Hi there,

I want to find out how other RE users tackle the issues with entering Cash gifts paid by another constituent.  As an example, some of our Trustees prefered to donate to us by way of their private foundations or designated fund organizations.  So for all intents and purposes, the Trustees should be one receiving the hard-credits to those gifts and enjoy the tax-deduction, despite the actual payments were generated by the Foundations.

Here are the 3 methods of processing this in RE that I can think of -

1. Enter as Cash gift under the Foundation's record and add a soft-credit to the Trustee. This is not so desirable because the Trustee should be one being hard-credited, not soft-credited.

2. Enter as Cash gift under the Trustee's record and add a soft-credit to the Foundation.  This is good for donor recognition but affects accuracy of the payment entry.

3. Enter as Pledge under the Trustee's record and link it with a Pay-Cash by the Foundation.  Moreover, add a soft-credit to the Trustees on the Pay-Cash record. This satisfies the donor recognition and payment entry, but it clouds the definition of "Pledge" because this is a one-time gift.

I look forward to hearing your feedback on this!

Best,

Eugenie

There have been several discussions of this recently - third party payments.  You may want to do a search to get all the points made.

We enter the gift according to who is paying it - even if it's a foundation or donor advised fund (DAF).  Soft credit appropriate individual. And no, the "Trustee should be the one being hard-credited" is not really true.  They are linked to the money but the money is not from their personal funds, it's from the foundation.  There is nothing wrong with hard crediting/receipting the foundation.  They should be receiving receipts from any organization they donate to and it's reflected on the foundation financials.

As to entering a pledge, please see the recent discussions.  A foundation or DAF in many cases can not legally pay a pledge.

You actually got that backwards - The Foundation or DAF is the LEGAL donor if the check was written off of their accounts. The trustee would only get a hard credit if they gave you money from their own personal finances. Soft Credits are made for just this situation so that you can recognize people like these at a giving level that combines soft credits with their actual legal giving.

. Enter as Cash gift under the Foundation's record and add a soft-credit to the Trustee. This is not so desirable because the Trustee should be one being hard-credited, not soft-credited.    It's not about desireablility, The legal donor is the Foundation or Donor Advised Fund therefore the gift must go on the Foundation record and to show that financial relationship, you would soft credit the Trustee.

2. Enter as Cash gift under the Trustee's record and add a soft-credit to the Foundation.  This is good for donor recognition but affects accuracy of the payment entry.  Soft Credit's do not affect the accuracy of payment entry.  In pulling reports you have to option to include in your totals ( which would affect accuracy)  or you can choose not to include them.

3. Enter as Pledge under the Trustee's record and link it with a Pay-Cash by the Foundation.  Moreover, add a soft-credit to the Trustees on the Pay-Cash record. This satisfies the donor recognition and payment entry, but it clouds the definition of "Pledge" because this is a one-time gift.   Donor Advised fund letters usually state that the gift can not satisfy a personal pledge. Also, How does this one time entry cloud the definition of  a Pledge?  You may have a Donor that says I will give you X amount one year from now but not do installment payments. It's still a pledge so you would book it now but with just one installment payment due in one year's time.

 Thanks everyone for their input!  I will discuss this with our Accountant and adjust our data entry protocols accordingly.

One more thing to note.  If the money is coming from a donor advised fund or private foundation, the "donor" has already received the tax deduction.  They do not need one from you.  DAFs and private foundations are tax deductible to the person setting them up.  The gift to you meerly fullfils the requirements of the fund/fdn to give away X percentage each year. We hard credit the fund/fdn and soft credit the donor.