PAR

Additions/Changes/Deletions

The contact person is the liaison between contributors and the PAR Unit. All additions, changes and deletions will go through the contact person. (Similarly, the Unit will direct any questions to the contact person rather than to individual contributors.)

Fill out the appropriate sheet with the congregation's name and number, the effective date, a contributor's name, reference number (if a change or deletion; a new member will not yet have a reference number assigned), and the requested changes.

The sheets can be mailed by Canada Post, faxed, or e-mailed. If changing or deleting by e-mail, please include all the above information. Changes or deletions by telephone are not encouraged, but if necessary at the last minute, must be followed up in writing.

A contributor need only fill in one application form and submit one voided cheque. Only a voided cheque is required if a contributor changes account-a new application card is not required.

It is recommended that all information sent to the PAR Unit be copied and filed at the church for your records.

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Returned Items From the Bank

Returned items occur when a contributor has insufficient funds in their account, when a contributor closes or changes their account, stops a payment, or dies.

The bank runs the PAR system on two different programs: one to debit contributors' accounts, one to credit the congregations. Even if a payment is not taken from a specific contributors account, the congregation is still credited with the amount. We do not learn from the bank until afterwards that this discrepancy has occurred.

In this case, the Unit informs the congregational contact of the returned item. The contact person will have time before the next PAR deductions to investigate the problem.

The Unit marks the contributor as "NSF" for the following month (appearing under "NSF Cheques Returned (last month)" on the statement). This means that the Unit will deduct the amount previously credited to the congregation. If desired or applicable, the contributor can then make the monthly donation directly to the congregation.

We also mark the contributor as "OFF", meaning we do not try to deduct from the contributors account unless otherwise notified by the contact person. The contributor appears under the category "Removed Members (Awaiting Instruction)" on the statement. Members who appear here are not debited nor included in the total of contributor's charged the service fee.

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Accounts

The system can accommodate up to three bank accounts for General (Local), Mission and Service, and Other. If desired, the three columns can be designated to three different bank accounts (the service charge is deducted from the General account unless otherwise indicated by the contact person from the church). If there is only one account, the amount will be totalled and credited to that account.

PAR donations to the Mission and Service Fund are also deposited to the congregation's account. Remittances to the M&S Fund by the congregation are then made in the usual fashion. This is done to allow congregations to produce tax receipts for the contributions. It is important for the congregation to remit monthly, the PAR M&S gifts, along with other M&S donations to the United Church House.

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Tax Receipts

PAR is run as a service to congregations. We collect donations (on behalf of congregations). It is therefore the responsibility of the congregation to provide tax receipts to the contributors using the PAR program.

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Dates

PAR is debited from contributors accounts and credited to the congregations on the 20th of each month, or on the following business day. The Unit, however, must send the information to the bank before this date. We therefore request that all additions, changes and deletions be received by the Unit before the 10th of the month to allow time to process them. There is a small grace period for urgent requests only.

• PAR Program Administrator
  Financial Stewardship
  The United Church of Canada
  3250 Bloor St. West, Suite 300
  Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4
  Tel: 416-231-5931, ext. 3050
  Fax: 416-231-3103
  E-mail: PAR Program Administrator