How does a para church organization account for staff who raise their own support?

by Jane
(Ellicott City, MD, USA)

Is it an option to "pay" the staff as contractors and issue a 1099 to them? Or do they have to be employees and get W2s?

And are there rules relating to how much raised actually gets paid to the employee?

For example, if they send a year end support letter and one of their donors makes a large donation in December, do we just pass that amount on to the employee via their next paycheck? Thanks