I have seen auction items entered into raiser's edge different ways over the years - and there is no current thread regarding how to record auction items on this website.

Can someone share how they record in kind auction donations in raiser's edge and what needs to be included in the letter.

If you could email me at julianne_fonseca@miltonhospital.org that would be great.

Thanks

I think this actually has been discussed in other threads - but I'll give you a quick rundown on how I do this.

The gift in kind (item donation for an auction, etc.)is entered as a gift with a Campaign Code that is never used in financial reporting or on annual statements.

The Gift Amount is the dollar amount the donor tells you the item is worth so it can be used in recognition level calculations and as the value of the item on bid sheets and in calculations for the item winners donation amount.

The Receipt Amount is zero.

I then put a Gift Note on the gift giving the description of the item. I use the gift notes fields in differing ways so the information can be pulled easily into reports and bid sheets, etc.

Example: I use the Title field for the Category & Number (A-05 equals Art Auction Item Number 5 - the preceding zero allows me to group and sort all of the Category & Number assignments because the field is alpha numeric - otherwise it would list A1, A11, A12, etc before it gets to A2)

The description field is used for a short description that will easily fit on reports (example: Abstract Oil Painting)

The Notes field is used for a long description of the item - including information that you may need to print on a gift certificate, etc if the donor doesn't have GC's and asks us to create one.

The Type field is used for which auction (example: Gala, Pre-Gala,etc.)

I then link the gift to the event in the event module as a donation with a participation code of item donor (Item winners will be linked later after the auction occurs and they make their payment - at which point their gifts are entered as normal revenue gifts but the benefits fields are used in the gift to calculate receipt value and print the description of the item and benefits on the receipt)

The Acknowledgement to the Gift In Kind Auction Item Donor just lists the short description of the item - no dollar value is mentioned

Hope this helps & Please let me know if you have any questions - I just did this off the top of my head and may have missed a step.

Hi-

I just read your posting about auctions.  We had our first auction.  I entered all auction items as GIK.  What about the one listed as "priceless?"  What do you do with those in RE? And what happens if it didn't sell?

 Thanks,

Elizabeth

hey-so we just had our first auction.  all donated items have been entered as GIK.  What about the "Priceless" ones, what do you do with those?  We have one priceless item that didn't sell!

I try not to allow "priceless" as a valid value for auction items. I ask the person securing the gift to ask for a value from the donor  or to do some research to determine a value. Because the donor's tax deductible portion of the amount their winning bid was is determined by the value. If there is no value than essentially it becomes an even exchange. Luckily in your case the item didn't sell.

Hello Laurel. I found your post very helpful. I am fairly new to RE, we just had an auction at the weekend, and I am just entering all the gifts that were donated by the donors. Have you linked up what bidder bought which auction Item.? Or is their a way to do this ?, I like seeing the full picture, its nice for people to know that we are aware and remember what people are buying. Chhers Clare