When would you enter a gift as a $0 amount?

Jessica Smith 4 · November 2018

I am wondering when you would use a ZERO gift amount. I know reports have an option to exclude zero gift amounts but I am wondering what reason everyone has for using a zero amount.

Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE · November 2018

We wouldn't necessarily enter a $0 gift, but a gift would be changed to $0 when we issue a refund and do a gift adjustment (check was made out to the wrong org and mistakenly deposited and entered, or a check bounced or was canceled). I don't think I have ever included them on reports though. I think some organizations enter $0 for gifts-in-kind.

John Heizer · November 2018

I will occasionally create a $0 Gift when we get a second Matching Gift particularly through an agent like Truist. RE won't let me create a second Matching Gift from ABC Corp. on John Doe's original Gift, so I create a $0 Gift on John's record with the Match from ABC Corp that gets paid by Truist.

JoAnn Strommen · November 2018

We enter a $0 pledge when constituent is asked by solicitor but turned down/declines to give for this ask. This allows us to exclude them from mail appeals that follow our solicitor phase.

$0 gift occurs for us in situations Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE‍ cited.

Catherine Burns 2 · November 2018

We use $0 gifts all the time for when a recurring gift payment is dishonoured. A gift needs to be entered so the next transaction due date is updated to next month. It also records the failed payment reason and amount as gift attributes. We have queries to find the number of failed payments so we can follow up donors who fail, cancel gifts with 4+ fails in a row, and decide which donors to include in regular giving acquisition (we don't want to reactivate those who failed more than they gave). We also have reports on realisation rates so we can budget income each month.

Other than regular giving, we use them when adjusting a gift to zero because a cheque is dishonoured or if a payment is refunded. This means there is an audit trail for the original payment.

KaLeigh Lee · November 2018

Our grateful patient program allows patients to nominate caregivers as "Major Angels" by sending a donation. Many times, we have patients who want to nominate a Major Angel, but they do not make a donation. We enter a $0 gift so the tribute relationship is shown.

Heather MacKenzie · May 2019

All of the above, plus we just had a situation today where we wanted to record the payment information in RE to be able to find the information easily, but it wasn't truly a donation.

Heather Pauli · September 2019

As we do not determine the value of donated items such as used towels or linens, we enter gifts-in-kind as a $0 amount, and generate receipts stating such. The donor must determine the item's value to substantiate it for a tax claim per the IRS.

When would you enter a gift as a $0 amount?

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