Indirect/Soft Gifts

[Terry Bentley]

Is there a way to log an indirect gift/"soft" gift, such as a donor requesting that their Charitable Fund or Donor Designated Fund give the gift. But the donor who requested that is the contact and responsible one that we'd like to thank, even if we don't send them a tax-deductible receipt for the gift.

Any help would be appreicated.

Thanks!

Terry

[NeilZ]

Is there a way to log an indirect gift/"soft" gift, such as a donor requesting that their Charitable Fund or Donor Designated Fund give the gift. But the donor who requested that is the contact and responsible one that we'd like to thank, even if we don't send them a tax-deductible receipt for the gift.

Any help would be appreicated.

Thanks!

Terry

Any donor's that has a fund send a check to the church, should have that contribution entered under their envelope number, unless its some type of 'matching' fund, in which a simple card to the sponsoring contributor is what I've done in the past.

For example. John has part of his annual 401k required withdrawal sent directly to the church. That is something he pays taxes on and, as such, should get listed on the Contribution Statement.

James is a regular contributor, and his company matches his giving by sending a check to the church. James does not get credited on his statement, but a card letting him know that his company has matched his donations have arrived, and thanking him for having that done.

[sgbani]

I agree with everything Neil has said.

One thing to point out, however, in the example provide about donations coming directly from the rretirement accounts / IRA trustee.
In the USA, some donations directly from an IRA to a charitable organization could be considered a QCD, qualified charitable contributions. These are not considered deductible donations.
I don't believe donations directly from 401k count as a QCD, though.
I highly suggest reading up on the IRS publications governing QCDs if not already familiar or have a process in place.
For a long time, we never received these. Changes in the tax code in 2017 shifted their popularity.

We choose not to commingle regular donations and QCDs on the same annual contribution statement. I do QCD receipts separately, and keep them off the annual statements.

[BBS]

I thought the OP was asking about how to record donations from, e.g., a DAF (Donor advised fund). I.e., the person who earned the money donated it to a charity and took the charitable contribution deduction when that donation was made to the DAF (there are DAFs called "Fidelity Charitable", "Schwab Charitable", etc.) However, when that human earner of the money wants to support some cause, he / she requests (advises) the DAF to send money to the church or other charity.

However, I think sgbani and NeilZ understood the question differently than I did. They may be right, but my first impression was as I wrote above. Just FYI. The OP has not chimed in again, so we don't know any more.

[NeilZ]

I thought the OP was asking about how to record donations from, e.g., a DAF (Donor advised fund). I.e., the person who earned the money donated it to a charity and took the charitable contribution deduction when that donation was made to the DAF (there are DAFs called "Fidelity Charitable", "Schwab Charitable", etc.) However, when that human earner of the money wants to support some cause, he / she requests (advises) the DAF to send money to the church or other charity.

However, I think sgbani and NeilZ understood the question differently than I did. They may be right, but my first impression was as I wrote above. Just FYI. The OP has not chimed in again, so we don't know any more.

You may be right, in which case the second part of my answer is the one to use. You enter the amount given by the charity fund using an envelope number that is outside the normal range of envelopes. I usually used a number in the 2000 to 2999 range. I would then send a card to the member to let them know that the donation was received.

[Terry Bentley]

Hi, thanks for your responses.

Yes, my question was about donors who use Donor Advised Funds, not retirement funds. I want to "link" the charitable organization (ex. Fidelity Charitable), to the donor without giving them a second tax deduction for the gift.

What happens when Fidelity Charitable is used by more than one donor? I want each gift to be "linked" to the proper donor.

Thanks,

Terry

[NeilZ]

Hi, thanks for your responses.

Yes, my question was about donors who use Donor Advised Funds, not retirement funds. I want to "link" the charitable organization (ex. Fidelity Charitable), to the donor without giving them a second tax deduction for the gift.

What happens when Fidelity Charitable is used by more than one donor? I want each gift to be "linked" to the proper donor.

Thanks,

Terry

I've never had a payment from Fidelity, although from others I've seen a statement that lists who the donation was made for.

[Terry Bentley]

If the charitable organization (i.e., Fidelity) sends donations from more than one Donor Advised Fund, then there is no way to "connect" the Donor Advised Fund to one specific donor. That's what I'm trying to get at. I want to connect each donor with their gift, even if they don't receive a tax-deduction for it.

Thanks,

Terry

[NeilZ]

If the charitable organization (i.e., Fidelity) sends donations from more than one Donor Advised Fund, then there is no way to "connect" the Donor Advised Fund to one specific donor. That's what I'm trying to get at. I want to connect each donor with their gift, even if they don't receive a tax-deduction for it.

Thanks,

Terry

You may have to contact Fidelity on that one ...

[Terry Bentley]

Thanks. The issue is not with Fidelity; it is with PowerChurch. How to record a "soft gift" donor (the donor behind the Donor Advised Fund) in the Contributions module, so that we can track all gifts that come from a donor.

[NeilZ]

Thanks. The issue is not with Fidelity; it is with PowerChurch. How to record a "soft gift" donor (the donor behind the Donor Advised Fund) in the Contributions module, so that we can track all gifts that come from a donor.

Not really. There are gifts you can't track in Powerchurch, such as non-monetary gifts. These we advise sending a letter acknowledging the gift for tax purposes, but that's not what you want to do.

You can create a non-deductable Contribution Fund that will not appear on the Contribution Statement for such donations. When you create the fund just uncheck the box that says Include fund on statements. You'll be able to see that the donor had directed funds to the church and run reports to see how much was given, but the donor won't see that on the statement at all.