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  • 1.  Planned Gifts - Deceased date vs. received date as the gift date?

    Posted 08-03-2023 07:39 AM

    Hello All,

    We have a donor who passed away in January 2023 and we just received the wired planned gift funds from his estate in August 2023. Advancement Services and Finance are disagreeing about the date we should use for counting this gift. Advancement Services believes it should be the August 2023 date, since that is when the funds were received, but Finance believes it should be the January 2023 date since that is the date of the donor's death. Finance is claiming it needs to be the January 2023 date (and the previous, already closed fiscal year) since that's when our institution's "interest" in the gift first became "recognizable" and therefore we are required to accrue it for FY23 instead of FY24. I have not experienced this kind of issue before, so I'm wondering if anyone can provide some guidance on how we should handle.

    Many thanks for your help!

    Natalie



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    Natalie Mackey
    Duquesne University
    mackeyn@duq.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Planned Gifts - Deceased date vs. received date as the gift date?

    Posted 08-03-2023 08:01 AM
    All gifts are typically recorded as of the date of receipt. Else you would be back-dating every single transaction. While it is true that you became the "owner" of the assets when the donor died, you had no control over them, and they were not even in your bank account.

    You should use the August date. If the Finance Office wants to "recognize" the death date on their system, that's up to them.

    BTW, CASE endorses the date of receipt practice outlined above.

    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


  • 3.  RE: Planned Gifts - Deceased date vs. received date as the gift date?

    Posted 08-03-2023 08:48 AM
    For Advancement, recording the gift on the day it's received or processed is appropriate. For accounting, the rules are different, ace that's ok. That's what reconciliation is for - ensuring that despite some difference in how we track, were all tracking the same gifts. 


    From an accounting perspective, the correct date for recognizing revenue is as your finance team said. In this case depends on whether the gift is from a trust or a will. 

    If it's a will, the correct date is the date the estate settles and emerges from probate, not date of death. 

    If it's a trust the correct date depends on the language of the trust. The trust will indicate what the date of the conveyance is - upon death, 30 days after, 12 months after, whatever it may be. 



    Isaac Shalev
    Data Strategy Expert
    (917) 859-0151
    isaac@sage70.com

    Autocorrect was used in composting this email, please excuse any typos




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Planned Gifts - Deceased date vs. received date as the gift date?

    Posted 08-03-2023 03:32 PM

    Thanks, Isaac! Very helpful information especially the distinction between will/trust.



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    Natalie Mackey
    Duquesne University
    mackeyn@duq.edu
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Planned Gifts - Deceased date vs. received date as the gift date?

    Posted 08-03-2023 03:31 PM

    Excellent! Thanks for the clarification, John. I really appreciate your response.



    ------------------------------
    Natalie Mackey
    Duquesne University
    mackeyn@duq.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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