I am having a hard time developing a procedure for individuals giving through a foundation. We have a Foundation called, the Minneapolis Foundation that has individuals giving through them and then the founation cuts us a check. (Ex.) John Doe has a record in our system and he gives individually and he also keeps his money at the foundation which cuts us a check through the John Doe Family Foundation. There are three records in our system; the John Doe Family Foundation of the Minneapolis Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation and one record for John Doe. Does somebody have advise about what record this individual's money should go into? If it goes with the check then he won't get credit and it will be coded to a foundation constituency and if he gets credit than it will go under an individual constituecy even when the check was from a foundation. Thanks!

Gifts made thru Community Foundations are a real treat. There are different trains of thought on this. Here's where soft crediting comes into play. Hard credit the check writer, soft credit the donor and give them $0 receipt credit because they have already received their tax credit when they donated to the Foundation. Donors will give thru both avenues so you will have multiple records. Darrel C. Spacone Development Services Manager LifePath Hospice and Palliative Care 12973 Telecom Parkway, Suite 100 Temple Terrace, FL 33637 813-871-8413 813-871-8473 FAX 813-395-1199 CELL [Email Removed]

The way I have done this is: The Community Foundation gets hard credit for the gift so the check is entered on their record. John Doe gets soft credited for the gift. So when you run a report, check the box "soft credit to recipient" That should help, as long as you are consistent with the gift posting. This is a tricky area- good luck :) Veronica St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital

Kristin, We would hard credit the Minneapolis Foundation for the gift and soft credit the individual. Is the Minneapolis Foundation a community foundation? I'm not an expert on the various funds a community foundation holds, but it seems to me that the Minneapolis Foundation owns the funds held in the John Doe family foundation... meaning they have full legal right to distribute as they wish. You would be smart to ask the foundation how they wish the funds to be recognized. Often, their cover letter will give this information. Additionally, we wouldn't have a separate record for the John Doe family foundation, because its wholly managed by the Minneapolis Foundation. We would reference the family charitable fund on the Reference line and soft credit the individual. But if you did keep the family fd record, I would make sure that all gifts are soft-credits only, and no hard credits. Rachel Newell, Donor Services Prairie View Mental Health Newton, KS 67114 [Email Removed]

We put all hard credit gifts on a record created for the family foundation and link the family foundation record to the public foundation through relationships and parent corp (on org 2 tab). The mailing address is also the same as the public foundation.

Legally the gifts are from the public foundation but by using parent corp we are considering the family foundation to be a subsidiary or sattelite office of the main foundation record. This absolutely helps keep all giving from that individual fund separate from all other giving from other funds at the foundation and from the foundation itself. *** I can spell, I just can't type. Where is spell check?

Melissa S. Graves
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