I recently requested a search of the Church Book archives from the Ev. Luth. Church in Gross/Klein Elbe for birth records of my 3rd great-grandfather born in 1822. They found the birth enrty in their Church Book. The Church sent me a copy of the birth entry and a letter within an interpretation of the entry.
Being an amatuer genealogist at best, I am not sure what the appropriate response from me should be. Should I make a donation to the Church? If so, what is an appropriate amount?
Writing from Denmark being in the same situation the church suggested me in
their answer to donate an amount to their community. This is quite normal I
have been informed and I sent with much pleasure Euro 40 for their work.
Steve,
I agree with Niels that a donation to the church would be a nice gesture,
however, when it comes to the appropriate amount, Americans seem act less
than generous. I say that because one US family researcher had sought the
assistance of a German genealogist and when asked to pay $50 Euro thought
that this was highway robbery.
Americans who have never been to Germany don't realize the buying power of
the Euro; Germans pay approx. $8.65 for one Gallon of regular gas, multiply
that by 10 gallons and it costs you $86.00 to fill your tank in Germany!
Another thing to consider is finding the best method of payment. If you go
to a US bank and ask for a draft in Euro, the bank will charge you close to
$30 above the dollar amount you are planning on converting.
If you send a check drawn on your own bank, the church will have to pay a
similar fee to the German bank when it cashes the check.
The international reply coupons available at local postoffices in the US
can only be used for postage stamps in the other country. So that's no good
either.
If you live close to an airport, you can have your money exchanged there,
and mail a 50 Euro note by mail. But of course that's also tricky.
I knew of a lady who had done that several times, thinking the church
assistant would give the money to the church, instead he kept the money for
himself.
In short, if you send a personal check, you should make it out for an
amount that's still appropriate even after the bank fees have been deducted.
I think wholesale condemnation of all Americans as less than generous is a
bit strong when you only cite one-two incidents!! I don't believe that is
appropriate.
Steve,
I agree with Niels that a donation to the church would be a nice gesture,
however, when it comes to the appropriate amount, Americans seem act less
than generous. I say that because one US family researcher had sought the
assistance of a German genealogist and when asked to pay $50 Euro thought
that this was highway robbery.
Americans who have never been to Germany don't realize the buying power of
the Euro; Germans pay approx. $8.65 for one Gallon of regular gas,
multiply
that by 10 gallons and it costs you $86.00 to fill your tank in Germany!
Another thing to consider is finding the best method of payment. If you go
to a US bank and ask for a draft in Euro, the bank will charge you close
to
$30 above the dollar amount you are planning on converting.
If you send a check drawn on your own bank, the church will have to pay a
similar fee to the German bank when it cashes the check.
The international reply coupons available at local postoffices in the US
can only be used for postage stamps in the other country. So that's no
good
either.
If you live close to an airport, you can have your money exchanged there,
and mail a 50 Euro note by mail. But of course that's also tricky.
I knew of a lady who had done that several times, thinking the church
assistant would give the money to the church, instead he kept the money
for
himself.
In short, if you send a personal check, you should make it out for an
amount that's still appropriate even after the bank fees have been
deducted.
I think wholesale condemnation of all Americans as less than generous is a
bit strong when you only cite one-two incidents!! I don't believe that is
appropriate.
Steve,
I agree with Niels that a donation to the church would be a nice gesture,
however, when it comes to the appropriate amount, Americans seem act less
than generous. I say that because one US family researcher had sought the
assistance of a German genealogist and when asked to pay $50 Euro thought
that this was highway robbery.
Americans who have never been to Germany don't realize the buying power of
the Euro; Germans pay approx. $8.65 for one Gallon of regular gas,
multiply
that by 10 gallons and it costs you $86.00 to fill your tank in Germany!
Another thing to consider is finding the best method of payment. If you go
to a US bank and ask for a draft in Euro, the bank will charge you close
to
$30 above the dollar amount you are planning on converting.
If you send a check drawn on your own bank, the church will have to pay a
similar fee to the German bank when it cashes the check.
The international reply coupons available at local postoffices in the US
can only be used for postage stamps in the other country. So that's no
good
either.
If you live close to an airport, you can have your money exchanged there,
and mail a 50 Euro note by mail. But of course that's also tricky.
I knew of a lady who had done that several times, thinking the church
assistant would give the money to the church, instead he kept the money
for
himself.
