Giving envelopes - why we use them and how we protect donor information

The main reason we use giving envelopes is to provide donor confidentiality. If you watched the movie Mission Impossible, you can think of the giving envelope numbers as the Grace Church NOC list. If you don't have the list of names and envelope numbers, you have no way of identifying the donor of each giving envelope. The list of donor names and envelopes is a list we keep highly secured. We have one individual designated with handling the list on a regular basis. To serve our donors when troubleshooting giving questions, two staff members can access the list, but we attempt to get the donor's permission before doing so. As they open the giving envelopes and count each week's offering, the members of the Count Team obviously see the information firsthand. Everyone who is involved in handling the finances are required to sign a financial confidentiality agreement. My predecessor, Tom Avey, worked very methodically to set up financial systems and procedures that handle sensitive information in a highly confidential manner and I've worked to maintain those standards.

The second reason we use giving envelopes is to help us track donor contributions for IRS purposes. The IRS requires us to provide donors with receipts of their tax deductible contributions. The envelopes help us keep track of individual donor's accounts and their weekly donations.

If you would like to request numbered giving envelopes so your donations are more confidential and to help us track your giving record, please contact Brenda through the Church Office. Use of numbered giving envelopes is not required, but I do suggest it for higher confidentiality and to assist us with record keeping.