FundSvcs Community

We just received a check on a bequest expectancy which ends up exceeding the total bequest expectancy.  I'm contemplating the following options, but before doing so would like to hear thoughts on each approach.  Essentially, I'm looking at ways so that the overage of the realization is not lost in our fundraising totals.  We count the bequest expectancy in our fundraising totals when committed, but we don't count the realized payment(s) when they arrive.  But with an overage, that could be a considerable amount that was never counted when the BE was made and could be lost depending upon how we enter it.

Option 1)  Enter the amount in a single transaction as a realized bequest (CRM pledge payment type) and allow amount paid to exceed the bequest expectancy amount.  

Option 2) Split the amount so the first entry is entered as a realized bequest (payment) and completes the bequest expectancy (pledge) and the second entry is entered as an outright bequest (straight gift) so that the overage appears in fundraising totals.

Option 3) Increase the amount of the bequest expectancy (pledge) to account for the overage and enter one transaction for the realized bequest (payment).  

Option 4)  Enter a second bequest expectancy (pledge) equal to the overage with today's date and apply the overage as a realized bequest payment to that expectancy?  

Thanks,
Eric

Good Morning, in the past few years, this is something that my organiztions has been "tightneing" up on. We find that for reporting, best practice in this case is to enter a second bequest as realized equal to the overage and apply the payment to both recorded expectancies. 

Thanks everyone for your responses!  John - to answer your question "What do you do when the donor overpays a pledge?" we split out the overage and enter a separate gift.  The part that was tripping me up is that we try to avoid oddities in our data as well.  So, if we go that route, do we enter the overage as a straight gift or an outright bequest because a straight gift from a deceased person would be a data integrity concern.  I'm leaning towards entering the overage as an outright bequest to maintain the sanctity surrounding the context of the contribution, but I will discuss with our PG director first to see if there are hidden issues with this.