Do you enter friends/family group donations as an Individual or an Org?

Mark Guncheon 2

We occasionally receive donations from a group of friends who raised money to honor or memorialize a friend. The (sometimes) cash or check arrives with a note stating that it is a collection from friends/family members. Typically, we enter those as an individual but I've found some early ones entered as an organization. Which do you do?


Thank you.

Ryan Hyde

Individuals. I can understand the thought behind adding them to an org record, but that "organization" is not an identifiable legal entity. Organization records should be used for companies, family foundations, trusts, etc. They should not be used for loosely related groups of individuals. 


Think about it this way: who would you send a tax receipt to in this scenario? Insofar as it's possible, you'd send individual tax receipts to each individual donor. So there's your answer -- these go on individual records.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Individual for all the reasons Ryan listed. Also, you never know if tribute donors will be touched by your mission and convert to annual donors.

Jenna Anderson 2

I second the responses already provided. Especially in the instance of the check, I would attribute that gift to the individuals on the check's name. Cash is a little bit trickier.