use all methods of communication, including but not limited to public speech, concerts, audio-visual recordings, and the publication, printing, duplication and dissemination of the written word. |
Funding Type:
- Unrestricted Church Funds-The sole purpose of these designated funds (accounts) is to absorb leftover funds (money) from exited staff that were a part of their church/ministry (typically for residencies/internships) and use those funds to help support other staff at the same church/ministry who need assistance with raising support. These are unrestricted, non-revenue funds (accounts), and funds (money) only come in and out through internal transfers.
- Restricted Church Funds-These funds receive donations from outside donors with the purpose to fund the church/ministry/network expenses, possibly ministry grants, and/or Reliant employees/associates associated with the church/ministry. The purpose tends to be more general and fund distribution tends to be determined by church leadership.
- Restricted Project Funds-These funds receive donations from outside donors to help fund the projects that the church/ministry/network wishes to accomplish. These projects generally tend to have an end date versus going on in perpetuity. The purpose of project funds can vary but they tend to be more specific with a focused purpose in mind.
- Endowment Funds- If deemed necessary, it will be sent for secondary approval to the Chief Financial Officer.
- If the purpose varies too greatly from the normal purpose requests or from Reliant's original tax-exempt purpose, board approval may be deemed necessary as determined by the Director of Organizational Affairs or Chief Financial Officer. If board approval is required or deemed necessary, the fund will not be allowed to be created until board approval is received.
- If the project purpose is for an endowment project, it will automatically be sent to the board for pre-approval before moving forward with the creation process
- creation of the fund, regardless of the purpose or projected amount .Project funds whose sole purpose is to fund Designated Grantees will not be officially created until the Designated Grantees associated with the fund have been approved
- .
Projected Amount:
- Project fund requests also include the anticipated amount to be received and the plan for distributing that amount. The Director of Organizational Affairs will confirm that the proposed budget categories for fund distribution through grants are in alignment with the fund purpose given. The projected amount is also reviewed by the Director of Organizational Affairs and, if needed, forwarded for further approval. Required approval related to project amounts is as follows:
- Funds projected to receive under $25,000 annually are approved by the Director of Organizational Affairs & Treasurer. Funds projected to receive between $25,000 and $100,000 annually require approval from the Director of Organizational Affairs & Treasurer and the Chief Financial Officer
- Reliant Leadership will approve church and project funds projected to receive $100,000 (or less) annually.
- Funds projected to receive over $100,000 annually require approval of the Reliant board. The Director of Organizational Affairs & Treasurer will create a request for
- board submittal
- .
- Approval then authorizes the solicitation and receipt of any funds for the approved recipient’s projects. Designated contributions generally will be honored, but Reliant shall retain full discretion over the ultimate expenditure or use of those contributions and retains the right to discontinue funding at any time.
- Reliant does not hold the fund to this pre-approved projected amount, it is simply used as a boundary for initial approval of the fund. The approval for the creation of this fund confirms that Reliant is in agreement to pay out any amount of grant expenses incurred for this particular project purpose and no further approvals for increased grant amounts (above the projected approved amount) are needed.
Timing of Fund Creation:
All approvals (based on purpose and projected amount parameters including approval from the Reliant board) must be received prior to church/project fund creation.
The Reliant Board of Directors desires to issue financial ministry grants to other organizations to further Reliant’s exempt purposes and for use with programs not conducted directly by Reliant. Reliant leadership will review and determine whether to approve grant requests.
Grant-Making Criteria:
Grants are used for the distribution of the projected amount for the project and church funds. The grant must be in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and Reliant Standards. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Reliant grants must be consistent with the purpose of the fund distributing the grant.
- Reliant will not act as a conduit of funds for any recipient
- Reliant will refuse any grants that are requested, if it determines that the grant will not further Reliant’s exempt purpose.
- Reliant grants cannot be used for any purpose other than those approved by Reliant.
- Reliant may approve charitable grant requests after reviewing all relevant information to determine whether the uses of funds by teh proposed recipient is consistent with Reliant’s tax-exempt purposes.
- Except in extenuating circumstances as determined by the Board, grant requests involving monthly, annual or other periodic payments will normally be approved for a maximum of five years from the date of grant approval. If the grantee requires additional funding for the grant project after the grant expiration date, a new grant application must be submitted.
- Grant administration and control procedures will vary based upon grant materiality (amount and significance), the nature of the grant recipients’ operations, and the nature of the relationship between Reliant and the grant recipient.
- Reliant will require periodic accounting of the usage of the grant funds.
- Reliant retains the right to withdraw approval of a current grant or to receive a refund of any unexpended grant funds.
- Reliant grants cannot be used to cause any private inurement or improper private benefit to occur.
- Reliant will not act as a conduit of funds for any recipient. Gifts received by Reliant that will be used for grants, will be accepted in accordance with Reliant’s gift acceptance policies and for Board approved purposes.Grant recipients may be related or unrelated organizations and may be domestic or foreign. Reliant will take reasonable steps of due diligence to insure ensure that it is not otherwise assisting known or suspected terrorists though through its foreign grant-making process. This would include the checking of applicable governmental lists provided and maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department.Grant funds received by the recipient may only be disbursed to other organizations or individuals in a manner consistent with recipient’s grant agreement with Reliant and pursuant to a written agreement with the ultimate recipient of the funds that ensures full compliance by the ultimate recipient with the grant purposes and the requirements of the policies and procedures.
(See Grant-Making Standard for more details.)
