Nashville, TN – The Legal Services Department of the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) is announcing that in response to the many calls they receive about having United Methodist churches recognized on national donor platforms, local churches and United Methodist organizations covered under the United Methodist group ruling can now be listed on Guidestar® through the UMgroupruling.org website. Steve Lambert, General Counsel of GCFA, said “this move responds to requests from local churches to be listed as a charitable organization on a platform recognized by donors as reliable. We are happy to provide this solution to what has been a continuing issue for UMC organizations.”
Guidestar® is the respected database of information about nonprofits. Once listed on Guidestar®, United Methodist churches and organizations will have a way to demonstrate their 501(c)(3) status electronically, which will also be available to Guidestar® partners. Some Guidestar® partners include Amazon Smile, Network for Good, Facebook, and Google for Nonprofits.
“Our United Methodist partners are taking a critical step to help increase the visibility of their individual churches,” said Adrian Bordone, VP of Strategic Partnerships for GuideStar. “We are thrilled to work with them to streamline the process which allows churches to get listed on GuideStar® more easily. This will help increase access to donors who use our database as well as our more than 200 partners.”
The process has been made very easy. Churches and other organizations wishing to be listed on Guidestar® can simply request another group letter on the UMgroupruling.org website and checking the box indicating a desire to be listed.
The General Council on Finance and Administration coordinates and administers financial resources, safeguards the legal interests and rights of the Church, and provides administrative resources to enable the fulfillment of the mission of The United Methodist Church.