Best Practices for Entering Gifts from Fundraising Platforms

Renee Prescott

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

Carolyn Moatz

We used to have this all over the place, but we've settled into money from individuals (payroll deductions) go on the individual record. Matches go on the company record as a match that is reflected on the individuals' records as a matching gift. We don't soft credit the platform at all because they don't need to be stewarded. Sometimes, this means several gifts for one check, if the payroll and match come in on the same check, and we're OK with that. We determined long ago that matches are best handled that way because splitting gifts and soft credits make for difficult reporting. Rules from the company and platform determine if the acknowledgement letter includes tax-receipt language.

JoAnn Strommen

Renee,  If you search the forums for 'hard credit', 'donor advised funds', 'matching gifts' or even "UW", Brevity, or any of the other pass thru orgs you should find a number of posts on this topic.  There are many and some even in the last week where users shared their procedures.  Lots of opinions on the correct way. And it really doesn't seem like there's a one fit all answer.  Ex. if it's payroll deduction the donor needs to be receipted by someone.  Some platforms offer options as to who issues the receipt.


If you find the posts already on the forum you can reply to one and ask specific questions to that person as to why they chose that option.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

We hard credit the individual donor and record a zero receipt amount if the donation was receipted through a platform. Matching gifts are recorded as matching gifts on the company's record.

Renee Prescott

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Renee Prescott:

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

I can only speak to what we do. $25 would be a cash gift on the donors record, $25 would be a matching gift pledge on the donor's gift and a matching gift payment on the company's record. I do not soft credit the platform, but note it in the gift reference. I also have a gift attribute for "Name on Check" where I record the name on the check (if it is a check).

Kate Hudson

Carolyn Moatz:

We used to have this all over the place, but we've settled into money from individuals (payroll deductions) go on the individual record. Matches go on the company record as a match that is reflected on the individuals' records as a matching gift. We don't soft credit the platform at all because they don't need to be stewarded. Sometimes, this means several gifts for one check, if the payroll and match come in on the same check, and we're OK with that. We determined long ago that matches are best handled that way because splitting gifts and soft credits make for difficult reporting. Rules from the company and platform determine if the acknowledgement letter includes tax-receipt language.

 

I agree with this - the one exception for us is a check for a Community Foundation that hosts a giving day. Donors give on their site and receive a receipt with IRS deduction language from the foundation. The foundation also matches a percentage. In this case, we credit the foundation, though they are the "platform," and soft credit individuals. We receive a live spreadsheet of donor information, but donors may choose anonymity. 

Susan Leslie

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

Our standard procedure is set as follows.  If it is payroll deduction, we credit the individual donor only.  If it is a matching gift, we credit the company and connect to the individual as a matching gift to the original gift. We do not ever credit the platform as we see it as it isn't "their" money, they are just cutting the chech in the direction of the individual or matching gift company.  As for community foundations, if it is donor directed, we credit the individual and send the gift receipt to the individual.  If it is donor advised, then the gift receipt goes to the foundation and a thank you letter without the tax language goes to the individual.  The hardest part sometimes is trying to determine what kind of gift it falls under coming from the platforms.  Sometimes we do call them to clearify what their true role is. 

Ann Pennant

Hi
I'm wondering how you record the fee from the platform. Do you record the gross gift or the net amount you received?
Thanks


Sent from my iPhone

Kate Hudson

Ann Pennant:

Hi

I'm wondering how you record the fee from the platform. Do you record the gross gift or the net amount you received?

Thanks



Sent from my iPhone

We do not record the fee charged by any platform in RE. We treat it like a credit card fee. The donor is fully credited for the amount of the gift. We are integrated with FE and after posting the gift to the GL, a line is added to debit the fee so the batch matches the deposit.

Susan Leslie

Ann Pennant:

Hi

I'm wondering how you record the fee from the platform. Do you record the gross gift or the net amount you received?

Thanks



Sent from my iPhone

We do the same.  Record the full amount to the individual and then deduct the fee in Financial Edge. 

Carley Haynes

Ann Pennant:

Hi

I'm wondering how you record the fee from the platform. Do you record the gross gift or the net amount you received?

Thanks



Sent from my iPhone

We also enter the full amount of the donation in RE but we don't have FE so the fee is deducted out before entry into Quickbooks. It makes for harder reconciliation but I always add the following to my batch descriptions '(Total amount given - fees) = real amount received' that way our finance person can find the amount received easily when looking through the batch list! 

Kate Hudson

Renee Prescott:

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

In this instance, I split the check. I do not use the "split gift" function in RE Batch. In gift batch, I simply make two lines. The check # and date info is the exact same. In check #, we write "1110022/platform name" to show the check was received from a platform pass-through. One line is Mickey Mouse who gets $25.00. Walt Disney is on the next line and gets $25. We then soft credit both ways. Once posted to the GL, in FE, an additional line is made to credit the fee that Benevity or whoever charged to process this gift, and in thedescription line for that thep latform is named.. 


