Gift Processing Question

Michele Thompson 2

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

Robert Brown

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Hi Michelle,


We always hard credit the originator of the donation.  So if someone had payroll deductions through their job and then the job sent the donation through YourCause, the donor gets the hard credit.  Basically, whoever we acknowledge for the donation (with or without tax language) gets the hard credit.


As for Benevity - the bane of my existence - I give full donation credit to the donor.  So if the donor sent us $1,000 but Benevity took out $100 for their purposes, the donor still gets $1,000 on his record and the business office expenses the $100 as an organizational fee.  That way we know what the intent was and how much we actually got.


Hope this helps!

Michele Thompson 2

Robert Brown:

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Hi Michelle,


We always hard credit the originator of the donation.  So if someone had payroll deductions through their job and then the job sent the donation through YourCause, the donor gets the hard credit.  Basically, whoever we acknowledge for the donation (with or without tax language) gets the hard credit.


As for Benevity - the bane of my existence - I give full donation credit to the donor.  So if the donor sent us $1,000 but Benevity took out $100 for their purposes, the donor still gets $1,000 on his record and the business office expenses the $100 as an organizational fee.  That way we know what the intent was and how much we actually got.


Hope this helps!

 

Thank you,  Robert! These are all such a pain! So for Your Cause, if John Smith made the payroll deduction, you put it right in his record? Even though the check was from YourCause? Just want to be sure I understand. 


And the Benevity, I am not sure what you mean. Would you mind explaining a bit more? Do you put that right in the donor record as well rather than hard credit to Benevity? That would make my life easier! And as far as tying out, if you put the full amount in, the donations will be more than the check. Not sure how to make that adjustment prior to posting.


Sorry if I am not understanding. 

Robert Brown

Hi Michelle,


Sorry if I wasn't being clear.  Yeah, if the payroll deduction is from John Smith's paycheck from Amazon through YourCause, I put the hard credit on John Smith's record because that was where the donation came from.  No matter how many other hands it passes through, it originated as his money.


For Benevity, think of it almost like a credit card transaction.  Say someone gives $1,000 but the credit card processor takes $45 in fees.  You wouldn't put $955 in as the donation, right?  The donation is logged as $1,000 and the $45 is logged as an expense/transaction fee through the business/finance office.  When I get a Benevity check, I give the business office the entire thing with a sticky note explaining the donation amount and transaction fees so they can log it accordingly.


I hope that helped!


Robert

Michele Thompson 2

Robert Brown:

Hi Michelle,


Sorry if I wasn't being clear.  Yeah, if the payroll deduction is from John Smith's paycheck from Amazon through YourCause, I put the hard credit on John Smith's record because that was where the donation came from.  No matter how many other hands it passes through, it originated as his money.


For Benevity, think of it almost like a credit card transaction.  Say someone gives $1,000 but the credit card processor takes $45 in fees.  You wouldn't put $955 in as the donation, right?  The donation is logged as $1,000 and the $45 is logged as an expense/transaction fee through the business/finance office.  When I get a Benevity check, I give the business office the entire thing with a sticky note explaining the donation amount and transaction fees so they can log it accordingly.


I hope that helped!


Robert

Thank you so much Robert! This helped  a ton! 


Have a Happy Holiday!

Michele

Christine Cooke 2

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Anytime there is a fee taken from the total I calculate what percentage of the total the fee is.  Then when I enter the gifts I enter them minus that same percentage for each distribution included in that check.  So the example would be if the donor gave $100 and the fee works out to be 9.5% of the total, then you would record $90.50 as the gift and in the reference note the amount of the admin fee you deducted.  You do know with Benevity you can do away with the fees if you set up direct deposit on your account?  They only take the fees when you receive your distributions by check.


Any gifts that are payroll deductions should be recorded on the individul's record, any matching gifts on the matching gift company's record.  Benevity, YourCause, United Way etc are all just conduits for distribution they are not the gift givers (hence the fees they take).

Gracie Schild

We also hard credit the person who designated the gift, no matter what the vehicle for payment. We don't use any soft credits at all because of the mess they make. All gifts like that (DAFs, YourCause, etc) that are NOT matches are handled as "pass-through" gifts and have a batch master of their own that sets the receipt amount to $0. We use the Gift Code field for the name of the most common check issuers (Schwab Charitable, Fidelity, United Way of Northern New Mexico) or "***EDIT***" to catch the eye of the person producing the ack letter. If we use ***EDIT*** then we put the name of the check issuing agency/DAF in a Gift Notepad for reference. The letter says "Thank you for designating a gift from <Gift Code> to the <Fund Description>. The gift was received on <Gift Date>." Matching gifts are handled as RE is set up to handle them, but in the case of the check that contains various different gifts, we enter them as multiple gifts - we don't do ANY split gifts for any reason.


The rationale for not using soft credits in this case is that RE is fundraising software, not accounting software. We are keeping track of the constituents and their intentions, not the vehichle they use to donate. We don't have a relationship with Schwab Charitable, but rather with John Smith so he gets the credit (but not the tax receipt). "It's the thought that counts" and I guarantee you that Schwab and the others aren't thinking about us at all!

Karen Stuhlfeier

 I don't think that soft credits make a mess if you understand and use them correctly. We hard credit the issuer of the check and soft credit all others. 

Michele Thompson 2

Christine Cooke:

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Anytime there is a fee taken from the total I calculate what percentage of the total the fee is.  Then when I enter the gifts I enter them minus that same percentage for each distribution included in that check.  So the example would be if the donor gave $100 and the fee works out to be 9.5% of the total, then you would record $90.50 as the gift and in the reference note the amount of the admin fee you deducted.  You do know with Benevity you can do away with the fees if you set up direct deposit on your account?  They only take the fees when you receive your distributions by check.


