Designated Contribution Report

[fbcacctg]

Hi,

Our church has a contribution fund set up for a missions trip. We also have several members going on this trip. For those going, we have set up a designation for each person. People can give to this fund to support the missions trip in general, or they can also give towards a person's trip. For this, we use the designations.
This contribution fund is used for both designated and non-designated giving.

I know there is a "Designated Contributions" report....but I was wondering if there is a report that we can run that would detail who gave to the specific contribution fund....but EXCLUDE designated contributions. This would give us only those who gave towards the missions trip in general.
Under the "Posted Contributions" report, it would be great if there was an option to "exclude designated contributions" check box.
Basically I just need to know if there is a report that will exclude designated contributions to a particular fund.
Thanks.

[NeilZ]

Hi,

Our church has a contribution fund set up for a missions trip. We also have several members going on this trip. For those going, we have set up a designation for each person. People can give to this fund to support the missions trip in general, or they can also give towards a person's trip. For this, we use the designations.
This contribution fund is used for both designated and non-designated giving.

I know there is a "Designated Contributions" report....but I was wondering if there is a report that we can run that would detail who gave to the specific contribution fund....but EXCLUDE designated contributions. This would give us only those who gave towards the missions trip in general.
Under the "Posted Contributions" report, it would be great if there was an option to "exclude designated contributions" check box.
Basically I just need to know if there is a report that will exclude designated contributions to a particular fund.
Thanks.

Because these donations designated to support an individual are NOT deducible under IRS regulations, we have this sort of thing setup as a separate Contribution Fund and have that marked in V11 as not to be shown on the Individual Contributions Statement.

That said, I just checked and unless I"ve overlooked something, there is no report that would exclude such designated contributions.

[fbcacctg]

Hi,

I have to disagree on the deductibility of gifts to individuals and to our missions trip fund.
Whenever our church has had members go on a short-term missions trip and they raise support through the church, we have always had the donations as deductible. Our contributions fund for this missions trip is classified as "deductible".
I am fully aware that technically when a donor earmarks a check for a specific individual, that is a non-deductible gift.
But this is a different situation. It is the church board establishing a missions contribution fund, and since the church retains control of all funds given, we include all gifts as deductible....even if given towards an individual's missions trip.
In addition to being the treasurer at my church, I am also a full-time accountant at a non-profit ministry organization. We have employees who have to raise their own personal support, and we have also sent people on short-term missions trips. Donations to these individuals have always been tax deductible within IRS guidelines. We have several donors giving to the support of an individual....and these have always been considered deductible. We are audited annually by an independent audit firm, and the deductibility of these kinds of gifts has never been an issue. The key is if the church or organization has legally established the donation fund and controls the funds.
I know there is much more to this issue, but this is how it works in a nutshell.

[NeilZ]

Hi,

I have to disagree on the deductibility of gifts to individuals and to our missions trip fund.
Whenever our church has had members go on a short-term missions trip and they raise support through the church, we have always had the donations as deductible. Our contributions fund for this missions trip is classified as "deductible".
I am fully aware that technically when a donor earmarks a check for a specific individual, that is a non-deductible gift.
But this is a different situation. It is the church board establishing a missions contribution fund, and since the church retains control of all funds given, we include all gifts as deductible....even if given towards an individual's missions trip.
In addition to being the treasurer at my church, I am also a full-time accountant at a non-profit ministry organization. We have employees who have to raise their own personal support, and we have also sent people on short-term missions trips. Donations to these individuals have always been tax deductible within IRS guidelines. We have several donors giving to the support of an individual....and these have always been considered deductible. We are audited annually by an independent audit firm, and the deductibility of these kinds of gifts has never been an issue. The key is if the church or organization has legally established the donation fund and controls the funds.
I know there is much more to this issue, but this is how it works in a nutshell.

In this case, since the church does retain control, I totally agree. I didn't read it that way initially, sorry.

So back to the original idea, you could just create a separate Contribution Fund with designations for this, but all posting to the same Funds Accounting account.

[bookkeeper-sheila]

When we do a missions trip this year, I have thought about using contribution fund numbers for each traveler, then also a general donation for the trip in general. Right now, I have general gifts to the trip, then fundraising to the trip, posted to two different fund accounts. For each person, I would have a code for each person (and I could change their names each year...if necessary), and all the contribution fund codes would be pointing to the same income account. So a lot of extra posting in contributions, but only one deposit to fund accounting.

[NeilZ]

When we do a missions trip this year, I have thought about using contribution fund numbers for each traveler, then also a general donation for the trip in general. Right now, I have general gifts to the trip, then fundraising to the trip, posted to two different fund accounts. For each person, I would have a code for each person (and I could change their names each year...if necessary), and all the contribution fund codes would be pointing to the same income account. So a lot of extra posting in contributions, but only one deposit to fund accounting.

Sheila, when you move to version 11, you won't have to do all that, all you need to do is just designate on the donation. You would have to add the name of the person to the designated gifts list, but that is easily done.

However, if you wanted a list of general and specific mission trip support gifts, you would probably have to use separate contribution funds pointing to the same Funds Accounting account.

[bookkeeper-sheila]

that sounds intriguing...yet another reason why I am anxiously awaiting my council's approval-go-ahead to purchase version 11!!!

[NeilZ]

that sounds intriguing...yet another reason why I am anxiously awaiting my council's approval-go-ahead to purchase version 11!!!

The upgrade is not expensive, and well worth it in time savings.

Here's another argument.

You don't see Microsoft keeping support available for Windows NT/98/Millenium/2000, but Version 9 is in the same 'age range'. MS has even dropped support for any version of Windows XP prior to Service Pack 3 !!

Powerchurch is a lot smaller company, eventually they'll have to drop support for 9 in favor of development of v12 !!

[Zorak]

eventually they'll have to drop support for 9 in favor of development of v12 !!

Just to clarify, we will always offer technical support for any version of the software, but we only keep two versions under maintenance. That means there will be no further Maintenance Releases for Version 9. Only 10 and 11.

[NeilZ]

eventually they'll have to drop support for 9 in favor of development of v12 !!

Just to clarify, we will always offer technical support for any version of the software, but we only keep two versions under maintenance. That means there will be no further Maintenance Releases for Version 9. Only 10 and 11.

That's what I meant by support. You can go to the Microsoft site and get tech info on Win95, doesn't mean they're going to fix anything ...