What do you do with you failed one-off payments and exception batches?

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Catherine Burns
Catherine Burns ✭
Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
We commit failed monthly gifts to the constituent record and adjust them to $0 so we know that we tried and failed that month, and so we can pull reports to follow these up through our telemarketing agency. However for our one-off credit card donations we try them twice, try to phone the donor if we have a number, and failing that send them a letter. We keep a copy of the letter as an action. However we currently do not commit the failed exception batch, but we haven't deleted them either. 


What do other people do? Do you commit a $0 gifts to the constituent record so you have a record of the failed payment or do you just delete the exception batch?


I can see some value of knowing if a donor tried to donate but was not successful but I am not sure if it justifies the effort of adding the dishonour codes as gift attributes and committing the batch, and clogging up the gifts tab with failed payments. Also some credit card payments never make it into a batch e.g. if the card number is invalid, incomplete or the expiry date is missing, and if we identifiy issues with cheques these are not entered either. 


I would love to know your thoughts on this.
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  • Sunshine Reinken Watson
    Sunshine Reinken Watson ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Catherine Burns:

    We commit failed monthly gifts to the constituent record and adjust them to $0 so we know that we tried and failed that month, and so we can pull reports to follow these up through our telemarketing agency. However for our one-off credit card donations we try them twice, try to phone the donor if we have a number, and failing that send them a letter. We keep a copy of the letter as an action. However we currently do not commit the failed exception batch, but we haven't deleted them either. 


    What do other people do? Do you commit a $0 gifts to the constituent record so you have a record of the failed payment or do you just delete the exception batch?


    I can see some value of knowing if a donor tried to donate but was not successful but I am not sure if it justifies the effort of adding the dishonour codes as gift attributes and committing the batch, and clogging up the gifts tab with failed payments. Also some credit card payments never make it into a batch e.g. if the card number is invalid, incomplete or the expiry date is missing, and if we identifiy issues with cheques these are not entered either. 


    I would love to know your thoughts on this.

    We only record the gift if it actually goes through. I use constituent actions and/or notes on pledges/recurring gifts to record failed payment information.

  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    We don't have many online gifts, so we really don't have this problem.  If I did have one that wasn't resolved by contacting the donor, then I probably would record a $0 gift on their record, just as an alert that they intended to donate, and then (noted on the Gift Record) in the end did not.  But if we managed to get a transaction to go thru, I wouldn't record anything else.  Maybe, depending on the circumstances, a Gift Note detailing any trouble encountered, and theoretically whoever makes the contact with the donor would record that as an Action, so the Gift Note may refer to that Action.
  • Christine Robertson
    Christine Robertson ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Catherine Burns:

    We commit failed monthly gifts to the constituent record and adjust them to $0 so we know that we tried and failed that month, and so we can pull reports to follow these up through our telemarketing agency. However for our one-off credit card donations we try them twice, try to phone the donor if we have a number, and failing that send them a letter. We keep a copy of the letter as an action. However we currently do not commit the failed exception batch, but we haven't deleted them either. 


    What do other people do? Do you commit a $0 gifts to the constituent record so you have a record of the failed payment or do you just delete the exception batch?


    I can see some value of knowing if a donor tried to donate but was not successful but I am not sure if it justifies the effort of adding the dishonour codes as gift attributes and committing the batch, and clogging up the gifts tab with failed payments. Also some credit card payments never make it into a batch e.g. if the card number is invalid, incomplete or the expiry date is missing, and if we identifiy issues with cheques these are not entered either. 


    I would love to know your thoughts on this.

    I usually change the next due transaction and add a note when a card doesn't process, so I don't do the $0 gift, but I can see how that would be easier for Gift Officers and others to see.  I keep gifts in the exception batch for about a month - to try and contact the donor to re-run the card if possible - but I don't keep them beyond that.

  • Catherine Burns
    Catherine Burns ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Thank you. You've given me the confidence to get rid of these, as we have the fail recorded as an action when we followed it up anyway.

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