I am at a new job and it is my responsibility to shape up our Raiser's Edge Database. I have a few questions about Fund code management that I am hoping that some of you can give your experience with.

1) Do you prefer to create new funds for every fiscal year? If so, how does it affect multi year pledges (do you split between each of the funds or do you apply the pledge to the current FY and all payments back to that same original fiscal year and how does that impact a donor's wish to make a gift restricted in time (use next fiscal year..)?)

2) In your database do you code your funds as temproarily restricted and permanently restricted or do you leave that to Finance to determine and code? Hof you do code them - how do you code them?

3) Do you create a new fund for every single detailed restriction (i.e. new clothes for the kids in the Safe House) or do you simply have the one code for the whole program and the details are recorded in the gift reference or gift attibutes?

4) Is it best to have a separate fund(s) for Gift In Kind donations? What should I know about starting this type of fund?

Thanks for your help. Melissa S. Graves
Director of Development Services
The Village for Families and Children
mgraves @ villageforchildren.org
www.villageforchildren.org

GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

Melissa, I was just discussing with a co-worker this morning the nightmare that is our reporting because of our policy to create new funds for our annual giving each year. Canned comparison reports do not work because the funds differ from year to year and determining which fund to use for multi-year pledges has been problematic. Temporarilty restricted and permanently restricted seem to me to be more of an accounting concern than a development office concern; I'd code them as a fund category or a fund attribute if you think it needs to be done on the development side. Creating a new fund for a one time gift doesn't seem necessary; if you believe you will receive gifts on a regular basis for the same purpose, consider a new fund. My two cents worth! Dee Dee Demling Director of Advancement Services New York Medical College

But what do you do when a donor gives and says that it is for use in another fiscal year? How do you communicate this to finance (through reporting) that the gift is restricted in time - not just fund? Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves @ villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

1) We do not create new funds each year. Since a fund is the designation of what the gift is for, the only reason we create a new fund is if a new purpose is created. 2) We may also then determine by fund if the gift is restricted or not. The finance department deals with the reporting of these, but we can create reporting in RE that would closely reflect the restrictive nature of these gifts. 3) We use a fund called Special Purpose and further identify details in the gift code. 4) The Gift in Kind gift type designates the type of payment and has nothing to do with the purpose of the gift, so we do not use a separate fund for Gift in Kinds. Congratulations on your new job! Kim Gajewski Wisconsin Lutheran High School [Email Removed]

Ditto Kim's reply. We get sponsorship gifts that are to be applied to next year's fiscal year. We accept them in the normal fund, attach the appeal for the following FY and give a report to our Business Office (a reminder to them) at the end of the current FY noting which $ should be brought forward. Rachel Newell, Donor Services Prairie View Mental Health Newton, KS 67114 [Email Removed]

1. We handle this through Campaigns. Each campaign code has a fiscal year and program designation (i.e 06/07 Annual Fund). This makes multiple year pledges easy to handle and also resolves the issue of gifts restricted by time. 2. Permanently restricted funds go to a different campaign that does not have a fiscal year designation (i.e Endow, Building Campaign). 3. We don't have different funds for every single gift restriction. Finance has their codes set up in such a way that there is pretty much only one code for restricted gifts. We then note the specific intention via attributes and gift notes. (I don't like this system at all, but this is what I inherited.) 4. We have separate funds for in-kind gifts and therefore have a separate campaign as well (06/07 In-Kind). In-kind gifts are never easy to handle. Just about every gift ends up having its own fund code so that we can show "where" it is budget-relieving. Heather D. Rodriguez Assistant Director of Development Information Systems San Francisco Museum of Modern Art [Email Removed]

How does having the campaign by year help with multi year pledges? When the pledge arrives do you put the pledge into the current FY campaign? What FY campaign do you put on the payments over the subsequent years? This is really helpful so thanks because we are doing a campaign asking for 3 year gifts starting soon and I want to get it right from the start. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves @ villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org! [i]--- Edited at 3/23/2007 2:57:08 PM by Melissa Graves[/i]

This depends on the project and on the budget goals. You could really do it both ways. If you are accepting three-year pledges are they A) pledges to the 07/08 "Operating Fund" with payments receivable over the next few years? or B) pledges to three separate operating budgets (i.e. 07/08, 08/09, 09/10)? When these goals are established by the "powers that be," what are they expecting? We have tons of mulit-year projects and frequently must allocate funds across those years (for example, even though an art exhibition may occur in 07/08, it could take three years to plan). That said, it is imperative that you make sure the pledge-payment matches the original pledge (especially regarding this FY allocation). I hope that makes sense! Heather D. Rodriguez Assistant Director of Development Information Systems San Francisco Museum of Modern Art [Email Removed]