I'm perplexed. We give donor credit for the HIGH of the day for donations of stock. However, our business office records the amount deposited when the stock is sold (usually less than the HIGH). Do I put the SOLD amount (actual deposit) in the GIFT field and the donor credit (HIGH amount) in the receipted field or VICE VERSA??

I hate to sayt his but you are both wrong. According to IRS publication 561 you are both supposed to count under contributions the MEDIAN value on the day it was donated (irrevocably transferred) to you. Finance needs to enter it as an asset that you now own with that same value. When it is sold then finance needs to sell the asset, book the income on the sale, book the gain/loss and book the broker fees. You should be entering this with a gift type of stock/property and enter the median value in the gift amount field. Then use the sell/stock property (on the gift menu) to enter the sale date, amount, and broker fees. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) 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 neglected to say that you also enter the same median value as the receipt amount (provided that the donor did not get benefits from the gift) Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

Our policy, as adived by our auditor, is to give the donor credit for the mean value of the stock on the day of transfer (high value + low value / 2). Our broker automatically provides us with this information whenever stock is received. We also record the mean value in our financial software. Any actual difference in the donation value verses the final amount received upon sale of the stock is recorded by an accounting journal entry. Elisa Peterson Operations Director Montana History Foundation

We do it like Melissa does. We don't put the gift amount on our receipts to them - we list the date of transfer, the High & Low and the mean value in the receipt. Most donors prefer to use the documentation from their broker for their taxes because the broker will document it the day they ask the broker to make the gift - but they usually transfer the gift to the recipient AFTER the market closes that day so the day you receive it is actually only saleable the next day for your organization. Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed]

As Laurel says, the receipt to the donor should NOT indicate any value on it. According to IRS publication 1771 your receipt for non-cash donations should give a "description (but not the value)" of the donation. The date of the donation is the date it is transferred which unfortunately is not always done immediately by some brokers which can cause a date of gift issue. Since DTC tranfers are practically instantaneous it is only your gift once the transfer is complete (before that it was still in the hands of the donor). If there is a delay in processing the transfer, this is an issue between the donor and their broker - not yours to deal with. Only once in your account is it your gift. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

So what's the best way to report Stock gifts on pledge statements?  I've been showing the median value on the day of the stock transfer and deducting that amount from the pledge balance.  Is there a better way to do it?

In my experience/opinion, that is the only way to do it.