United Way Payment Towards Constituents?

Tracy Jefferson:

Aloha,  United Way sent us a check along with a list of people who donated to United Way on our behalf (Donor Choice Program).  They gave us a list of the donors with their gift amount.  But I am under the impression that UW will only  pay a portion of this.  How should we enter in RE?  Enter a pledge for each donor for the amount that is listed, then soft credit the money to those pledges (but how would we know how much each payment is going to towards each pledge) and then write off the balance?  We are in a quandary so any guidance is appreciated!

Thank you,

Tracy Jefferson

Database Administrator

Hawaii Opera Theatre

Tracy,

Your greeting made me smile, aloha from 1-1/2 feet of snow and still coming down. Been thinking of warm, sunny islands!

Instead of getting simpler, it seems like processing UW gets more complicated: some from local UW, then eUW, then Truist, now Truist Connect.  We don't always get a pledge amount so many of ours are just entered as a cash gift from UW/Truist/etc.  If we, know pledge/original gift amount we would enter that as SC as you described.  Fees are dealt with by business office as cost of doing business just like a credit card gift. 

My suggestion is what I need to do with the latest gifts we received: contact them and see if they can tell me what percent they keep as processing fee so that I can figure out original gift amount.  As they (UW) receipts the donors, how you do this would seem to be up to you.  What difference does it make for your financial reports, your donor recognition listings, etc if a $100 gift to UW is entered in RE at say $97.50.  While entering the full amount to me is definitely the best, there are a few things that are not worth hours of extra time for me personally.    As we are not issuing receipt, our soft credit letter does not mention the amount of their gift. 

If you have the pledge amounts, I would consider doing an adjustment to the pledge for the unpaid amount vs. a write off.  I would note that amount is adjusted due to UW fees.

Enjoy the sun!

Melissa Graves:

Tracy,

This has been discussed a lot. Have you searched past postings before asking? You may get some good answers without people needing to repeat themselves. There are also knowledgebase solutions which can give you answers to common issues users have - including united way. One I recommend is https://www.blackbaud.com/kb/index?page=content&id=BB75014&actp=search&viewlocale=en_US&searchid=1365600675222.

My preference and recommendation is to add the check amount on the UW record and either a) enter an other gift type for the full pledge amount to each individual record if they give you the full pledge amount or b) enter an other gift type for the amount represented in the check to each individual record.

I think we probably do the same as Melissa.  Enter an "other" type gift on the individual.  Then all of the money that comes in goes on the UW record.  It's far less maintenance than a pledge that I have to apply the money to every time it comes in and eventually write-off anyway.  (Let's also further complicate it because some campaigns take out fees and others do not, and if the donor gives in one lump sum there are usually no fees, and some donors remain anonymous in name and others anonymous in amount and some both...)

I would still suggest you search.  Lots of scenarios already mentioned and different ways to handle.