A young woman recovering from a debilitating accident receives a scholarship to attend LDS Business College.

Church members in California work side by side with members of the Muslim community to prepare humanitarian aid kits for those suffering in Iraq.

A new Joseph F. Smith Building is constructed on the BYU campus in Provo, Utah.

A returned missionary in a developing country attends a technical school with help from the Church's Perpetual Education Fund.

The Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU-Hawaii in Laie, Hawaii, offer students from Asia and Polynesia work/study internships.

Although different, all these projects and many others like them, share similar roots: each was made possible by the financial contributions of Church members worldwide through LDS Foundation, a department of the Presiding Bishopric.

"I am not sure all members of the Church put together in their minds the extent of the activities of the Church to bless lives," said Barry Preator, a director of LDS Foundation, an organization that serves as the central coordinating agency to encourage and facilitate all donations to the Church or one of its non-profit institutions — beyond tithing and fast offerings — with the goal of helping build the kingdom worldwide.

Speaking with the Church News, Brother Preator expressed concern that many Church members do not know that LDS Foundation exists — let alone what it does.

"Our No. 1 challenge is communication," he said. "The opportunity for giving is not limited to just the wealthy people in the Church. The brethren have invited everyone to participate in whatever way is appropriate for their circumstances."

The organization, said McClain Bybee, managing director of LDS Foundation, is often confused with another Church foundation — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation. However, he said, LDS Foundation encourages giving to the Church and its non-profit institutions and programs — including the Church's educational institutions, the temple patron fund, the missionary fund, the humanitarian fund and special Church projects.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation, on the other hand, was established to provide an organization that would coordinate giving by the Church to worthy civic programs and projects and other charitable and humanitarian causes locally and abroad. It is funded not by donations, but with funds from the Church's for-profit business holdings.

"There is not a week that goes by but that we are talking to members of the Church who say, 'I never knew about LDS Foundation,' " said Brother Bybee. Many people, he added, are afraid to ask questions because they don't want to openly discuss their financial situation or what they might hope to give. They can feel comfortable working with LDS Foundation because the process is confidential, 100 percent of the donation goes to the charitable cause, and cost of operating LDS Foundation comes from the general budget of the Church, said Brother Preator.

For more information about LDS Foundation, please see www.ldsfoundation.org or call 1-800-525-8074.