We have an upcoming pet walk that we have asked walkers to collect sponsoring donations for. Last year, we were unsure how to enter the money collected by each participant. We don't want to add the people who sponsor them to our database (we are anticipating 2,000 walkers), but we want to be sure the walkers (and their pets!) get credit for the donations. Last year, the gifts were entered on the walker's record with a note stating who the check was from. Then, the gift was linked as a donation to the walker's event registration. This has made it difficult to run a fast report of how much each donor actually gave, although we can get an accurate amount for recogintion purposes. One idea we are considering is creating a dummy record, "2006 Mutt Strut;" placing all the sponsoring gifts on this record; and then soft crediting the actual walker. How does anyone else handle this? We don't know the pledges in advance so I've avoided the sponsoring pledge section of the event module. Thank you, Carrie L. Sorensen Manager of Donor Records Humane Society of Indianapolis [Email Removed]

Call me crazy but, for our annual Doggone Fun Run, I enter the gifts onto the records of the people who actually gave the money rather than the runners who raised it. As other users mentioned, we do not create records donors with no addresses or who give very small gifts (these go into a general record for the event). Entering the money onto the runners' records seems problematic to me because these individuals could be mistaken for major donors down the line if the event "gifts" are not excluded. While your current staff may remember to do this because it's the policy you have created, there's no guarantee it will be obvious to future users of the database. Sarah Taft Development Officer - Database Manager San Francisco SPCA

If you have the Honour/Memorial tribute module, you may: 1) create a new tribute call ¡§Pet Walk 2006¡¨ etc. 2) setup all walkers as ¡§honour/memorial¡¨ constituents 3) enter each donation to the person who gave the money and link all donations collected by each walker to his/her tribute. In this way, you can have all donations directly entered to the donors but still able to see the total collected by each walker. Sandra Tse Database Coordinator Alzheimer Society of Toronto

I don't think you're crazy Sarah, and legally if the check was made out to the organization, than the check writer is the legal donor, not the walker. But this also works in reverse and if the check is made out to the walker (and signed over to the org), then legally, they, the walker, are the donor. I do think I would soft credit the walker, because without them the person would not have written the check to your organization. Denise Stengl Supervisor of Data Services School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed]

Another way might be to add the walker to the database as a solicitor. You could then add each donor and link their "solicitor" on their relationship tab. You'd be able to track how many donations were brought in for each walker and add each donor to the database. Just a thought...

Using solicitor is a good idea, Donna. Wish I had thought of it. Denise Stengl Supervisor of Data Services School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed]

You wrote "legally" if the check was made out to the organization then the writer is the legal donor. I get that, but what if the walker received cash (or a check written to them) and in turn writes the organization a check from their own checking account? I spoke with the IRS today and I got two different answers (go figure). The second person I spoke with said that the original donor (the sponsor) is the donor because the walker is legally an agent of our organization. I know that you did not intend to give legal advice here, but can I at least ascertain where you got your information? I would really like to speak with someone (other than the general answer person at the IRS) about this. And more importantly how do you record this in RE? I have been putting a pledge on the donor/sponsor and posting the check to the person’s record who wrote the check, then applying the payment to the pledge on the sponsor. However, this is causing a problem because the walker got a year end tax statement stating that they gave the entire amount and the sponsor did not get anything.

Robin Schilling
Database Administrator
Central Indiana Crisis Pregnancy Center
[Email Removed]

We have forms that the walker fills out with the donations they collected. If the walker has written a check from their personal account for the cash that they received, if we can connect it to the cash gifts on their form, we give the people on the form credit. If there are several with small gifts, we have an Anonymous record that we put all that money into. We list the walker (the person who brought in or raised the money) as the solicitor, and they get credit for the money raised.

My information is gathered from a gift processing forum, here is the link: http://listserv.fundsvcs.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=fundsvcs  You can check the archives for past discussions on this topic. I would recommend you post your question there, as there are many reptuable, knowledgeable people on that list that might be able to provide you with the clear answer you seek. It does not surprise me that you got two different answers from the IRS. Every organization needs to have their own attorney or auditors be the final say on what they do. Denise Stengl Supervisor of Data Services School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed]

I heartily second Denise's recommendation to post your question to the Fundsvcs listserv. It's "taylor-made" (that's a bit of a pun for those on Fundsvcs) for questions like yours. Also, my accountant told me that I should call the IRS until I received the same answer twice. In following her advice, I have called five - or more times - before getting the same answer twice! On rare occasions, I've managed it in three tries. Catherine Catherine Seebald Director of Advancement Services Houghton College One Willard Ave. Houghton, NY 14744 585-567-9395 [Email Removed]

We have an annual "Wiggle Waggle Walkathon" with an average of 3000 gifts to be entered. We consider each person who collects donations to be a Solicitor, and create a Constituent Record for them whch is marked "Is a Solictor." For each donation, we create a full constituent record for tax receipt purposes (and further prospecting!), and we link that gift to the Solicitor. For any donations where we cannot read the name or address, we place it under a Constituent named "Anonymous", again linked to the Solictor. This works very well, and we are easily able to produce reports showing how much money each Solicitor/Walker brought in. Harriet Farmer Ottawa Human Society