Linking donor records

Marcia Reed

We have a donor Mary Smith, who while alive, gave minimally to our Foundation.

At her passing, we were the beneficiary of a sizable gift from her estate.

We would like to link her record with that of the estate: Mary Smith Trust.

When I go in to the gift record for the large gift from the estate to link it. It will only allow me to link to an event, which then, of course does not allow for a link to an individual constituent record.

Any suggestions for how to link these two constituent records?

Thanks so much

Marcia Reed

SBCC Foundation

Donor Services Manager

John Heizer

You can use a Relationship between the trust's Organization record and the Individual.  You can then Soft Credit the gift to the Individual, but there is no way to "link" a Gift to multiple Constituents.

Marissa Flynn

I will also play devil's advocate and question the need for an Org record for the estate? Is the trust on going and future money may coming in, or is this a one-time payout of a planned gift? If it is the latter, then I would likely put the gift on the Constrituent's Record. Even though she has passed, the gift is still from her. 

JoAnn Strommen

I'm sure others will post, especially if I'm incorrect.  My understanding is that an estate is it's own legal and separate identity from the individual.  Gifts from estates should be identified as such. 



Gifts from estates come after individual is deceased.  Gifts from trusts generally are when individuals are living and have their assets in a trust account.  Usually trust accounts go into the estate upon their death with some exceptions.

Jen Claudy

We typically do what Marissa suggested.  If it is an estate gift, both/all constituents are deceased, and the money will come in one (or possibly 2) lump sum, then we change the Constituent Code on the Individual's record to "Estate" and enter the gift there (the gift also receiving the "Estate" Gift Constituency).  The Donor Listing also gets changed to "The Estate of..." and any applicable notes are added as well.  Generally, it's just a huge timesaver, plus, to create a new record for a one-time gift and at the same time essentially close out another record seems inefficient.  If, however, there are any other circumstances surrounding the situation, or there will be on-going revenue from the estate (or the spouse is still living), then we would create a separate record and link with Relationship.



If you have a significant number of these, or you've already been receiving gifts from a Trust, or your Finance Dept (or auditors) need to be able to request data that would make more sense for separate records, then I would make that the policy.

Marcia Reed

Thanks to you all!  I shall run all of your responses "up the flagpole" to determine our next best policy decision!

I really appreciate the help and the opportunity to learn.

Although, every time I ask, I seem to create a situation involving lots of work to fix past wrongs!

Thanks!

Marcia

Marissa Flynn

JoAnn Strommen:

I'm sure others will post, especially if I'm incorrect.  My understanding is that an estate is it's own legal and separate identity from the individual.  Gifts from estates should be identified as such. 



Gifts from estates come after individual is deceased.  Gifts from trusts generally are when individuals are living and have their assets in a trust account.  Usually trust accounts go into the estate upon their death with some exceptions.

I tend to follow Bill Connor's advice when recording gifts: "We do have to follow proper tax receipting and acknowledgment laws and rules, but we don't have to follow a mindless 'name on a check' fallacy. 



He makes a pretty good argument that we can record gifts in any manner that suits our needs/reporting, as long as the receipt follows the law. I really like his style of recording, and it has simplified a lot of complex issues for me. Check out this presentation he did at BBCon for more details: http://www.billconnors.com/media/Bill%20Connors%20-%20How%20Would%20You%20Enter%20THIS%20Gift%20-%20bbcon%202013%20-%20post-conf.pdf



Following his advice, we put estate gifts on the Deceased donor's record, because for all of our reporting purposes, such as recognition, the gift is from a single donor. While I agree they are legally seperate entities, the money came from the same person. Obviously the thank you letter for the planned gift will need special attention and will be customized as well.