What to do with checks after remote deposit?

Theresa Bielski · July 2015

So, a few months ago, we changed our bank which included an upgrade - we can now remote deposit our checks using a scanner from our bank. Unfortunately, we don't know what to do with the check after deposit or if we should even keep them. The remote deposit program already generates a deposit report that includes a small scanned image of the check but we're unsure if we need to hold on to the originals.

Right now, we staple them to a copy of the batch and deposit reports and keep them under lock and key but would like to know what others who remote deposit do.

Jen Claudy · July 2015

We don't have remote deposit at my organization, but I use it personally. However, my bank instructs users to scan and submit the deposit, then write "electronically deposited" on the face of the check, keep it for 14 days, and then destroy it. So my recommendation would be to keep the checks until your bank statement arrives and there are no questions or need for the actual checks any longer, then shred the originals. Keep whatever photocopy or scan that you normally do, or did when you took the actual checks to the bank to deposit.

Ryan Hyde · July 2015

Our process is this:

1.) Mail goes to accounting, where gifts are found and sorted into batches

2.) Checks are deposited remotely

3.) All gift information, from the envelope to the check to anything else that was in there (apart from cash) comes up to Development

4.) We process all the batches and post int FE

5.) All gift information is filed with the batch info from RE, and we store that under lock and key for 7 years

We probably over do it, but having old checks that we can reference during auditing season can be very helpful.

Ryan Hyde · July 2015

I guess I should also note that we're considering digitizing the process so that we don't have a small warehouse full of gift paperwork. We're a pretty big shop, and this stuff takes up a lot of space.

Jen Claudy · July 2015

We do 100% electronic filing in RE. Everything gets scanned (on our Xerox, which scans directly to a folder on the network) and then those PDFs get filed on the Constituent Media Tab. Hoping for the ability to link the Media Record to the appropriate Gift Record, but for now, the Gift ID is entered in the Media Record's Title field. Then, per our CFO, we keep Development's hard copies (Finance keeps their own) in a banker's box until the audit for that fiscal year is complete. At that time, the copies are shredded.

It's really helpful, because anyone (fundraisers, CEO, Finance) can access the paperwork from RE without anyone needing to be in the office, or pull it for them...and we got rid of several large filing cabinets!

(When we started, we were not Hosted, so we stored the PDFs in a network folder and linked them to RE. Now we are Hosted, in order to use RE:NXT, and that requires Media to be embedded. So we have a big project in embedding 3 years of linked files. Just keep that in mind when you set up your system.)

Marissa Flynn · July 2015

We maintain a scanned copy of the checks on our Network drive and keep the physical check for 30 days, per our accounting department request. After that they are shredded and only the digital copy remains, and can be easily found by referencing the gift date in the naming of the file. We have done an internal audit on this procedure several times and it has never come up as an issue. Due to the large volume of gifts we process, it doesn't make sense to upload each one to the RE record, so this makes the copy easy to find if requested.

Philip Scott · July 2015

Your bank may also be able to give you some guidance. We scan our checks for deposit and our bank asks that the hard copies be destroyed within 30 days. We have access to the electronic copies, through our bank's portal, for over a year. We also started using PaperSave with The Raiser's Edge as our electronic document solution this year, making access to the original documentation easy from the gift record itself, for both operations and development staff.

Jennifer Lange · July 2015

All gifts $20K or more get scanned to record (per our auditors)

All checks are stored by batch number for approx. 18 months - then shred. (18 months gets thru tax time (if the donor wants a copy) and thru the audit process.)

Our board said "storage space costs money!" and therefore we will dispose of everthing as soon as it's allowable.

What to do with checks after remote deposit?

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