User Support Forum

My church uses stand alone software. We are now using Vanco for online giving. I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out setting up the import function. I have the printed document "Getting Started with Your Integrated Solution but can't get past step 2, I keep getting fund set-up errors. I know it is probably something simple but...... I am not an accountant, RN by training, being a church treasurer is a volunteer position.
Thanks all

Sandy.Carlson wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 04, 2025 1:36 pm

My church uses stand alone software. We are now using Vanco for online giving. I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out setting up the import function. I have the printed document "Getting Started with Your Integrated Solution but can't get past step 2, I keep getting fund set-up errors. I know it is probably something simple but...... I am not an accountant, RN by training, being a church treasurer is a volunteer position.
Thanks all

Have you looked at this Knowledgebase Article :

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/444 ... ntegration

Have you created the two required accounts, the Transit ASSET account, and the Vanco Fee EXPENSE account. If so, you will just need to select them when needed, if not, you can create them during the setup.

That article should assist.

I did not find that document very helpful. Some examples of what to call the accounts, where to put them, etc would be helpful.
That being said, I have - by luck - I think got it set-up, at least on my lap top program. I will do it on the church computer next - I did write down the names and account numbers I used. I will not restore them from a thumb drive. I then tried to import contributions as I noted more were posted in the bank account. It did not "find" those contributions, or do I need to change a date range to capture them? I am still trying to wrap my head around how to handle the fee component which includes the transaction fee from Vanco. I know the bank fees are an in/out account - was wondering why this is not set=up as a passthrough liability account instead of a 'transit asset account' ? Again, thanks.

As NeilZ provided in the link, it shows the vanco import setup.
in my opinion, there are two articles to review together, the one NeilZ provided on the import setup. That article also contains a link to another article, linked below that provides more specific examples of account names / numbering schemes. In reality, you should have both open when working in powerchurch as you go through the setup/test process.
https://www.powerchurch.com/support/446 ... g-workflow

I see the Vanco Import as a two-step process, using the above links as guides, even if your account numbers end up being slightly different.

1) When importing the transactions, you are accounting for the total contribution (which includes the fee). On the contribution module side, you see this total amount assigned to the contribution fund. That's straight forward.

On the fund accounting side, the total contribution is broken up into different accounts. The income account (xx-4xxx range of account numbers) is credited the entire contribution amount, and then a transit asset account (xx-1xxx range) and a credit card fee expense account (xx-5xxx) are debits, split appropriately. The debit to the transit asset matches the actual amount received in the bank account from that specific transaction.
This is done for every transaction, is my understanding.
In this way, the transit asset account acts like a temp holding account of 'money that is expected but not deposited yet'.

2) For this step, the amounts in the transit asset account are 'swept' out from the transit asset account to the checking asset account. This is done for each 'deposit date'. This is because the date of the contribution from step 1 above may not be the same date as when the bank actually receives the amount.
so, this step reconciles the 'expected money' step above which separates out the fees from the amount received, to show actual deposit amounts, which may be a combined amount from multiple contributions.

Then, when you go to reconcile the bank account(s) within PowerChurch (the reconcile function), the deposit amounts in powerchurch match the bank statement.

Hope this helps a bit.