Recording and analysing payroll giving

Sue Eddington

Hi All


We have historically been recording payroll giving gifts as 'cash' gifts but now want to start monitoring & reporting on this method of giving more thoroughly.  We use ImportOmatic to import the gifts each month from the payroll agencies, adding them automatically into a batch and then committing.  We want to be able to monitor when a person starts giving and when they lapse (partly as we have just signed up to a new PFO who will refund fees if the donor stops in first few months!).  I was thinking of setting them up as a recurring gift and then use the missed payment report to monitor, but as the payroll agencies may skip a month and then pay 2 instalments in one this makes it complicate - apparently a recurring gift will apply the whole amount to the next transaction due date available and not roll on to next one if too much (e.g. donor gives £5 a month - 1 month we get £5, 2nd month nothing, 3rd month £10).  A pledge will allow you to apply the £10 across the 2 outstanding payments a recurring gift will not.  however the problem with a pledge is you have to put the number of instalments in and the gift amount is not the instalment amount.


My question therefore is - how do others add on payroll giving and monitor giving lifetimes etc?  Thanks!

Aaron Rothberg

Hi Sue-


For the reasons/complications you've mentioned, we enter these gifts as outright cash gifts. We give them the Gift Subtype of Payroll Deduction and assign them to a Staff Giving Program appeal which we create annually (e.g., 17SGP, 18SGP). If the donor stops giving, we don't need to take any action as there are no pledges to clean up. This method would not provide an automated way to see who missed an installment, but if you know what the giving periods should be, you can set up an Export with a new column for each giving summary pay period and visually check in Excel for gaps in giving.

JoAnn Strommen

We use a gift sub-type of "Payroll deduction" (mysteriously named, huh) for all payroll gifts. When gifts are posted over, it's easy for finance to see amounts and make transfers. I'm guessing it would allow the tracking you are looking for also. We don't monitor 'lifetimes', or for that matter refund pledge payments made by an employee who leaves. When pledges are entered, just include the gift sub-type and it's defaults for all the payments.


I'm not following your comment regarding pledged: put the the number of installments in."  If someone is paying more than one installment, I would just edit the gift amount. It will all apply to the pledge to the earliest installments.

Heather MacKenzie

Sue Eddington:

Hi All


We have historically been recording payroll giving gifts as 'cash' gifts but now want to start monitoring & reporting on this method of giving more thoroughly.  We use ImportOmatic to import the gifts each month from the payroll agencies, adding them automatically into a batch and then committing.  We want to be able to monitor when a person starts giving and when they lapse (partly as we have just signed up to a new PFO who will refund fees if the donor stops in first few months!).  I was thinking of setting them up as a recurring gift and then use the missed payment report to monitor, but as the payroll agencies may skip a month and then pay 2 instalments in one this makes it complicate - apparently a recurring gift will apply the whole amount to the next transaction due date available and not roll on to next one if too much (e.g. donor gives £5 a month - 1 month we get £5, 2nd month nothing, 3rd month £10).  A pledge will allow you to apply the £10 across the 2 outstanding payments a recurring gift will not.  however the problem with a pledge is you have to put the number of instalments in and the gift amount is not the instalment amount.


My question therefore is - how do others add on payroll giving and monitor giving lifetimes etc?  Thanks!

Using your example, my office's practice is to enter the $10 as 2 separate gifts, since it actually represents 2 separate payroll deductions, which then allows us to properly apply to the recurring gift expected payments.

Christy Vint Griswold

Hi All, 


I'm just now updating our payroll deduction batch which still has the old campaign and appeals from 16-17.  I'm confused for tracking purposes why we would change the appeal every year.  I guess I'm wondering how we would track which appeal works best if we changed the appeal from the method they used when they signed up originally to a random appeal I just am creating for the 18-19 fiscal year.  I'm thinking of updating the campaign, of course, to 18-19 Payroll Deduction, but am wondering with your expertise if I should leave the appeals as the appeal they originally signed up with, or if there's a reason I should update it to a new one I've created for 18-19 for some reason.  We do have the gift subtype as Payroll Deducation if that helps.


Thanks!

Christy