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  • 1.  Year-End Gift Processing Coverage & Severe Weather Contingency Plans

    Posted 01-08-2026 02:25 PM

    Hi all,

    I'm interested in how other organizations plan staffing coverage for calendar year-end gift processing, especially if you face hard university​/organization holiday closure dates. For example, we've had to ​be close​d when the 31st falls on a university holiday, so we staff through the 30th and communicate that publicly.​ This hasn't been much of an issue in past years, but I thought I'd ask how others operate in similar situations.

    More importantly, how do you handle - and communicate to employees and donors - situations where severe weather impacts a published date for year-end gift acceptance? 
    We ​come in for two full weekdays before (and/or on) the 31st to process final check deposits, check mail, etc., and we post our ​available staffing hours for final CYE gift acceptance​, final check deposits, and donor inquiries​. ​Our gift processing teams are very small​ (like 2 people on a good day in each location), and ​our offices are spread across multiple locations​ in our (very) large state. In recent years, extreme weather has made it unsafe to maintain those published hours ​(and it always seems to happen on the 31st​). I've struggled with ​being a bad boss and asking staff in other cities to go in anyway, and I'd love to hear how others navigate this​ sort of scenario.

    Thanks in advance for sharing your approaches!



    ------------------------------
    Amber Gichard
    University of Alaska Foundation
    argichard@alaska.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Year-End Gift Processing Coverage & Severe Weather Contingency Plans

    Posted 01-08-2026 02:37 PM
    The only "legal" reason to come in at the end of the year is to process any credit card transactions that were not made online. Those must be charged by midnight on the 31st to ensure the donor can claim a deduction.

    You also have deductibility issues with gifts sent by third parties (FedEx, UPS, etc.).

    So, the solution is donor education. Encourage online donations for credit cards. Discourage mailing of those! Please provide a phone number on the web and in your voicemail system for anyone to call if they want to make a last-minute CC gift you can process remotely.

    And explain the rules regarding third-party delivery services. If a donor is in a bind, they should take their envelope to the local post office and request a manual postmark. That's all they will need to claim a deduction, regardless of when you receive and process the gift.

    It's helpful to bring staff in during those "closed" dates, as it significantly reduces the volume of work waiting for you on January 2. And my staff always enjoyed the overtime pay! But there's little need to require staff to come in if you address the very few legal items outlined above.

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987






  • 3.  RE: Year-End Gift Processing Coverage & Severe Weather Contingency Plans

    Posted 01-08-2026 03:07 PM
    Thanks, John.

    We have a lot of "old school" donors who don't like giving online or prefer to hand-deliver their checks to us.
    I'll share this guidance with our leadership, though. We've always tried to balance this donor courtesy of coming in against donor education - and now have created this expectation for both donors and fundraisers!

    Thanks,
    Amber
    _______________________________________________

    AMBER R. GICHARD
    Senior Director of Fund & Gift Services
    University of Alaska Foundation
    1815 Bragaw St., Suite 206, Anchorage, AK, 99508
    Direct: 907.786.1016 
    Website:     alaska.edu/foundation
    Make a gift online:     engage.alaska.edu







    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Year-End Gift Processing Coverage & Severe Weather Contingency Plans

    Posted 01-13-2026 10:09 AM
      |   view attached

    Happy New Year!

    In my 28 years at SMU, we've never had bad weather on December 31st. If it ever happens, it shouldn't cause major issues. The only potential challenge would be processing Museum Memberships, which are typically delivered to us on the 31st and charged in-house. If that situation arises, I'm confident we can find a workaround.

    For end-of-year communication, we send an email to all staff within our division with the attached document two weeks before winter break and again two days prior. We've experienced little to no issues during this period, and I attribute that success to this communication. We rely on our fundraising staff to communicate this to their donors.



    ------------------------------
    Diane Kucera
    Director, Records and Gift Administration
    Southern Methodist University
    dkucera@smu.edu
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    2025 Calendar Year-End Giving Procedures.pdf   434 KB 1 version


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