Gift Processing Expectations

Cynthia Leonard

Hi - I am seeking opinions and/or data on the number/volume of gifts a data entry person should reasonably be expected to complete in Raiser's Edge, from data entry to thank you letter. Need some support for my perceived need for additional help.

Thank you! 

Cindy Avery

In the month of January, I processed 607 gifts and letters.  Prior to the data-entry step, I am also the one who copies all the checks and response devices and prepares the bank deposit (it wasn't clear from your question if that is part of your duties or if someone else does that). Hope this helps! 

Linda Allen

Not sure how much this helps but here are my numbers for the last 2 years, note this includes all gifts including pledge payments

FY15 17,506 gifts of which  (8,332 were pledge payments for 932 gifts represented were only ackowledgeed once)

FY16 24,945 gifts which (17,028 were pledge payments for 1,230 gifts represented were only ackowledgeed once)


It's hard to compare apples to apples without knowing the details in my case we have an employee campaign that we have to process pledge payments for every 2 weeks all year and typically have a handful of adjustments each pay period. We also host a large peer-to peer fundraiser each year so a large number come through electronically (which is sometimes more work than if they just wrote a check)


Gift processing is also only part of my position, I manage the database, NetCommunity and Sphere in addition to other responsibilities. Would estimate it to be 25-30% of my time.

 

Faith Murray

Linda's tallies make me feel insignificant. We processed 8,400 gift last fiscal year, and on a busy day I can only process about 130-190 gifts before I am totally maxed out. I couldn't do that number every day, or I would never have time for the database management. But then, I think it also depends on what steps are involved in your process - for instance, we often hand-tailor many of the thank-you letters, in cases of memorial gifts and such, and our college president who hand-signs them, wants me to run a report for the letters and flag each individual letter that goes to an alumnus, board of director, student parent, etc, so he can write a personal comment. I also do grant writing, mailing lists, direct our donor acquisition and conversion program, and am in the process of a lot of heavy-duty cleanup, like de-duping the system and composing our P&P manual. So, with all of that, I have a couple of part-time helpers who each contribute about 5 hours a week to help with the posting, address updates, etc.

Cynthia Leonard

Thank you all for your responses! Very helpful.

In 2016, our organization processed 20,311 total transactions. 14,218 were what I consider simple transactions - recurring gifts, thrift store income, etc., most not needing individual thank-yous, but still primarily individual checks. The rest (6,093) include multiple step, more complicated entries such as memorials, events, credits, etc., which require thank you (many customized) and memorial acknowledgement. An additional challenge are the gifts that need investigation in order to process, being incomplete or unclear. There is a lot of time playing detective in order to handle and acknowledge these gifts correctly. The entire process, completed by one person, is from opening mail, entering gifts, copying checks, thank you/acknowledgement and preparation for deposit. They are also expected to do data maintenance and AA responsibilities, which, no wonder, doesn't happen.

I appreciate any additional input!  

Karen Stuhlfeier

 I think that it also depends on if you are mostly receiving gifts from people who are already in your database or totally new donors. Where I am now almost everyone is already in the database so it goes very quickly. At another workplace most of the gifts were tribute gifts from new donors. That takes much longer to process.

Faith Murray

With that much "gift traffic", you need the additional help! If you can't get a new hire, then perhaps you can at least find a volunteer to do some of the less tech-saavy and confidential portions of the job, like printing and mailing the acknowledgement letters. That in itself would save you a ton of time!

Agata Ketterick 3

Cynthia Leonard:

Hi - I am seeking opinions and/or data on the number/volume of gifts a data entry person should reasonably be expected to complete in Raiser's Edge, from data entry to thank you letter. Need some support for my perceived need for additional help.

Thank you! 

I don't think there is one magic number, there are so many variables to consider! As an example - in my previous position, the gift processor had a variety of responsibilities in addition to gift processing and would process anywhere from 20 to 100 gifts per day; in my current position, the volume of gifts is much smaller but the gift processor has fewer responsibilities! As a first step, I would suggest starting with a review of the process that exists to make sure it is as efficient as it can be. At my previous position, we found a volunteer to help with the mailing aspect of gift processing which helped a lot.