In short, if you send a personal check, you should make it out for an
amount that's still appropriate even after the bank fees have been
deducted.
I think wholesale condemnation of all Americans as less than generous is a
bit strong when you only cite one-two incidents!! I don't believe that is
appropriate.
Steve,
I agree with Niels that a donation to the church would be a nice gesture,
however, when it comes to the appropriate amount, Americans seem act less
than generous. I say that because one US family researcher had sought the
assistance of a German genealogist and when asked to pay $50 Euro thought
that this was highway robbery.
Americans who have never been to Germany don't realize the buying power of
the Euro; Germans pay approx. $8.65 for one Gallon of regular gas,
multiply
that by 10 gallons and it costs you $86.00 to fill your tank in Germany!
Another thing to consider is finding the best method of payment. If you go
to a US bank and ask for a draft in Euro, the bank will charge you close
to
$30 above the dollar amount you are planning on converting.
If you send a check drawn on your own bank, the church will have to pay a
similar fee to the German bank when it cashes the check.
The international reply coupons available at local postoffices in the US
can only be used for postage stamps in the other country. So that's no
good
either.
If you live close to an airport, you can have your money exchanged there,
and mail a 50 Euro note by mail. But of course that's also tricky.
I knew of a lady who had done that several times, thinking the church
assistant would give the money to the church, instead he kept the money
for
himself.
In short, if you send a personal check, you should make it out for an
amount that's still appropriate even after the bank fees have been
deducted.
I think wholesale condemnation of all Americans as less than generous is a
bit strong when you only cite one-two incidents!! I don't believe that is
appropriate.
Steve,
I agree with Niels that a donation to the church would be a nice gesture,
however, when it comes to the appropriate amount, Americans seem act less
than generous. I say that because one US family researcher had sought the
assistance of a German genealogist and when asked to pay $50 Euro thought
that this was highway robbery.
Americans who have never been to Germany don't realize the buying power of
the Euro; Germans pay approx. $8.65 for one Gallon of regular gas,
multiply
that by 10 gallons and it costs you $86.00 to fill your tank in Germany!
Another thing to consider is finding the best method of payment. If you go
to a US bank and ask for a draft in Euro, the bank will charge you close
to
$30 above the dollar amount you are planning on converting.
If you send a check drawn on your own bank, the church will have to pay a
similar fee to the German bank when it cashes the check.
The international reply coupons available at local postoffices in the US
can only be used for postage stamps in the other country. So that's no
good
either.
If you live close to an airport, you can have your money exchanged there,
and mail a 50 Euro note by mail. But of course that's also tricky.
I knew of a lady who had done that several times, thinking the church
assistant would give the money to the church, instead he kept the money
for
himself.
In short, if you send a personal check, you should make it out for an
amount that's still appropriate even after the bank fees have been
deducted.
You have to keep it in perporation, if you ask the archeive to look for a
birth or a marriage etc. and that's it I would say betwen 10 euro and 20
euro is the right donation if they have to look up more then it would be
higher, but since they also included a transcribe I would lean more toward
20 euro.(did you have an exact date or a date very close to it, which is a
lot less work then 10 euro is fine) To work around the extreme high bank
charges you could do one of three things put $ 20 dollar bill(=±13 euro)
(or$20+$10=20 euro) or get a 20 euro bill at your bank , you can order one,
that is about $30 plus charges, in an evelope make sure you put heavy paper
around it before putting it in the evelope so lifting it to the light you
don't see that there is money in it and then take your chances that they
receive it or you can write them back asking for their IBAN # "international
banking account number" then it will cost you a fraction of what it would
have for a wire draft, or you could write them asking if you could donate
the money to a sister church in America? But since it is a donation anything
you feel comfortable about would be the right amount. From an American
living in Europe (who has had archeives do lookups and send copies via de
mail ) Anna Marie
My mentor said ALWAYS include a check with your request and write a paragraph in your letter that you are enclosing your personal check for $25 (so that remains on the record) and that you will happily pay any additional fees or costs the researcher accrues in performing this search for you. That has worked very well. Sometimes people just do things for you and ask where to send it. I always send a thank you note and a check or cash.
I used to do cemetery photos and records for which I contributed a whole day of my time and gas for a round trip 20 miles to the cemetery and two round trips to the photo shop in the next town, another 20 miles. About half the time the person requesting the photos refused to pay for film, developing and postage!!! On a fixed income, I can no longer volunteer for that abuse!