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  • 1.  Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-24-2023 07:45 AM
    All,

    We are having a heck of a time with constituents giving summaries. These are NOT used for tax purposes, simply informative, but have yet to find a way to easily do this in a way that is also pleasing to the eye and to understand from the donor's perspective.

    We're in Raiser's Edge/NXT. Any solutions out there?

    Thanks for your help!

    Arielle


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    Arielle Johnson
    Senior Associate Director of Gifts & Records Admin
    Denison University
    johnsonak@denison.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-24-2023 08:01 AM
    One solution is to stop producing these. They can be incredibly costly to produce and often filled with "errors" (from the donor's perspective). Soft credit issues often exacerbate the problem.

    I have not seen a donor relations survey that shows a correlation between these and increased giving. On the other hand, impact reports for gifts above a certain amount can be quite useful and generate a positive ROI.

    John

    John H. Taylor 
    919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

    Big Ideas; Small Keyboard





  • 3.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-26-2023 06:08 PM
    What about the people who donate all year long and never get a receipt? Those people do need some kind of consolidated receipt.

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    Cameron Alzubi
    Director, Gift Administration
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    calzubi@iit.edu
    giftadmin@iit.edu
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-26-2023 06:46 PM
    That's different!

    When a donor signs up for recurring donations they should be advised they will not receive individual gifts - only a summary of the recurring gift total at the end of the year (due by 1/31 per the IRS).

    But that summary is for just those gifts - not all other donations.

    As an aside, I have seen some institutions issue monthly receipts and a summary of those donations at the end of the year.  That is not necessary. No summary of those is needed if you are using an online vendor that issues the monthly electronic receipt without exception.

    John

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-29-2023 12:49 PM

    One small recommendation...I've worked in a shop that transitioned from doing recurring gift receipts on a monthly basis to doing them on an annual basis.  A surprising number of these donors gave to other things (i.e. outside of their recurring gift plan) during the year.  Some of these individuals would be surprised at the end of the year when their receipts were only for the amount of the recurring gifts (i.e. and not their entire giving for the year).  In response to this, we added text to the year-end receipts indicating that the receipts were ONLY for those gifts given during the recurring gift plan throughout the year – and other gifts were receipted at the time they were made. 

     

    Sometimes these donors would respond and ask for a receipt for their cumulative giving for the entire year.  Our process was to send them a receipt with text to the effect of "..this receipt takes the place of and supersedes any other gift receipts you received from [Organization Name] in [Calendar Year]."

     

    That's just my 2 cents (2.66 cents in Canada, given today's published exchange rates).

     

    Michael Halverson, Ed.D. 

    Office: (305) 284-1608

    Mobile: (320) 363-4987

     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-27-2023 08:30 AM
    In general, monthly recurring gifts are made via credit card and the donor is receiving a receipt from the platform that runs the card. We used to issue year-end receipts to monthly donors, but after review we realized they are all getting a receipt monthly when their cards are charged. At this point the only "year-end statements" we send out are based on requests from individual donors and they are extremely infrequent.

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    Lianna Bodzin
    Assistant Director of Advancement Services
    Colorado School of Mines
    lbodzin@mines.edu
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-24-2023 09:31 PM
    Hi Arielle,

    If you are hoping to create a customized communication, NXT (email or PDF) statements or DBV reports won't do it for you. I suggest going the export route and creating your template in Word to merge the data.

    Using a constituent export, either export summary gift information (by year or by whatever is meaningful to your fundraising - campaign, fund, appeal, etc.) or individual gifts for the period. Either way, I suggest summarizing recurring gifts - much easier to read and takes up less space! Depending on your soft-crediting rules, you may want to include or exclude (or summarize in another portion of the statement).

    Happy chat if you want to talk through more details and ideas!
    Brittany

    ------------------------------
    Brittany Schwartz
    Advancement Consultant
    Sage70, Inc.
    brittany@sage70.com
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-25-2023 06:00 AM

    Hi, My 2 cents is that if you want to create customized letters and you use NXT, take a look at how customizable you can make your letters using ReceipterPro®.  It has a built-in image management system that allows you to "Brand" your organization so you send beautiful looking letters instead of the plain vanilla letters most organizations send out.  Contact me offline at art.gerstein-contractor@donortek.com or simply at info@receipterpro.com.  Be well and stay safe, Art




    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Giving Summaries

    Posted 01-27-2023 01:59 PM
    Hey Arielle -  I worked with my IT team to create a solution in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).  They were able to get donor statement design* in there and link it to a query.  The nice thing about that option is any changes made in Raiser's Edge are automatically refreshed on the report.   We're on Raiser's Edge 7 and self hosted so this solution isn't for everyone but I'm happy to provide more detailed information if you're interested.

    Marianne 

    *the design isn't winning any awards for production value but it gets the job done. 


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    Marianne Maxwell
    Director of External Affairs Operations
    The Franklin Institute
    mmaxwell@fi.edu
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