Pledge Calculation Errors

[ebeck]

We just began entering 2012 pledges and when we enter a weekly pledge beginning 1/1/2012 - 12/31/2012 it mulitplies the weekly amount by 53 instead of 52. We have tried it several times with the same results. It is throwing off all our numbers. Help!

[Zorak]

There are actually 53 Sundays in that date range. You can change the pledge date range to 01/01/2012 to 12/29/2012 to get 52 Sundays.

[ebeck]

I appreciate that I can manipulate the data by entering in an incorrect date range, but am wondering why I would have to, and would rather not. While there are 53 "Sundays" next year, there are still only 52 "weeks". I am entering "weekly" pledges, not "Sunday" pledges. I think there should be a correction for this. I am guessing this will be an issue for others as well.

[NeilZ]

I appreciate that I can manipulate the data by entering in an incorrect date range, but am wondering why I would have to, and would rather not. While there are 53 "Sundays" next year, there are still only 52 "weeks". I am entering "weekly" pledges, not "Sunday" pledges. I think there should be a correction for this. I am guessing this will be an issue for others as well.

FWIW ... the usual definition of 'Weekly' when you use church envelopes is on Sundays. However, you can change this through Contributions -> Setup -> Contributions Setup to another day such as Tuesday then use the 1/1/12 - 12/31/12 date range.

[Jeff]

We did prior to version 8 calculate weekly pledges as you suggest, but had to change it because many people were complaining we were not calculating 53 Sundays worth of pledge. Our comprise was to let you set when weekly pledges are due. We then calculate that number of days in the date range selected.

[Zorak]

you can change this through Contributions -> Setup -> Contributions Setup to another day such as Tuesday then use the 1/1/12 - 12/31/12 date range.

This is much less work than my original suggestion, but the downside of doing it this way is in 2013, when you change the pledge calculation day back to Sunday, all those 2012 pledges will go back to 53 Sundays and will show an unpaid balance.

[ebeck]

Thank you for the responses. It doesn't look like there is a clear cut solution though as one fix seems to lead to another problem. I'll be curious what other churches do. We are a little ahead of the game in that we are already entering 2012 pledges, but I think others will be scratching their heads too looking for a solution soon when they see that their pledge card totals dont match their PowerChurch pledge entries for weekly givers.

[NeilZ]

Thank you for the responses. It doesn't look like there is a clear cut solution though as one fix seems to lead to another problem. I'll be curious what other churches do. We are a little ahead of the game in that we are already entering 2012 pledges, but I think others will be scratching their heads too looking for a solution soon when they see that their pledge card totals dont match their PowerChurch pledge entries for weekly givers.

FWIW ... when this last happened, we just let people know in the Stewardship letter that there are 53 Sundays in the year, so please plan accordingly. We then included that reminder in the quarterly Contribution Statements.