Overview

In Part One we discussed the different risks that apply to the church offering. In this installment we will discuss how to pickup and count the offering. Most of the risk can be mitigated if you implement proper procedures that provide for accountability in the transport, handling and counting of the church offering.

Pilfering from the offering is one of the most common means of stealing money from a church. Typically the dollar amount is fairly low but easy to be successful in the act of thievery. The ability to remove cash and not be detected from the offering box, plates, safes or lock boxes is eliminated when an appropriate level of accountability is introduced into the handling procedures.

Lets look at the typical means used to collect the offering.

1. Offering Plates are passed and picked up by the ushers
2. Stationary Locked Collection Boxes are located outside the sanctuary and members drop their offering into the boxes.

Collection Procedures for Offering Plates and Counted on Sunday

To safeguard the offering and eliminate the temptation to remove money from the offering the following procedure will be used.

1. Ushers will complete the passing of the offering plates and bring the plates to the rear of the sanctuary. A minimum of two security officers and two ushers or financial team members will transport the offering to the church office.

2. The security team members and the financial team will move to a lockable office or conference room and secure the entry door.

3. The financial team will complete the counting procedure and lock the offering into a lockable bank bag.

4. The offering can then be transported to the bank or locked into a safe in the office.

5. If the offering is locked in the safe, the key for the bank bag must NOT be held by anyone with the combination to the safe.

6. The security officer will verify that the bank bag has been locked and placed into the safe and verify that the door is locked.
7. If the offering is transported to the bank, the transport team must NOT have a key to the bank bag.

Collection Procedures for Offering Plates and Counted on Monday

To safeguard the offering and eliminate the temptation to remove money from the offering the following procedure will be used.

1. Ushers will complete the passing of the offering plates and bring the plates to the rear of the sanctuary. A minimum of two security officers and two ushers or financial team members will transport the offering to the church office.

2. Security team members will not handle any of the offering.

3. The offering pickup team will transport the offering to the church office.

4. The security team members and the financial team will move to the office where the safe or lock box is located.

5. The offering will be placed in a lockable bank bag.

6. The security officer will verify that the bank bag has been locked and placed into the safe and that the door is locked.

7. The key for the bank bag must NOT be held by anyone with the combination to the safe.

8. One member of the financial team will have the combination to the safe and another will have the key to the lock bag. No one may have both items.

9. The financial team will meet on Monday to count the offering and record the results.

10. When the offering is transported to the bank, the transport team must NOT have a key to the bank bag.

Collection Procedures for Offering Boxes and Counted on Sunday

To safeguard the offering and eliminate the temptation to remove money from the offering the following procedure will be used.

1. The church members will drop their tithes and offerings into the offering box(s).

2. A minimum of two security officers and two ushers or financial team members will collect the offering from the offering box(s).

3. Security team members will not handle any of the offering or hold any keys for the offering box(s).

4. The offering pickup team will transport the offering to the church office.

5. The security team members and the financial team will move to a lockable office or conference room and secure the entry door.

6. The financial team will complete the counting procedure, record the results and lock the offering into a lockable bank bag.

7. If the offering is locked in the safe, the key for the bank bag must NOT be held by anyone with the combination to the safe.

8. The security officer will verify that the bank bag has been locked and placed into the safe and verify that the door is locked.

9. If the offering is transported to the bank, the transport team must NOT have a key to the bank bag.

Collection Procedures for Offering Boxes and Counted on Monday

To safeguard the offering and eliminate the temptation to remove money from the offering the following procedure will be used.

1. The church members will drop their tithes and offerings into the offering box(s).

2. A minimum of two security officers and two ushers or financial team members will collect the offering from the offering box(s).

3. Security team members will not handle any of the offering or hold any keys for the offering box(s).

4. The offering pickup team will transport the offering to the church office.

5. The security team members and the financial team will move to the office where the safe or lock box is located.

6. The security officer will verify that the bank bag has been locked and placed into the safe and that the door is locked.

7. The key for the bank bag must NOT be held by anyone with the combination to the safe.

8. One member of the counting team will have the combination to the safe and another will have the key to the lock bag. No one may have both items.

9. The counting team will meet on Monday to count the offering and record the results.

10. When the offering is transported to the bank, the transport team must NOT have a key to the bank bag.

Summary

The key to keeping the offering safe from pilfering is to maintain a high level of personal accountability. Picking up, counting and depositing the offering must be a team effort and a single person must never be permitted to do these tasks alone. We must remove the temptation from our brothers and sisters in Christ. If your church implements the above procedures, you will greatly reduce the risk of funds being removed from the offering before counting. The number of the staff for the security and counting teams may need to be adjusted depending on the size of your church as more members may be needed to count the offering in a timely fashion in churches with a larger deposit.

Links

Offering Boxes

http://www.mckaychurchgoods.com/offeringbox.htm

http://www.churchsupplies.com/store/offeringcontainers_offeringboxes.shtml

Collection Bags

http://bagsnmore.com/church_collection_bags.html