Offertory Procedures for the Auckland Unitarian Church

16 October 2004
Clark Thomborson, Treasurer

1. A member of the Management Committee (typically the one who is serving as a
greeter that Sunday) has responsibility for the offertory, from the time it is collected
until the time it is given to the Treasurer. If no member of the MC is in attendance
at a Sunday service (this should never happen!) then a Member of the congregation
should help collect the offertory and take responsibility for it.

2. After the offertory is collected, the bags should go into the possession of the
responsible person. The bags must neither be opened, nor counted, except in the
presence of another Member of the congregation. This other Member, and the
responsible person, must fill out the offertory receipt. The receipt book is kept in
the church office. The count should take place in the church office because the
offertory bags may contain pledge cheques, and the names on these cheques should
remain confidential. After the offertory bags are opened, both the responsible
person and the other Member must completely count out their contents, and write
this onto the receipt, before leaving the church office. The receipt must clearly
show the date, the number of persons in attendance at the service, the amount of
offertory cash received, the amount of coffee and tea money received, and any
cheques received. If a childcare worker is paid $20, this payment should be made
out of the offertory cash, clearly noted on the offertory receipt, and the childcare
worker must sign the receipt to indicate that they have in fact received the payment.
When giving the $20 to the childcare worker, you should ask for a brief report on
how things went downstairs.

3. If possible, the responsible person (or the other Member involved in the counting
process, or some other Member attending the church service) will write a personal
cheque to replace the amount of the net cash from the offertory. If a cheque-forcash
swap is done, it should be noted clearly on the receipt.

4. Both the responsible person, and the other Member involved in the counting
process, must sign the receipt.

5. The original copy of the receipt should be given to the Treasurer. The pink copy of
the receipt should be put into a small plastic bank bag (a supply of these is available
in the church office) along with all the cheques and any cash (I hope there is no
cash!). This bag should be sealed and given to the Treasurer. The back (yellow)
copy should remain in the receipt book.

6. If the Treasurer is not in attendance at the service, and the offertory deposit bag
contains neither cash nor bearer cheques, then this deposit bag and the original
receipt may be left in the (unlocked) blue “cash box” in the church office.
However, the responsible party must notify the Treasurer of the date of the service,
and the value of each cheque in the receipt bag, either by phone 585-1370 or by
email cthombor@cs.auckland.ac.nz.

Approved by the Management Committee, 18 October 2004.