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  • 1.  Recording gifts with transaction fee covered by the Donor

    Posted 06-14-2022 02:31 PM
    Hello, 

    We recently activated an option for our donors to cover transaction fees for online gifts.  If the gift is for a restricted fund, how would you record the gift?  (Example:  $100 for ABC Scholarship Fund, donor added $3.00 to cover credit card fees) Do you record the total amount of $103 to the restricted fund, then fees get taken out of that fund?

    Thanks,

    ------------------------------
    Annette Ramos-Barrantes
    Advancement Services Specialist
    Mt. San Antonio College Foundation
    abarrantes@mtsac.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Recording gifts with transaction fee covered by the Donor

    Posted 06-14-2022 02:43 PM
    We 'budget' for credit card fees as cost of doing business.  If donor gives $100 and doesn't cover fees, the gift is $100.  If donor gives $100 and covers the fee, the gift is $103.  Hope that makes sense.  This has definitely been covered in this forum in a more articulate way- so you can look in the archives.

    Tina Gorski-Strong, P '23 (she/her/hers)
    Chief Advancement Officer
    Bancroft School
    508.854.9201
    Pronouns: she, her, hers

    Please make your gift by June 30!
    Every Donor Counts!

    "Some people are never going to clap for you. Win anyway."




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  • 3.  RE: Recording gifts with transaction fee covered by the Donor

    Posted 06-14-2022 03:01 PM
    It depends on how you use the fee money.

    Some organizations still treat these fees as the cost of doing business and pay them out of an administrative account.  Unless you perform cost-recovery protocol, the entire amount gifted should go to the fund the donor gives to.

    However, if the gift amount to cover fees actually covers those fees, the gift should be split to reflect where and how the money is being used.  This is under the Donor Bill of Rights.  Do not tell donors that 100% of their gift is being used for the restricted purposes they are giving to unless 100% of the gift is going to be used for that restricted purpose.

    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




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  • 4.  RE: Recording gifts with transaction fee covered by the Donor

    Posted 06-15-2022 10:46 AM
    I agree with John. If you're not paying out of an admin account as a cost of business, the additional gift is itself a kind of restricted gift, for the purpose of paying the gift fee, and it should be split and tracked as such. Otherwise, your fund will look like it raised and spend a couple of percent more per year on its restricted purpose, when it in fact did not. 

    Thank you,
    Isaac Shalev
    Data Strategy Expert
    Sage70, Inc.
    (917) 859-0151
    isaac@sage70.com

    Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:





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  • 5.  RE: Recording gifts with transaction fee covered by the Donor

    Posted 06-15-2022 06:37 PM

    Thank you for the input.  This is helpful!

     

     

    Best Regards,

     

    Annette Ramos-Barrantes
    Advancement Services Specialist
    Mt. SAC Foundation

     

     

     




    Original Message


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