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I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

Yes - I'm familiar with that article and the fact that our systems won't mirror each other. However, it seems our finance office has other expectations and those have been accommodated in the past by our office. Are there recommendations on how to explain this to them? I have let them know how we need to record it in our system but they are pushing back and asking us to somehow split recording of the gift so that we're still posting the full amount received but still adhering to our reporting needs. I have asked if they have a workaround in their system but it's falling on deaf ears.

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

Yes - I'm familiar with that article and the fact that our systems won't mirror each other. However, it seems our finance office has other expectations and those have been accommodated in the past by our office. Are there recommendations on how to explain this to them? I have let them know how we need to record it in our system but they are pushing back and asking us to somehow split recording of the gift so that we're still posting the full amount received but still adhering to our reporting needs. I have asked if they have a workaround in their system but it's falling on deaf ears.

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

Thanks so much for your generous offer, John! I'll start the conversation and will follow up if I need to take you up on it :)

Yes - I'm familiar with that article and the fact that our systems won't mirror each other. However, it seems our finance office has other expectations and those have been accommodated in the past by our office. Are there recommendations on how to explain this to them? I have let them know how we need to record it in our system but they are pushing back and asking us to somehow split recording of the gift so that we're still posting the full amount received but still adhering to our reporting needs. I have asked if they have a workaround in their system but it's falling on deaf ears.

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

There might be another way to make everyone happy. I am including your original email below which seems to have been lost in this thread.

In rereading your email, you might not be recording the gift in RE in a way that lets everyone have their cake and eat it, too.

For our purposes, we need to keep track of the face amount donated and the tax-deductible amount. This is always done within a single gift record. However, your email sounds like you are entering two separate gifts - one for each amount.

By the way, all planned gifts have these two amounts: face and deductible, not only CGAs.

Anyway, within the gift entry form for a RE CGA, there are two places to record amounts. There is the "annuity amount," which is equal to the face value - the amount the donor is providing to create the CGA. You also, then, enter various payout information. RE will then perform a "present value calculation." That's also the deductible amount. There isn't a need to create two different gifts!

Of course, you must ensure that your GL feed supplies both of these amounts at the same time every night when you run your GL process.

Below is a snip from an earlier discussion that might make more sense.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

John H. Taylor, Principal

John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC

2604 Sevier Street

Durham, NC     27705

johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com

919.816.5903 (cell/text)

Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987

Thanks so much for your generous offer, John! I'll start the conversation and will follow up if I need to take you up on it :)

Yes - I'm familiar with that article and the fact that our systems won't mirror each other. However, it seems our finance office has other expectations and those have been accommodated in the past by our office. Are there recommendations on how to explain this to them? I have let them know how we need to record it in our system but they are pushing back and asking us to somehow split recording of the gift so that we're still posting the full amount received but still adhering to our reporting needs. I have asked if they have a workaround in their system but it's falling on deaf ears.

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

There might be another way to make everyone happy. I am including your original email below which seems to have been lost in this thread.

In rereading your email, you might not be recording the gift in RE in a way that lets everyone have their cake and eat it, too.

For our purposes, we need to keep track of the face amount donated and the tax-deductible amount. This is always done within a single gift record. However, your email sounds like you are entering two separate gifts - one for each amount.

By the way, all planned gifts have these two amounts: face and deductible, not only CGAs.

Anyway, within the gift entry form for a RE CGA, there are two places to record amounts. There is the "annuity amount," which is equal to the face value - the amount the donor is providing to create the CGA. You also, then, enter various payout information. RE will then perform a "present value calculation." That's also the deductible amount. There isn't a need to create two different gifts!

Of course, you must ensure that your GL feed supplies both of these amounts at the same time every night when you run your GL process.

Below is a snip from an earlier discussion that might make more sense.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this? 

John H. Taylor, Principal

John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC

2604 Sevier Street

Durham, NC     27705

johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com

919.816.5903 (cell/text)

Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987

Thanks so much for your generous offer, John! I'll start the conversation and will follow up if I need to take you up on it :)

Yes - I'm familiar with that article and the fact that our systems won't mirror each other. However, it seems our finance office has other expectations and those have been accommodated in the past by our office. Are there recommendations on how to explain this to them? I have let them know how we need to record it in our system but they are pushing back and asking us to somehow split recording of the gift so that we're still posting the full amount received but still adhering to our reporting needs. I have asked if they have a workaround in their system but it's falling on deaf ears.

I'm seeking some guidance on recording a charitable gift annuity, particularly as it relates to our finance office. I've read a number of old discussions on here and want to make sure my understanding is correct and hopefully figure out next steps as I've never worked with recording annuities before.

We have Raiser's Edge with the planned giving module included. As I understand it, a planned gift should be entered for the full amount of the annuity, then a cash gift of only the charitable deduction amount entered separately.

Our finance office is concerned that doing this will cause an imbalance between the full amount received vs. the gift records. At my previous employer, it was our practice to never post planned gifts, however, I wonder if posting a planned gift record for an annuity should be an exception and would resolve this concern with finance.

Is this approach a good practice or is there a better way to go about this?