Any gifts that are payroll deductions should be recorded on the individul's record, any matching gifts on the matching gift company's record.  Benevity, YourCause, United Way etc are all just conduits for distribution they are not the gift givers (hence the fees they take).

 

Thank you!  We need to look into the Direct Deposit. Do they send an email when they send the deposit? My Finance Manager says she won't know when it goes in. They must notify, right??

Michele Thompson 2

Gracie Schild:

We also hard credit the person who designated the gift, no matter what the vehicle for payment. We don't use any soft credits at all because of the mess they make. All gifts like that (DAFs, YourCause, etc) that are NOT matches are handled as "pass-through" gifts and have a batch master of their own that sets the receipt amount to $0. We use the Gift Code field for the name of the most common check issuers (Schwab Charitable, Fidelity, United Way of Northern New Mexico) or "***EDIT***" to catch the eye of the person producing the ack letter. If we use ***EDIT*** then we put the name of the check issuing agency/DAF in a Gift Notepad for reference. The letter says "Thank you for designating a gift from <Gift Code> to the <Fund Description>. The gift was received on <Gift Date>." Matching gifts are handled as RE is set up to handle them, but in the case of the check that contains various different gifts, we enter them as multiple gifts - we don't do ANY split gifts for any reason.


The rationale for not using soft credits in this case is that RE is fundraising software, not accounting software. We are keeping track of the constituents and their intentions, not the vehichle they use to donate. We don't have a relationship with Schwab Charitable, but rather with John Smith so he gets the credit (but not the tax receipt). "It's the thought that counts" and I guarantee you that Schwab and the others aren't thinking about us at all!

Thank you!

John Heizer

Christine Cooke:

 

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Anytime there is a fee taken from the total I calculate what percentage of the total the fee is.  Then when I enter the gifts I enter them minus that same percentage for each distribution included in that check.  So the example would be if the donor gave $100 and the fee works out to be 9.5% of the total, then you would record $90.50 as the gift and in the reference note the amount of the admin fee you deducted.  You do know with Benevity you can do away with the fees if you set up direct deposit on your account?  They only take the fees when you receive your distributions by check.


Any gifts that are payroll deductions should be recorded on the individul's record, any matching gifts on the matching gift company's record.  Benevity, YourCause, United Way etc are all just conduits for distribution they are not the gift givers (hence the fees they take).

 

We have direct deposit from Benevity, but they still withhold some fees.  Not as much as if they cut a check, but there are still fees involved.

John Heizer

Michele Thompson:

 

Christine Cooke:

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Anytime there is a fee taken from the total I calculate what percentage of the total the fee is.  Then when I enter the gifts I enter them minus that same percentage for each distribution included in that check.  So the example would be if the donor gave $100 and the fee works out to be 9.5% of the total, then you would record $90.50 as the gift and in the reference note the amount of the admin fee you deducted.  You do know with Benevity you can do away with the fees if you set up direct deposit on your account?  They only take the fees when you receive your distributions by check.


Any gifts that are payroll deductions should be recorded on the individul's record, any matching gifts on the matching gift company's record.  Benevity, YourCause, United Way etc are all just conduits for distribution they are not the gift givers (hence the fees they take).

 

Thank you!  We need to look into the Direct Deposit. Do they send an email when they send the deposit? My Finance Manager says she won't know when it goes in. They must notify, right??

 

Yes, Benevity does send an email.  You still have to log on to their web site to get the details, but you do get an email notification that they are processing a deposit for you.

Christina Bunch

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

Thanks for posting this! 

Sheila Wortham

Michele Thompson:

I have a question on how others process gifts in a couple of instances.


We get checks from companies like YourCause or The Benevity Foundation that sends payments in from different companies - ie. Pfizer, AT&T, etc. They collect either Payroll Pledges or matching gifts and send the check. My questions are: 

1. Do you hard credit Your Cause/soft credit donor (but the checks sometimes have an employee under it - ie. Pfizer, etc). Or do you Hard Credit Pfizer and soft credit the donor and Your Cause? 
2. With Benevity, they take a fee out. The check is less than the total of donations from the donors. I can't always soft credit the correct amounts because our donors give to different funds so I can't put in $500 and then soft credit $525 to just one donor, so it becomes an issue. What do you do with these? I have a Benevity check that came in with 5 different donors and one was a match; one was a pledge payment; the others recurring gifts with a match. I have no idea if I did it correctly. I have to match less than what they are showing on the report in order for my batch to balance. Also a note, we do not split gifts as it messes up our FE side and the Financial Manager's reports. So when someone gives to more than one fund we put each one in separate.

Thanks for your help with this!

 

We hard credit the issuer of the check and soft credit the donor. I view soft credits as internal verses external tracking system. 

Debra Holcomb

1.  We credit the person who originated the gift as that is the person we want to thank and solicit again in the future.  We record the method of payment on the gift. 

2.  We only acknowledge the amount that was actually received.  In many cases the donor doesn't realize the extent of the fees taken from their gift or the time delay in receiving the gift. When they do, we are frequently able to encourage the donor to give directly via EFT/ACH to our organization instead.  We've saved tens of thousands in fees by converting donors. If they don't know, they won't convert.  A gift through a same party is not the same as a gift directly to the organization.  We can't put 'intent' to use to fulfill our mission.

Gracie Schild

We don't use soft credits in either of these instances, but always give credit where credit is due - the person who decided to give us money. We call it a "pass-through" and give them credit but with a $0 receipt amount and a different letter that says "thanks for designating a gift through XYZ". We've only had one gift from Benevity, and we treated it as a pass-through, but the gift amount was the amount we received, not the amount they paid. We didn't have a clever way of recording it, but I like Robert's idea!

Heather MacKenzie

#helpfulanswer