Linking a gift to an existing pledge from a different organization?

Madelaine Heaven

Here's the scenario:

We have a $150,000 matching gift pledge from Org A. We applied for and received a $25,000 grant from Org B with the understanding between all that it will be matched dollar for dollar by Org A.

I have entered the $25k gift from Org B as a gift record, and went to the “Matching Gifts” tab in said gift record to link it to the existing $150,000 pledge from Org A. Except, I can't select existing pledges from other orgs? The tab will only let me create NEW matching gift pledges.

This is a problem, because it attributes more money to Org A than they pledged in the first place (i.e. $175,000 instead of the initial $150,000). I just want a way to show that Org B's gift was made as part of this larger campaign and will be matched as such.

Help!

JoAnn Strommen

@Madelaine Heaven Welcome to the Blackbaud community forums.

So you created a ‘pledge’ on Org A's record for $150K. Correct?
It was not created as a matching gift (MG) pledge which is a specific gift type in RE. That is the issue. You can't create a MG from a ‘pledge.'

If the $25K from Org B is to be matched by Org A, you can now create a MG for $25 to be paid by Org A. You can reduce the amount of Org A's pledge by $25 to not have your $ inflated.

RE does not have the option to create or track payments to a ‘pledge’ that is going to be matched by unknown/various donors. We might call it a matching gift pledge when doing the fundraising but it is not the same thing as a “Matching Gift” in RE. A MG in RE comes as a result of a gift which will be now matched with funds from another org. I think it's using the term MG in two different ways.

Does that make sense?

Madelaine Heaven

@JoAnn Strommen
Thank you for your reply. Just so I'm understanding correctly, the only way to designate a “matching gift pledge” is directly through the gift record of another organization. So, for example, on the gift record for Org B's $25k donation, I would have to do it through there? And there's no good way to keep track of the total that Org A pledged to this campaign aside from piecemeal as other gifts come in?

JoAnn Strommen

@Madelaine Heaven LOL it can be confusing even to explain but I think you have it.

There's not a way to apply a pledge to a pledge in RE.

When we have had a pledge from Org X that “will match ABC gifts” it is an external function to track what gifts will be matched and a running total. We tend to note in reference field of the gifts that are to be matched. You could use gift attributes.

One could also add notes to Org X pledge of amounts as you receive them. But it's not the linking you thought it might be at the beginning.

The only other option that comes to mind is to create a MG on Org B's record that Org A will match. Org A would need to be in RE and check box marked that they are a matching org and you would not enter the $150 on Org A's record as a pledge, just the MG. When Orgs C, D, E make their gift, you could create MG on those gift records as well to Org A. On Org A's record you could see all the MG pledges in one spot.
Not quite the usual way to use MG function.

For reporting, keep in mind how potentially entering these as MG might affect future reports where you include MG. (Because of including MG $ credited to donor we would not want to do this as Org B is not really the source of Org A's matching in your description.)

Madelaine Heaven

@Madelaine Heaven
Update: I figured out a workaround that will work for our purposes. I entered the $25k gift from Org B as a matching gift in Org A's $150k pledge record. In other words:

In Org A's $150k pledge record, I went to the “matching gifts” tab, selected “New Gift” and entered the $25k from Org B. It does see this as a pledge from Org B, but I don't really have a problem with that. To finish this transaction off, I had to create a new gift record for Org B to actually “pay off” the $25k pledge, which the system connected to the pledge with a prompt that popped up saying “This organization has an outstanding pledge. Would you like to pay that with this gift?”, to which I hit yes.

Once all this is done, in webview, Org A still has its $150k pledge listed and Org B gets credit for their $25k gift and is linked to Org A via a “match” label.

I hope this all makes sense. I attached some photos to show how it looks.

JoAnn Strommen

@Madelaine Heaven If you feel this work around is what you need, good.

I think I would run some financial reports. I'm not sure I'm following completely what you did but it sounds like you've entered 2 gifts of $25K. One as a gift and one as a MG. If that's the case, your financial reports will be inaccurate. I would check this before entering any others, if possible.