Donations

Overview

There are many different kinds of donations a school can receive. For any donation there are some standard pieces of information that should always be entered.

A person or an organization

Each donation is related to a specific individual or organization or both.  Primarily just a person will need to be entered.  If the donation was made by an organization (e.g., a matching gift) you would indicate the organization and leave the donor field blank.

Amount

The actual amount of the gift you’ve received

Receipt Date

Before posting, the receipt date is used to calculate which fiscal year this donation is associated with.

Payment Method

The payment method roughly corresponds to what kind of donation is being entered.  This will most often dictate what other fields you are required to fill out for a specific kind of donation.

Campaign

The campaign with which this donation is associated

Fund

The fund with which this donation is associated.  If the system is setup to be integrated with accounting, the fund can be setup to be linked with a specific GL fund.

Event

If this donation was made in connection with an event that was setup in the system (e.g. an appeal or fundraiser), you can indicate that in the event field.

Donation Types

Basic Cash Donation

For a basic cash donation, you can simply enter the above fields. If the donation was made by check, you can indicate the check date and check number on the general tab.

Credit Card Donation

A credit card donation is entered in the same way a basic cash donation is except that you may enter any credit card information for the donation on the credit card tab.

Donation with a Reward

A reward is any good or service which is given to the donor after they have made a donation.  This could be either an item that was purchased at an auction or some thank-you gift of significant value that you would like to track.  Enter the value of the reward in the Reward FMV amount field.  This amount will be subtracted from the donation amount to calculate the actual donation amount.

Pledge Payment

Any donation can be associated with a pledge as a form of payment towards that pledge.  To indicate which pledge a donation should be associated with, check off the apply to pledge check box.  If the person has only one outstanding pledge, the system will find it and fill it in for you.  If the person does not have a pledge in the system yet or has more than one outstanding pledge, click on the three dots next to associated pledge field.  You can either enter a new pledge or select an existing one from the list.  If you choose to select an existing pledge you will be shown a list of any outstanding pledges for the donor or organization indicated. If a donation does not match the fund of an associated pledge, the system will automatically update the remainder of the pledge amount due after the donation has been applied.

Apply a Pledge to Different Entity

Sometimes a donation is made against a pledge made by another entity, for instance, an individual might make a pledge that is then fulfilled by their spouse. Veracross only allows pledges to be fulfilled by the original person or their spouse.There are two methods to associate a donation with a pledge from another entity:

Method 1: Starting on the pledge record if no donation record has been created

1. Navigate to the donations tab of the pledge record that should be attached to the eventual donation.
2. On the Donations tab, click Add Record  to create the donation record, fill in the necessary fields, and click Update .
3. Click View Record  for the just-entered donation, delete the donor information, and add the correct value.
4. Add any necessary soft credits.
5. Click Update  to confirm changes on the donation record.

Method 2: Starting on the donation record

1. Navigate to the donation record.
2. Delete the donor information, add the value from the pledge, and click Update .
3. In the Associated Pledge field, click Search  to find the pledge to attach this donation to, select the correct pledge, and click Update .
4.  Delete the donor information *again* and add back the correct donor.
5. Add any necessary soft credits if they do not already exist.
6. Click Update  to confirm changes on the donation record.

Stock

If someone donates some shares of stock to the school, you can enter the payment method as “Stock” and the total amount at the time the shares were transferred in the Amount field.  Then use the Stock tab on the donation screen to enter any data about the gift.

Other Non-cash Donations

Any other kinds of non-cash donations which the school has an intention of selling for cash at some point should be considered non-cash.

In Kind Gifts

In kind gifts are distinguished from stock or other non-cash donations.  The difference depends on whether or not the school ever intends to sell the gift for cash.  If the school has no intention of selling the in kind gift, then the payment method should be “In Kind”.

Matching Donations

To indicate that a donation is either being matched or is a matching donation; simply choosing the matching status from the drop down and then find the related matching donation or pledge.