FundSvcs Community

Greetings, I'm replying to a 2 year old message because when I read originally read it, I thought "This could be useful in the future"! Well, the future is now, and we are frustrated with the quality of service that we are getting from our big bank Lockbox. We are about to start researching Caging services. I'll start with the list below. Does anyone have current recommendations? We would give bonus points to operations in Chicago/Cook County, but quality of service is our prime consideration. Thanks, Mark Mark Mathyer Greater Chicago Food Depository mmathyer@gcfd.org 773-843-2844 -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Faith Danforth Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:19 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest I think it's worth getting clear about whether you need lockbox vs. caging services, as others have suggested. A lockbox is provided by a bank, the goal is to get your money into the bank as fast as possible, and services related to data preparation can be limited. Caging is done by stand-alone businesses, so you lose at least a day between receipt & deposit. But caging vendors can provide much more sophisticated services for data preparation. As John said, both are really aimed at high volume shops. However, many smaller shops use either a lockbox or caging for a variety of reasons - security being one of the main ones. You may want to partner with your Finance team to assess control mechanisms for donations if money is received in-house. And some non-profits run into PCI compliance issues if they receive mailed credit cards in-house. So there are reasons for even small shops to use a lockbox or caging vendor. Plus it can allow for staff to focus on more high-touch transactions. If you have many standard and repetitive transactions, then outsourcing could be useful for you. And if you work through the business rules carefully, you should be able to get to a confidence level where every check and reply device does not need to be reviewed by your staff, since your partner should be able to do a good enough job to batch anything that needs special handling separate from totally straightforward transactions. Obviously, you have to monitor quality... Some of the caging vendors have software that detects handwriting anywhere non-standard on reply devices and checks. It's very cool. I think the archives have a good list of caging vendors - a handful of names pop to mind for me, since we recently did an RFP for caging: CDS Global, Merkle, Engage, Agilis, Bank of NY Mellon (more lockbox, but apparently quite sophisticated, we didn't go in depth with them), Citibank/First Data, SecureOne, FISC, your local (big) bank... Good luck! Faith

When I was at the Atlanta Food Bank we did an RFP process as well a couple years ago. Our top three were Merkle, Agilis and FISC (now Deluxe). Merkle was a close second. We were very happy with the service/cost from Deluxe. We came from a big bank....you're making the right decision :-) Teresa P. Swope Development Operations Manager | Grady Health Foundation 191 Peachtree Street NE | Suite 820 | Atlanta, Georgia 30303 E: tpswope@gmh.edu www.gradyhealthfoundation.org | www.gradyhealth.org -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark Mathyer Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 3:32 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest WARNING: This email originated outside of Grady Health System. DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Greetings, I'm replying to a 2 year old message because when I read originally read it, I thought "This could be useful in the future"! Well, the future is now, and we are frustrated with the quality of service that we are getting from our big bank Lockbox. We are about to start researching Caging services. I'll start with the list below. Does anyone have current recommendations? We would give bonus points to operations in Chicago/Cook County, but quality of service is our prime consideration. Thanks, Mark Mark Mathyer Greater Chicago Food Depository mmathyer@gcfd.org 773-843-2844 -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Faith Danforth Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:19 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest I think it's worth getting clear about whether you need lockbox vs. caging services, as others have suggested. A lockbox is provided by a bank, the goal is to get your money into the bank as fast as possible, and services related to data preparation can be limited. Caging is done by stand-alone businesses, so you lose at least a day between receipt & deposit. But caging vendors can provide much more sophisticated services for data preparation. As John said, both are really aimed at high volume shops. However, many smaller shops use either a lockbox or caging for a variety of reasons - security being one of the main ones. You may want to partner with your Finance team to assess control mechanisms for donations if money is received in-house. And some non-profits run into PCI compliance issues if they receive mailed credit cards in-house. So there are reasons for even small shops to use a lockbox or caging vendor. Plus it can allow for staff to focus on more high-touch transactions. If you have many standard and repetitive transactions, then outsourcing could be useful for you. And if you work through the business rules carefully, you should be able to get to a confidence level where every check and reply device does not need to be reviewed by your staff, since your partner should be able to do a good enough job to batch anything that needs special handling separate from totally straightforward transactions. Obviously, you have to monitor quality... Some of the caging vendors have software that detects handwriting anywhere non-standard on reply devices and checks. It's very cool. I think the archives have a good list of caging vendors - a handful of names pop to mind for me, since we recently did an RFP for caging: CDS Global, Merkle, Engage, Agilis, Bank of NY Mellon (more lockbox, but apparently quite sophisticated, we didn't go in depth with them), Citibank/First Data, SecureOne, FISC, your local (big) bank... Good luck! Faith This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication. Thank you.

