Estate Gifts

Patti Pace

Hi,

We set up an organization record for an estate gift as soon as we are notified by the donor.  The estate record is linked to the donor and marked Do Not Solicit.  All information about the gift (not the gift) is entered in the estate record.  I have been asked whether this is the best practice or should we wait until a gift comes in to set up the estate record? 

Keri Eadie

Best practice is to have a policy and procedure on how you handle Estates.  There are a million different ways to handle them with no wrong answer - as long as you have a documented process.  Hope that helps!



Keri

Heather MacKenzie

I would agree with Keri, and suggest that consistency and having a policy and procedure in place is the most important.  What you detail that you are currently doing is fairly close to what my office does, so I think you're on the right track.

Nicole Bessert

I think adding the record as soon as you are notified is perfectly fine, but agree with the others that in whatever you do, document it in your P&P.

Brenna Capon

Not to beat a dead horse, but we have found out the hard way that documenting your policy/procedure and thoroughly training and new employees is as, if not more important, than what the procedure turns out to be. In situations like this, I call a meeting of all who are affected by the way in which the data input is managed and work out a process that all can agree upon. Then, I send a follow-up email confirming the agreed upon procedure. Then, it becomes a policy/procedure manual entry. However, for several years, new employees have been hired and not trained on the manual. They just have one outgoing employee pass on verbally all that they remember of their job and send them off. I can't emphasize enough making sure each new data handler be trained by the manual to ensure data consistency. 

Stephanie Ulmer

I think what has been said above is correct. A procedure manual to follow for consistency. I would recommend adding it when you receive the documentation so you can keep track for cash flow purposes.

Patti Pace

Thanks everyone for your input and your reminder to include the process in the Policy and Procedures Guide.

Patti

Jody Johnson

I agree, having the policies and procedures is something that should be done. 



I believe it is good to get the Estate record ready, as that way you can start attaching any articles about what is left to you, if it gets in the news, and it's ready to go when needed. 

Elizabeth Grover

That's how we handle it too. But I'll jump on the Policy & Proceedures bandwagon as well.

Amy Dana

Our org tracks the stated amount of the bequests as pledges so it would make sense to me to keep doing what you're doing. That way, when/if these bequests are fulfilled, you won't have people scrambling to remember what the check is for or who it's from.

Charles Staley

Just My Opinion and the process we use here... but we don't enter anything in advance of the actual gift receipt because it almost always ends up in more work due to changes or other issues that were unforseen at the time the original was created.  When the Gift does come in then you can use actual valid information and create a working documentation of what acutally happens. 

Becky Vodrey

I think we're all on the same page here -- document and be consistent - whatever your practice!

We actually have a "giving society" for our donors that have made us aware that we are in their estate plans. We have their records marked with a constituency code, and the "date from" signifies the date we were notified.

As far as creating the estate record, we would wait until we know the supporter has passed and the estate is being processed.

We may have "estate" records for gifts we received that we were unaware of in advance, and we have "giving society" records for constituents who are planning estates with substantial lead-time, and it's important to recognize both types of giving!

Karl Schutte

Agree with everyones post. We wait until the gift is received to enter anything and make sure the process is documented so any user is able to enter is accurately the next time.

Theresa Brown

We record the estate gift as a pledge until received, if we have enough documentation to know we will be receiving it.  Your practice makes sense to me.

Nicole S

RE is lacking here because if you have the planned gift module you cannot link a pledge made by an individual to the estate record.



We note the intent to give on the living donor.  But we don't make the estate record until that person dies and we get more paperwork confirming the gift. 

Louise Calise 2

When we have a donor who passes away, we of course mark the donor as deceased.  When we are notified that a gift is in the donor's will, we enter it as a pledge if we know the amount; if we do not know the amount we do not enter it as a pledge.  So when a gift comes in we enter it as a gift directly to the donor's record so all the giving history remains intact, mark the donor as deceased (if not done previously) and change the title to "Estate of"

 

JoAnn Strommen

For those entering Estate of ... gifts on donor record I recommend asking your auditor if this is correct practice.  Everything I've read/seen says that Estate gifts should be recorded on an Estate record.  Estate is a different legal entity.



You may want to check archives at fundsvcs.org for posts about this.



Just my 2 cents...