Microsoft does this and we do have donors that do payroll deduction w them so we get their money and the match at the same time. Ultra-complicating it is when the donor directs some money to one fund and some to another! That means 4 lines instead of 2. My philosphy is, screw the platform. They are not a donor unless they give me their own money, not from Mr. Smith or Ms. Doe and their employer. They are charging me money to get my donor's contribution. The platform doesn't get to take the tax deduction. I need it on my donor's record because that is who decided to give to our org. The platforms all have a record in our system but I would never consider placing a gift like this on it as a HC or even a SC. 


As I said above, the one exception is our giving day funds. I would prefer to HC the donor and SC the foundation, and simply HC the foundation for the match funds, but my argument has not won out with higher-ups.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Ann Pennant:

Hi

I'm wondering how you record the fee from the platform. Do you record the gross gift or the net amount you received?

Thanks



Sent from my iPhone

We record the gross amount in Raiser's Edge UNLESS the giving platform clearly spells out their fee to the donor and offers an option for the donor to pay the fee. This is the case for a peer-to-peer event we do. I would prefer to simply record the gross amount, but in that case, the donors clearly know what portion of their gift is not tax-deductible before they pay.


 

Tiffany Schroyer

 

Tiffany Schroyer

Tiffany Schroyer:

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

 

All of our payroll deduction or matching gifts that come from a platform all say to give the credit to the donor. So we post the gift to the donor. I do however put the platform name in the reference so that we know the check came from the platform. I have also found that sometimes it not clear if it is a matching or straight payroll deduction.

 

Christine Cooke 2

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

YourCause, Benevity, United Way etc. are conduits for gifts from individuals in most cases.  Nonetheless, they are conduits, the $$ are not coming FROM those orgs but THROUGH them.  Therefore, gifts should be recorded on the individual's record as a contribution.  In some cases, like with YourCause and Benivity for example, they are also the conduit for the Matching Gift funds.  You will have to determine whether it is workplace giving/payroll deduction from the individual through their company, then through Benevity by their giving history in RE, or whether it is the match to the or a gift.  If it is a Matching Gift, then it should be entered under the Company Matching Gift Program record.


Folks get this confused all the time.

JoAnn Strommen

Part of confusions is that process is handled differently from location to location.


UW can be a conduit but that is not the case for all UWs.  Varies from UW to UW how they handle designated gifts made to them.  Our gifts are part of our monthly allocation.  We do not have a list of names or amounts.  Gift is from the UW.  At the end of the year, most years we will get a list of names of those who specifically designated to the Y, but no amounts. UW receipts them for their gifts. 


And several other platforms that are conduits do not provide us with original gift/pledge amount.  All we have is check with fees taken and name of employee.

Nicole Kennedy

This is all very good dialogue.  I was curious about the constituent record in these scenarios.  Historically we created what we called "Shell records" for the individuals who give through payroll deductions/workplace programs and don't provide their own contact information.  This constituent was giving the address of the company headquarters, workplace giving program or the address of the entity making payment.  What we found is that this wasn't a very good address to reach them so we were wasting postage and printing and creating a record that we would more than likely never be able to tie to a personal gift from the same individual.  The question that we struggle with is should an individual who doesn't provide their contact information be created in our system or should their gift just go into our Anonymous donor record.  I am curious what others do in these scenarios in which no contact information is provided for the individual.  


Thank you!

Nicole

Melissa S Graves

If everyone goes on one Anonymous donor record how do you get accurate donor counts or average gift sizes when you do analysis. If you know the name I would give them a record - if you know the company name, even better.

Jill Freidmutter

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

Great discussion on this topic! How we do it:

-- If the fundraising platform gives the donor a tax exemption (e.g. United Way), we give the platform the donation and soft credit the donor.

-- If we don't know whether the fundraising platform gives the donor a tax exemption (Network for Good doesn't say on their paperwork that comes with the check), we give the platform the donation and soft credit the donor.

-- If the check includes both an employee gift and matching gift, we record it as two separate gifts.

-- If there are fees involved, we record the nominal gift, and consider the fees as overhead. (We don't use FE and don't need to reconcile exactly.) For example, if a United Way donor gives us $100 but we only receive $96 of it, we record it as a gift of $100. If we receive a gift through Network for Good of $15 and the donor gave an additional $.75 to cover the fee, we record the gift as $15.

-- When there are three entities involved -- Donor (original gift), Matching Gift Company (Matching Gift), Platform for MG Company (i.e. Benevity), we create a matching gift between the original donation and the Matching Gift Company, enter the matching gift in the MG Company's record, note in the Gift reference that the gift was given through the platform (Benevity), 


Thanks for sharing everyone!

Melissa S Graves

If you do not know if the entity is giving a tax receipt - it is your duty to find out. It may not say on the tax letter but it does say on NFGs website under FAQs.

