The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has approved and adopted new tithing slips for worldwide distribution to Church membership.
This change, which actually began in the early months of 2012, is now seeing more widespread effect as wards and branches restock tithing slips.
On the new slips, members will no longer find an address line; the new line asks for membership record number, which is not required for non-member donations or if one is donating in his or her home unit. Additionally, several lines of the old slip have been eliminated, specifically, lines designating funds for Book of Mormon, Temple Construction and Perpetual Education. Church members may still designate funds previously specified on the tithing slip (as well as various other Church funds) by writing them in the "other" field.
Finally, a change has been made to the language at the bottom of the slip, explaining how funds will be used. The previous explanation said, "All donations to the Church's missionary fund become the property of the Church to be used at the Church's sole discretion in its missionary program."
The new explanation takes a more general approach to donated funds: "Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church's property and will be used at the Church's sole discretion to further the Church's overall mission."
Scott Trotter, spokesman for the Church, said of the changes, "We feel a sacred obligation to make sure that tithing and other donations made to the Church are used prudently and wisely. The new language on the donation slips simply gives some flexibility to meet the changing needs of a growing, global faith as circumstances require."
These new slips are similar to slips that were previously distributed outside of North America.
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This article is edited from an earlier version to clarify the use of membership record numbers.