contributions non deductible

[Sandy]

Our church is buying t-shirts for members to wear at certain functions (mostly outreach) to get a bulk purchase price. Members are paying for their own shirts. They are writing checks to the church and the church is paying by credit card. What is the best way to enter these checks so they are not deductible and not showing on contribution reports. This will be an ongoing thing meaning we will purchase shirts again at a later date.

Thanks in advance

[NeilZ]

Our church is buying t-shirts for members to wear at certain functions (mostly outreach) to get a bulk purchase price. Members are paying for their own shirts. They are writing checks to the church and the church is paying by credit card. What is the best way to enter these checks so they are not deductible and not showing on contribution reports. This will be an ongoing thing meaning we will purchase shirts again at a later date.

Thanks in advance

There are two ways to handle this, through the Accounts Receivable function, or Contributions. As this sounds like its the only thing you're going to sell like this, I would setup a Contribution Fund for this process.

First off, as this is not going to be income to the church as I'm assuming what they're paying is the actual cost to the church for each shirt, you should create a miscellaneous income account in your Chart of Accounts, as this should not be counted as part of tithes and offerings.

Then in Contributions, create a Contribution Fund with a number that is outside what you would normally use, say 2000. Make sure the checkbox that says 'include in statements' is UNCHECKED, and then under the accounting, point to your bank account (Normally checking), and the Miscellaneous Income account. Then record all the income for the shirts under this new fund. You can then pull reports using the contribution fund number.

Hope this helps.

[Sandy]

Thank you