Gift Entry depositing non-donor checks

Crystal St Julien 3

I have a what I think is probably a strange question. Should the gift manager or anyone in data, deposit non-donor checks for the Finance department. Basically the Finance department does not have an A/R person so the data entry person has been depositing non-donor related checks that are coming into our Foundation. I think this is not a good practice. Please give me your insight and feedback, it is much appreciated!

Erin OMeara

@Crystal St Julien

Hi Crystal. My initial reaction is no, but mostly based on whether your Data Entry staff person has the time to take on this task. When you say they are doing deposits for Non-donor checks, do you mean just writing up the deposit slips? Bringing checks to the bank? Or do you mean the whole process from deposit, to scanning, to data entry/post to the GL?

Does your Data Entry person have permission to write up deposit slips for the donor checks? If yes, then I would think that they could be trusted to write up deposits for other checks as well - if that is something they have the bandwidth to take on.

I believe that best practice is to have the Finance department do all non-donor deposits (and even donor deposits, if the donor Data Entry person is doing the data entry portion). If the donor Data Entry person is taking on the task of non-donor data entry (beyond just writing up deposit slips), I would consider that to be a major job description/position change, possibly making them a cross-departmental employee/entitled to higher pay.

Crystal St Julien 3

@Erin OMeara Hi Erin and thank you for your response. Currently, I am the data entry person as well the database manager. I do all gift deposits by bank scanner. I am working on adding a solely dedicated data entry person as I believe that it is best practice not to have 1 person doing the deposit, entry and committing.

When I started, they had my predecessor entering non-donor checks that shouldn't be in RE for the simple fact they are not donations. I was told this was done because they don't have an A/R person in Finance. One of my concerns is just that, my job description does not include any finance tasks so this task should not be done by me. As well, I have little knowledge of the reason or purpose of the checks and therefore shouldn't be responsible for their deposit. This is a wholly finance task as they have this knowledge.

JoAnn Strommen

@Crystal St Julien I think it comes down to staffing.

Our office mgr does gift entry into RE of checks/cash and records non-donation checks/cash on a log sheet. She deposits all checks in one bank transaction. The log sheet itemizes the accounting deposits (payer, fund, account #, etc.) and in another section the donations by method (check/cash, credit card, PayPal, payroll, etc.). Sometimes it requires a bit of research to ID the purpose of the checks just as it does sometimes to ID the correct donation fund.

It seems to work for us.

Erin OMeara

@Crystal St Julien:

I'm the sole database manager and data entry person for our Org's Raiser's Edge database, and I agree totally!

If it was just scanning the non-donation deposits, for someone else in Finance to enter (not in Raiser's Edge, they should be using Financial Edge for the rest of the accounting) I could see possibly helping to do that temporarily if they are suddenly short staffed. But all non-donations should stay out of Raiser's Edge, 100%.

As far as you doing data entry on non-donations, since you wouldn't know enough about what a non-donation check is for, you shouldn't be doing the data entry on it.

There was a time before Covid when I was doing the donation deposits, data entry in Raiser's Edge, and posting those batches/gifts through Financial Edge. We have since moved to our Finance Department doing the bank deposits for our donation checks, but saving scans of them to our secure server for me to do the Raiser's Edge data entry.

I hope this info helps!

@Erin OMeara Hi Erin and thank you for your response. Currently, I am the data entry person as well the database manager. I do all gift deposits by bank scanner. I am working on adding a solely dedicated data entry person as I believe that it is best practice not to have 1 person doing the deposit, entry and committing.

When I started, they had my predecessor entering non-donor checks that shouldn't be in RE for the simple fact they are not donations. I was told this was done because they don't have an A/R person in Finance. One of my concerns is just that, my job description does not include any finance tasks so this task should not be done by me. As well, I have little knowledge of the reason or purpose of the checks and therefore shouldn't be responsible for their deposit. This is a wholly finance task as they have this knowledge.

Zandra Henderson 3

@Crystal St Julien
Hi Crystal, I agree with Erin. If it is just depositing the non-donation check, that should be fine. I would make sure that it is a separate deposit from donation check. The entry into whichever system finance uses, should be handled by them.

I would also suggest asking the finance department what is best practices for audit.

Dariel Dixon 2

@Crystal St Julien I don't see the harm in handling the deposits on a temporary basis. What is best practice may not work from for your organization. If you don't do this, who will? Drawing such a hard line is difficult, especially if you see that this is a temporary situation. In small organizations, we often have to wear many different hats, and I think this is an example of this.

That said, depositing the check and entering in it RE are two different things. You should not be entering the non-gift checks into RE.

Crystal St Julien 3

@Dariel Dixon Hi and thank you for your insight. This situation is however not temporary, they have been doing it this way since their inception and we are a part of a very large organization with resources. Fortunately, we have new leadership that is putting the appropriate structure in place.

Dariel Dixon 2

@Crystal St Julien: Well, that changes everything. Obviously, you shouldn't be asked to perform duties like this on an regular basis without a change in title and salary. However, this is something that your leadership should be handling. It's appalling that your finance office has no Accounts Receivable department. That's complete madness. You need to have the backing of your management and maintain a united front.

Why are they allowed to run like this if the resources are available to fix the problem? Being short-staffed by design is foolish and bad management.

@Dariel Dixon Hi and thank you for your insight. This situation is however not temporary, they have been doing it this way since their inception and we are a part of a very large organization with resources. Fortunately, we have new leadership that is putting the appropriate structure in place.

Carrie Powell

@Crystal St Julien, like many others have said (and you suggested as well), even with a small staff, it is best from a separation of duties standpoint to have different people entering the gifts and creating the deposits. Even with our staff of 4, we have one person who enters donations into Raiser's Edge (batch) and a different person enters them into our accounting system (we don't use Financial Edge), and I physically take the deposits to the bank.

Our development staff is not involved with the non-donation deposits (I usually enter those weekly), but they are reviewed by the treasurer before I take them to the bank.