Gift Amount Process

Rose Orr

I am looking for suggestions for how to process gifts where there are two different values that need to be captured.  We received donations through an online service and the service takes a percentage of each gift.  Our accounting department receives a statement indicating that we have received a deposit of 'x' amount.  We then log into the website and we can see who donated and how much and we prepare our gift batch from that information.  For example: Jane donates $20 to us through this website, our accounting department will see that a donation of $19.57 has been added to our account. We then prepare a batch report which credits Jane with a donation of $19.57 when, in fact, Jane donated $20.  Our Raiser's Edge is not attached in any way to our financial department but we provide batch reports for all money coming into our Fund Raising Department.  Can anyone give me a suggestion for how I can process online gifts in such a way that the donor gets credited with the full amount of their gift and our finance department get a report that accurately reflects the amount of money received?

JoAnn Strommen

Rose Orr:
I am looking for suggestions for how to process gifts where there are two different values that need to be captured.  We received donations through an online service and the service takes a percentage of each gift.  Our accounting department receives a statement indicating that we have received a deposit of 'x' amount.  We then log into the website and we can see who donated and how much and we prepare our gift batch from that information.  For example: Jane donates $20 to us through this website, our accounting department will see that a donation of $19.57 has been added to our account. We then prepare a batch report which credits Jane with a donation of $19.57 when, in fact, Jane donated $20.  Our Raiser's Edge is not attached in any way to our financial department but we provide batch reports for all money coming into our Fund Raising Department.  Can anyone give me a suggestion for how I can process online gifts in such a way that the donor gets credited with the full amount of their gift and our finance department get a report that accurately reflects the amount of money received?

Rose,

We enter the gift amount in RE -so in your example $20.  The difference in the gift amount and what is actually received after fees is done by accounting.  We do use pay method of credit card and for online gifts a gift subtype so a report of credit card/online gifts can be easily run in RE each month for finance to use in reconciling.  The fees are part of doing business and we just enter the full gift amount.  There really isn't a field in RE set to record the amount received when using full amount as gift amount.

It sounds like you will need to work with your accounting department to provide them info they need and to work with them on how to figure/reconcile it with money received. 

There have been other posts on this.  This is just one of the links: http://forums.blackbaud.com/forums/p/9919/323928.aspx#323928

Melissa Graves 2

Rose Orr:
I am looking for suggestions for how to process gifts where there are two different values that need to be captured.  We received donations through an online service and the service takes a percentage of each gift.  Our accounting department receives a statement indicating that we have received a deposit of 'x' amount.  We then log into the website and we can see who donated and how much and we prepare our gift batch from that information.  For example: Jane donates $20 to us through this website, our accounting department will see that a donation of $19.57 has been added to our account. We then prepare a batch report which credits Jane with a donation of $19.57 when, in fact, Jane donated $20.  Our Raiser's Edge is not attached in any way to our financial department but we provide batch reports for all money coming into our Fund Raising Department.  Can anyone give me a suggestion for how I can process online gifts in such a way that the donor gets credited with the full amount of their gift and our finance department get a report that accurately reflects the amount of money received?

Rose - RE is not financial software. All it is designed to capture is the gift amount which is all dependent on who this online service is.

If the online service you are using is a 501 c 3 (Network For Good, United Way, Global Giving are examples) then the gift goes on the organization's record because you can not receipt the individual a second time (the org already did that). And the gift is the net amount of $19.57.

If the online service is a for profit entity like your bank or BBMS or IATS then the gift is $20. The costs you pay to use this need to be solely recorded by your finance office. Somehow you know what those costs are (maybe a report from BBMS?) simply provide that report to your finance office and leave it up to them. RE has no place to store these costs in any way that will give you the report you think you need. Again it is fundraising software - not accounting software.