Gift processing policies

Stephanie Osborne · January 2018

We are reviewing our gift processing policies and would love feedback and suggestions as to how others track this process. When a check is first received in the mail, who does it go to and what path does it follow until it is recorded in the database? Currently, checks are received by our mail room and broken out and categorized in a log prior to going to finance for deposit. Everything is then returned to our foundation database team for recording and processing thank you letters. We are looking to see how others handle this process, specifically who does the check first go to when it is received in the mail? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Ryan Hyde · January 2018

We have a similar system to what you're currently doing. Finance itself serves as our mail room, so they find any gifts, roughly group them (honor/memorial, anything above $2.5k, and then everything else), and when everything is deposited and recorded in FE, the batch gets picked up by development who enters it in RE and does everything required by the donor (TY letters, notification cards, etc.).

I think you'll find that more orgs have a reverse system, where development opens the mail, batches it, posts it to FE (assuming they have FE) and then delivers the batches to accounting for deposit. The up side of that is that things get into RE about a day sooner, and if you're doing TY letters every day, then the turnaroud can ve impressively fast from the donor's point of view. However, we do mail on a weekly basis (we have too high a gift volume and too small a staff to do mail every day).

JoAnn Strommen · January 2018

Checks received in the mail are opened by our receptionist/adminstrative assistant. Checks to to exec who logs them and returns to receptionist/adminstrative assistant. She prepares bank deposit. Copy of deposit made for development and copy made for finance. We both receivev into at the same time for our own purposes. Branch Ys provide copies of their deposits to finance which makes a copy for development.

This will vary so much depending on size/structure of your organization, staff resources and gift volume.

Linda Burns 2 · January 2018

Our admin support opens mail and verifies gift slip is filled in and paper clipped to the gift; gifts/slips are passed along to the data entry staff; gifts are sorted by type (memorial, annual, etc.) and batched for entry in RE. Cheque info is entered through batch as well. Money and gift slip are separated at data entry and deposit is completed by another person. Gifts slips are stored by batch number.

Theresa MacCallum · January 2018

When checks are received in the mail, the Administrative Assistant opens them and puts the checks along with the envelopes in the development mailbox. The gift is then batched into RE, dated with post mark date and any necessary notation then acknowledgement letters are merged and given to the Director of Development or a specific director. The validation report along with the checks are then given to finance.

Christine Cooke 2 · January 2018

Stephanie Osborne:
We are reviewing our gift processing policies and would love feedback and suggestions as to how others track this process. When a check is first received in the mail, who does it go to and what path does it follow until it is recorded in the database? Currently, checks are received by our mail room and broken out and categorized in a log prior to going to finance for deposit. Everything is then returned to our foundation database team for recording and processing thank you letters. We are looking to see how others handle this process, specifically who does the check first go to when it is received in the mail? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

mail is sorted and distributed by executive admin. One of development team goes through the gifts and then passes them off to data for copying collateral and entry. The batch report is attached to the $$ and handed off to business/finance for deposit.

Theresa MacCallum · January 2018

Hi,

We
are a small nonprofit. When checks come in the mail the
office manager opens and puts them in the development mail box
along with the envelope. Development then processes the
checks in batch using the postmark as the gift date and inputting
all information such as check # and date along with any necessary
references. The batch is committed, 2 reports are
printed. One for the development office, the other for
finance. Gift acknowledgments are then merged and given to
the appropriate person to sign. The checks which are stamped
for deposit only are then given to finance with the validation
report.

Finance
enters them into their system and makes the bank deposit.
Development and Finance keep separate systems. We like it
because it gives our organization a good check and balance
system. Every quarter development checks numbers with
finance. Also, I like the fact that three people see the
checks—

Heather MacKenzie · April 2018

Stephanie Osborne:
We are reviewing our gift processing policies and would love feedback and suggestions as to how others track this process. When a check is first received in the mail, who does it go to and what path does it follow until it is recorded in the database? Currently, checks are received by our mail room and broken out and categorized in a log prior to going to finance for deposit. Everything is then returned to our foundation database team for recording and processing thank you letters. We are looking to see how others handle this process, specifically who does the check first go to when it is received in the mail? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

We just updated our policy on this! Our Exec Assist opens the mail, the Director of Development codes all gifts and answers all questions, the Exec Assist creates all deposits, the Exec Assist then batch enters everything into RE and does the thank you letters, the gift batch with all documentation is kept in a locked cabinet sorted by date, the Database Admin provides fund information in a log to Finance, and reconciles with Finance quarterly.

Nancy Slyter · April 2018

Heather MacKenzie:

Stephanie Osborne:
We are reviewing our gift processing policies and would love feedback and suggestions as to how others track this process. When a check is first received in the mail, who does it go to and what path does it follow until it is recorded in the database? Currently, checks are received by our mail room and broken out and categorized in a log prior to going to finance for deposit. Everything is then returned to our foundation database team for recording and processing thank you letters. We are looking to see how others handle this process, specifically who does the check first go to when it is received in the mail? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

We just updated our policy on this! Our Exec Assist opens the mail, the Director of Development codes all gifts and answers all questions, the Exec Assist creates all deposits, the Exec Assist then batch enters everything into RE and does the thank you letters, the gift batch with all documentation is kept in a locked cabinet sorted by date, the Database Admin provides fund information in a log to Finance, and reconciles with Finance quarterly.

Hi Heather,

The mail is received by a receptionist and two people, our accounting clerk and office personal go down to receive it. The accounting clerk opens the checks, electronically deposits them into our bank account, and logs them on a monthly spreadsheet. She sends a daily email to the Dev. team so evevryone is aware of what donations came in and so they can respond with an immediate thank you to our donors. We do this for $1k and up. Once the checks are deposited and logged they are given to the database person to enter into RE. I hope this is helpful! I have attached our Accounting Team's Flow chart as well if you want to take a look. It was last updated in 2017 I believe.

Jill Freidmutter · April 2018

We are a small non-profit. The receptionist opens the mail and places gifts in a lockable file in the accounting office. There is some pre-sorting for event registrations, Women Swimmin' donations, etc. Development retrieves the gifts, codes and processes them in a gift batch or in TeamRaiser. Generates a report with two copies -- one for finance (with checks/cash) and one for our group. Regular donation media and report are stored in a white binder, which serves as a check for making sure all thank you letters and acknowledgement letters are properly customized as appropriate. Event and Women Swimmin' gifts and reports are stored in a file cabinet and thank you letters are generated after the event. We reconcile credit card deposits (through BBMS) and gift records in RE as disbursement reports are available. Thanks for asking!

Kylea Johnson · April 2018

Our accounting office opens mail and retains checks. Copies of the checks are sent to our office for processing. We reconcile with the accounting office twice monthly on receipt numbers etc.

Gift processing policies

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