Is it true that FM donations are diverted to PPH?

[CC1]

Originally Posted by WyoPastor

Sounds like someone is on a UPC witch hunt and is looking for any excuse to try to harm the UPC.

I know several missionaries and have never heard these complaints.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

This is my take also. I am sure that somewhere, somehow, some missionary has felt done wrong but I would be willing to bet that any funds withheld from the missionaries are for the things various posters listed here like SSI, admin costs, etc that are all legitimate.

I think it is insulting and crazy to suggest that the FM divsion of the UPC does not have missions as it's hearbeat and focus. That it is somehow an investment operation. Ludicrous.

The ironic thing is that for all of the legtimate complaints about the UPC, missions is one of the things that it has done exceedingly well with more bang for the buck than just about any missions organization in the world.

[hgpower]

If you can't say a name, no one really believes you. It's just gossip. If it really happened then it really wouldn't be a problem. It could help the situation if you posted the name. It could have been a huge misunderstanding on your friends part and someone if the AFF world might know the others involved and they could bring a lot of clarification to actually what happened. In your writing you just seem to be a little bitter about stuff. The fact is that the missions program of the UPCI has grown every year. More people are going up for approval every year. So, the missionaries must consider it to be a great program. If you give through the program and they swindle you out of every dime and later we find out that not one person we supported ever left the USA, God knows we honestly tried to reach our world through giving. I don't like the idea of giving directly to missionaries for one reason. Some missionaries are not good at raising money even though they are very affective on the field. Others are good at raising money but might not be as effective on the field. So, you would have a guy who could raise astronomical amounts of money and no one would know how much he raised or where it was going. Then the other guy couldn't raise a dime of support and he would struggle. With an organized effort there is a great amount of accountability. There is more of trust value in what is happening with your given finances. Sure there are people you will know personally that you can liberally give to and I understand that. Everyone we support was a complete stranger to us. So we just have to trust God and the people who put their approval on them.

[coadie]

I suspect if a donation goes thru the UPC accounts and has any more than a foreign exchange cost attached, the legal exposure would be problematic. I could test this. I could donate some odd 2,357.61 and e-mail a Missionary. It would be easy to see how much their net was. Several relatives of mine are missionaries and the Missionary Union takes general funds and donations and also sends them to missionaries. Out of their General funds, they set aside monies for travel, and even a retirement pension.