charitable offering or not

by rex jason craft
(rock hill, sc)

We are going to have 20 volunteers to go on our annual mission trip from the church. It is going to cost $10,000 for the trip and we raised only $8,000. The 20 volunteers have to come up with the difference ($2,000). Can the money they pay be considered a church offering so they can get credit towards their taxes?

vickey's reply

No.

Now if they gave an offering to the church missionary fund and the church had full control where it went, then it would be considered a charitable donation, but not if they are using their own money to pay for their own expenses.

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