Latter-day Saints who receive e-mails from Harris Interactive asking about their charitable contributions don't have to wonder if the survey is a yet another Internet "phishing" expedition.

LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills said Wednesday that LDS Philanthropies "is conducting an (online) survey among its existing donors to determine interest in a proposed charitable giving opportunity." He declined to give additional details.

The survey is apparently being sent to selected members of the church who have contributed to specific LDS-based charities.

The e-mail survey seeks information about "charitable giving, and more specifically, financial planning with regard to making charitable contributions," according to an introductory e-mail. Respondents are led through a series of online questions about specific demographics and whether they are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LDS Philanthropies "serves as the central coordinating agency for all donations to the church or one of its institutions — beyond tithing and fast offerings — with the goal of helping members and friends of the church meet the needs of people worldwide," according to the organization's Web site, www.lds.org/ldsfoundation. "This is accomplished by focusing on those priorities selected and approved by the leaders of the church and its institutions."

The nationwide poll is being done through Harris Interactive, a market research firm based in Rochester, N.Y., that acquired opinion research and consulting firm Wirthlin Worldwide in 2004. Wirthlin had done survey research for the LDS Church for a number of years, and its founder, Richard B. Wirthlin, was a member of the church's Second Quorum of the Seventy from 1996 to 2001. He subsequently joined Harris Interactive's board of directors.

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