Linda Burns 2

Renee Prescott:

Our gift in Raiser's Edge (like many organizations) have been entered many different ways by more than one person at any given time. I am new to my organization and want to set standards for consistency for gift entry. The one area I can not wrap my head around in terms of best practices is entering gifts into the RE that are received BY (meaning the check and/or ACH) a fundraising platform (YourCause, Benevity, United Way, etc.). Some of our gifts are credited to the platform and then soft credited to the donor - Is this standard practice in the fundraising for most of you? Or so most organizations enter the gift under the donor and then soft-credit the platform. Also, some gifts are matched by the employer but sent by the platform which is even more confusing.

My insticts say this:

-When the gift is a straight payroll deduction with no match and the check comes from the platform, credit the donor and soft credit the platform

-If the gift is a payroll deduction that is matched by an employer and payment received FROM the companys charitable fund (Fidelity Charitable Fund), credit the company's fund and soft credit the donor

-If the gift is payroll deduction and matched by the company BUT sent by a platform, (this one is the hardest to figure out) then credit the company and soft credit the platform AND the donor


Any thoughts???

                 

If the check comes from the company with the list of donors and amounts, we enter a pledge for the full amount in the company record and pay-cash the individual gifts in their own records. If we don't have a home address for the individuals, we use c/o the company name and address in the address field.

Christine Cooke 2

Renee Prescott:

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

Truist is just the conduit/carrier, not the donor.  There should be two entries.  One for Mickey Mouse the individual for their $25 payroll deduction with check date and number, and you can note in the gift reference that it was disbursed through Truist or whoever.  And a second entry from Walt Disney Company for the match of $25 with the same check date and number and note of the check info.  And of course soft credit the individual for the match.  ta da.

 

Melissa S Graves

Separate - and actually 3 transactions - needing to be done in 2 batches if you batch.


Batch 1 - $25 from Mickey with a Match setup for Disney. Once committed - MG Pledge is set up on Disney's record

Batch 2 - $25 from Disney to pay MG Pledge

Jill Freidmutter

Christine Cooke:

Renee Prescott:

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

Truist is just the conduit/carrier, not the donor.  There should be two entries.  One for Mickey Mouse the individual for their $25 payroll deduction with check date and number, and you can note in the gift reference that it was disbursed through Truist or whoever.  And a second entry from Walt Disney Company for the match of $25 with the same check date and number and note of the check info.  And of course soft credit the individual for the match.  ta da.

 

 

The matching gift pledges show up on the donor's record. We don't soft credit individuals for matching gifts, since it's not their money. Do others?

JoAnn Strommen

Good question about SC the MG. One can make a case for both sides.  We've do SC the MG as while the money does not belong in the strictest sense 'belong' to the donor they do advise where to designate 'their' matching funds. We do not include MG amount as part of their personal gift in RE as several donors wanted us to do. Separate gift that we do acknowledge to them that we received on their behalf.

Susan Chomsky

Jill Freidmutter:

Christine Cooke:

Renee Prescott:

I think my main quandry is this one:


Example: The check for $50 is from Truist (a fundraising platform), The platform report shows the gift is a $25 payroll deduction from Mickey Mouse (the donor) and $25 match from his employer, Walt Disney. So, you have three entities in this scenario. And what is tricky is that the check is both the donor amount and the match together.


Do most people enter the full amount under the donor and then soft credit the employer and make a note in reference that it is gift&match?

Or...enter half the amount under employer and SC the donor and the other half under the employee and SC the employer??? 

And what about the platform...most people do not SC the platform???

Truist is just the conduit/carrier, not the donor.  There should be two entries.  One for Mickey Mouse the individual for their $25 payroll deduction with check date and number, and you can note in the gift reference that it was disbursed through Truist or whoever.  And a second entry from Walt Disney Company for the match of $25 with the same check date and number and note of the check info.  And of course soft credit the individual for the match.  ta da.

 

 

The matching gift pledges show up on the donor's record. We don't soft credit individuals for matching gifts, since it's not their money. Do others?

 

We soft credit individuals for matching gifts. It is because of their gift that we got the match. In the reference field I enter the Matching Gift Company name and that it is a match so it is visible on the donor record. Typically I don't include the sc when reporting on giving unless specifically requested. 

Melissa S Graves

There is never any need, ever, to soft credit for matching gifts in RE. When you link a MG pledge and payment to an individual's gift - they show on the individual's record. When reporting you can choose to have it count towards the individual's giving, or not. Once you set up soft credits - you are locked in to always counting MGs like all other SCs and that may be how you do it now, but not how you maybe want to do it in the future. I can not see myself ever recommending this, really, for any organization.


Melissa S. Graves, bCRE

Linda Burns 2

Since Truist is just the conduit/carrier, not the donor, there's no need to add a gift for Truist. We have repurposed the Receipt stack field to record donations that come in through various platforms. We would have Truist as a selection in that field.


The $25 gift would be entered in Mickey's record, along with the Matching Gift pledge of $25 to Walt Disney. Then a second gift would be entered to pay-cash the $25 to Walt Disney. No soft credits necessary.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Great responses above! Another tip: We added a gift attribute called "Name on Check," where we can record that information if we ever need it. It is very useful in these cases.