We’ve used Northern Trust for our lockbox operations for the past 8 years or so and have been very happy with the level of service we receive. They partner with Fiserv but I believe that could be changing in the near future. The operation is in downtown Chicago. Jennifer Jennifer Schillaci | Director of Gift Administration Strategic Information | The University of Chicago 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615 Suite: 431 | 773-834-7568 | jschillaci@uchicago.edu<mailto:jschillaci@uchicago.edu> What difference can one idea, one person, one university make? The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry & Impact<https://campaign.uchicago.edu/> -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark Mathyer Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 2:32 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest Greetings, I'm replying to a 2 year old message because when I read originally read it, I thought "This could be useful in the future"! Well, the future is now, and we are frustrated with the quality of service that we are getting from our big bank Lockbox. We are about to start researching Caging services. I'll start with the list below. Does anyone have current recommendations? We would give bonus points to operations in Chicago/Cook County, but quality of service is our prime consideration. Thanks, Mark Mark Mathyer Greater Chicago Food Depository mmathyer@gcfd.org<mailto:mmathyer@gcfd.org> 773-843-2844 -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Faith Danforth Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:19 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG<mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest I think it's worth getting clear about whether you need lockbox vs. caging services, as others have suggested. A lockbox is provided by a bank, the goal is to get your money into the bank as fast as possible, and services related to data preparation can be limited. Caging is done by stand-alone businesses, so you lose at least a day between receipt & deposit. But caging vendors can provide much more sophisticated services for data preparation. As John said, both are really aimed at high volume shops. However, many smaller shops use either a lockbox or caging for a variety of reasons - security being one of the main ones. You may want to partner with your Finance team to assess control mechanisms for donations if money is received in-house. And some non-profits run into PCI compliance issues if they receive mailed credit cards in-house. So there are reasons for even small shops to use a lockbox or caging vendor. Plus it can allow for staff to focus on more high-touch transactions. If you have many standard and repetitive transactions, then outsourcing could be useful for you. And if you work through the business rules carefully, you should be able to get to a confidence level where every check and reply device does not need to be reviewed by your staff, since your partner should be able to do a good enough job to batch anything that needs special handling separate from totally straightforward transactions. Obviously, you have to monitor quality... Some of the caging vendors have software that detects handwriting anywhere non-standard on reply devices and checks. It's very cool. I think the archives have a good list of caging vendors - a handful of names pop to mind for me, since we recently did an RFP for caging: CDS Global, Merkle, Engage, Agilis, Bank of NY Mellon (more lockbox, but apparently quite sophisticated, we didn't go in depth with them), Citibank/First Data, SecureOne, FISC, your local (big) bank... Good luck! Faith

