We'd like to hear your current processes for transferring gift information from The Raiser's Edge to your Quickbooks accounting package. Are you using the Post to the GL option in Administration to create a post file (in Excel or another format)? Are you providing reports to Accounting for those staff members to enter the transactions (i.e. double entry)? What process have you found to work best? What has not been successful?

Any and all feedback is welcome! Thanks for your input,

Stephanie Wolf

Solutions Engineer, Blackbaud.

Stephanie,

We use Raiser's Edge and our outsourced accountant uses Quickbooks. Currently we do not transfer info from RE to Quickbooks because frankly we don't know how. I'm intrigued by your question and would also love to hear what other folks are doing...and how. I would really love a training or webinar where both myself and my accountant could sit down and have a step by step guide on how to set this up. I think it would really be a time saver.

Currently I export Batches into Excel before I commit them. I then email the excel file to our accountant to process. It's time consuming.

Thank you.

We are interested in responses to this question as well. Currently we do double data entry. We enter the information in both RE and QB. Yes, it is time-consuming.

Since we enter all of our donations using "Batch" there had to be a way to consolidate all of the information into an export file.  With a little work and ingenuity, we created an export that we can capture by using a document "shell or template" created in Crystal Reports to capture the summarized data.  Once that is done, it is saved as an excel file, opened in excel, resaved as a "txt" file with the exttension "iif" and the it gets imported into QuickBooks.

 It sounds like a lot of work, but once you have create the template for the export and another for Crystal Reports you just keep repeating the process.

We also created a manual so that anyone with the appropriate permissions could complete the process without a lot of stress on their part.

Marietta

Accountant, Oregon HEAT

503-612-3856

Thanks everyone for their responses!

Marietta, I would be interested in learning more about the Crystal Report you are using with the gift information you are exporting from Raiser's Edge. Does it have formulas in place to place the data into the correct format for importing into Quickbooks? Did your organization develop this Crystal Report in house?

 I also wanted to share some information I located in the Quickbooks Knowledgebase (which was very hard to find!). It at least contains information regarding the file format required by Quickbooks, column headers, and some samples. It will still require manipulation of the data coming out of RE...

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/inproducthelp/Core/QB2K8/ContentPackage/Core/IIF/task_import_trans.html

Let me know your thoughts and experience if any of you decide to try working with this.

 In the meantime, I also wanted to share information about using the Post to General Ledger option in the Administrative section of Raiser's Edge. This is where gifts are posted from The Raiser's Edge to our accounting software, The Financial Edge, but did you know you can also use it to create an Excel post file? You aren't going to have as much control over the information that gets extracted, but it does include key information that would be needed in order to be entered into an Accounting system such as GL Distribution, debit and credit amount, date, donor name, gift type, etc

The other benefit is that Gifts will be automatically marked as Posted (similar to the Donor Acknowledgment letter process), preventing you from sending that transaction information over to accounting again, resulting in double-counting. It also will require an adjustment to be made for any changes to the gift (which can also be posted). This can help to maintain a tighter audit trail between the Raiser's Edge and your accounting system.

 See the below Knowledgebase solution:

http://www.blackbaud.com/esupport/esupport.asp?resource=&number=0&id=BB109530

Hope this helps and please share your feedback!

Stephanie

 Hi Marietta-This is the information I have been looking for.  I would love to get a copy of the manual you created.  Would u be willing to offer me a copy and if you charge a fee, please let me know your fee.  I will call you on the number tomorrow listed above to discuss further detail.

Thank You so much.

Nichole Pingree, Controller

Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA  92501

npingree@riversideartmuseum.org

951.684.7111 ext 304

 Hey Marietta -

 We are preparing to go live with RE on Oct. 1 and use QB for our accounting system. Would you be willing to talk with one of our accountants about how the export works? We are still trying to work out all the details and have only a few weeks to go.

 Thanks, 

 Michelle Boudet
Water Missions International
(866) 280-7107

 Marietta,

 Would you be willing to share your Riaser's Edge -> Quickbooks process manual?  We are about to start using RE and are trying to figure out this piece.

 Best,

Michael

Director of Finance and Administration, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
mcosta@philharmonia.org

 Hi All, 

I'd love to hear an update on working with RE and QB. If a manual is being shared, is it possible to get a copy? Any other updates that we should be considering?

THANK YOU!