Jennifer, Thanks for the recommendation. Mark From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Jennifer Schillaci Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 2:55 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest We’ve used Northern Trust for our lockbox operations for the past 8 years or so and have been very happy with the level of service we receive. They partner with Fiserv but I believe that could be changing in the near future. The operation is in downtown Chicago. Jennifer Jennifer Schillaci | Director of Gift Administration Strategic Information | The University of Chicago 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615 Suite: 431 | 773-834-7568 | jschillaci@uchicago.edu<mailto:jschillaci@uchicago.edu> What difference can one idea, one person, one university make? The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry & Impact<https://campaign.uchicago.edu/> -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark Mathyer Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 2:32 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest Greetings, I'm replying to a 2 year old message because when I read originally read it, I thought "This could be useful in the future"! Well, the future is now, and we are frustrated with the quality of service that we are getting from our big bank Lockbox. We are about to start researching Caging services. I'll start with the list below. Does anyone have current recommendations? We would give bonus points to operations in Chicago/Cook County, but quality of service is our prime consideration. Thanks, Mark Mark Mathyer Greater Chicago Food Depository mmathyer@gcfd.org<mailto:mmathyer@gcfd.org> 773-843-2844 -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Faith Danforth Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:19 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG<mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest I think it's worth getting clear about whether you need lockbox vs. caging services, as others have suggested. A lockbox is provided by a bank, the goal is to get your money into the bank as fast as possible, and services related to data preparation can be limited. Caging is done by stand-alone businesses, so you lose at least a day between receipt & deposit. But caging vendors can provide much more sophisticated services for data preparation. As John said, both are really aimed at high volume shops. However, many smaller shops use either a lockbox or caging for a variety of reasons - security being one of the main ones. You may want to partner with your Finance team to assess control mechanisms for donations if money is received in-house. And some non-profits run into PCI compliance issues if they receive mailed credit cards in-house. So there are reasons for even small shops to use a lockbox or caging vendor. Plus it can allow for staff to focus on more high-touch transactions. If you have many standard and repetitive transactions, then outsourcing could be useful for you. And if you work through the business rules carefully, you should be able to get to a confidence level where every check and reply device does not need to be reviewed by your staff, since your partner should be able to do a good enough job to batch anything that needs special handling separate from totally straightforward transactions. Obviously, you have to monitor quality... Some of the caging vendors have software that detects handwriting anywhere non-standard on reply devices and checks. It's very cool. I think the archives have a good list of caging vendors - a handful of names pop to mind for me, since we recently did an RFP for caging: CDS Global, Merkle, Engage, Agilis, Bank of NY Mellon (more lockbox, but apparently quite sophisticated, we didn't go in depth with them), Citibank/First Data, SecureOne, FISC, your local (big) bank... Good luck! Faith

Teresa, Thanks for the recommendations, I had an introductory conversation with Deluxe this afternoon. Mark -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Teresa Swope Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 2:45 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest When I was at the Atlanta Food Bank we did an RFP process as well a couple years ago. Our top three were Merkle, Agilis and FISC (now Deluxe). Merkle was a close second. We were very happy with the service/cost from Deluxe. We came from a big bank....you're making the right decision :-) Teresa P. Swope Development Operations Manager | Grady Health Foundation 191 Peachtree Street NE | Suite 820 | Atlanta, Georgia 30303 E: tpswope@gmh.edu www.gradyhealthfoundation.org | www.gradyhealth.org -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark Mathyer Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 3:32 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest WARNING: This email originated outside of Grady Health System. DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Greetings, I'm replying to a 2 year old message because when I read originally read it, I thought "This could be useful in the future"! Well, the future is now, and we are frustrated with the quality of service that we are getting from our big bank Lockbox. We are about to start researching Caging services. I'll start with the list below. Does anyone have current recommendations? We would give bonus points to operations in Chicago/Cook County, but quality of service is our prime consideration. Thanks, Mark Mark Mathyer Greater Chicago Food Depository mmathyer@gcfd.org 773-843-2844 -----Original Message----- From: Advancement Services Discussion List [mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG] On Behalf Of Faith Danforth Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:19 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Lockbox services in the Midwest I think it's worth getting clear about whether you need lockbox vs. caging services, as others have suggested. A lockbox is provided by a bank, the goal is to get your money into the bank as fast as possible, and services related to data preparation can be limited. Caging is done by stand-alone businesses, so you lose at least a day between receipt & deposit. But caging vendors can provide much more sophisticated services for data preparation. As John said, both are really aimed at high volume shops. However, many smaller shops use either a lockbox or caging for a variety of reasons - security being one of the main ones. You may want to partner with your Finance team to assess control mechanisms for donations if money is received in-house. And some non-profits run into PCI compliance issues if they receive mailed credit cards in-house. So there are reasons for even small shops to use a lockbox or caging vendor. Plus it can allow for staff to focus on more high-touch transactions. If you have many standard and repetitive transactions, then outsourcing could be useful for you. And if you work through the business rules carefully, you should be able to get to a confidence level where every check and reply device does not need to be reviewed by your staff, since your partner should be able to do a good enough job to batch anything that needs special handling separate from totally straightforward transactions. Obviously, you have to monitor quality... Some of the caging vendors have software that detects handwriting anywhere non-standard on reply devices and checks. It's very cool. I think the archives have a good list of caging vendors - a handful of names pop to mind for me, since we recently did an RFP for caging: CDS Global, Merkle, Engage, Agilis, Bank of NY Mellon (more lockbox, but apparently quite sophisticated, we didn't go in depth with them), Citibank/First Data, SecureOne, FISC, your local (big) bank... Good luck! Faith This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication. Thank you.