to tell how much money I have in special offerings. I haven't found an easy way to handle special offerings so i have a Pass Thru Contribution acct. set up. Under that i have 6 offerings that are taken every year in the United Methodist Church. All other special offerings just go into "Special Offerings". however, when it comes time to pay those special offerings the only thing I have found to do is to print an account activity report for Special Offerings and then go through it line by line blacking out the funds and their payments and seeing what is left.
Other than making an account in my COA every time someone dies or someone asks for donations is there something I am missing? I know I can run a report in contributions telling me how much I have taken in in a certain offering -- nope that only works if I have it broken out. There again, I have most things going to "Special Offerings". Is making a new account for every single thing that comes down the pike the only way to get what I need?
Laurie
There has to be an easier way.....
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peabodyumc
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Re: There has to be an easier way.....
Laurie,peabodyumc wrote:to tell how much money I have in special offerings. I haven't found an easy way to handle special offerings so i have a Pass Thru Contribution acct. set up. Under that i have 6 offerings that are taken every year in the United Methodist Church. All other special offerings just go into "Special Offerings". however, when it comes time to pay those special offerings the only thing I have found to do is to print an account activity report for Special Offerings and then go through it line by line blacking out the funds and their payments and seeing what is left.
Other than making an account in my COA every time someone dies or someone asks for donations is there something I am missing? I know I can run a report in contributions telling me how much I have taken in in a certain offering -- nope that only works if I have it broken out. There again, I have most things going to "Special Offerings". Is making a new account for every single thing that comes down the pike the only way to get what I need?
Laurie
in the PCUSA we have five or six special offerings that are standard throughout the year. Each offering has its own special envelope, and our Financial secretary has created a separate contribution fund for each one. This way on the contribution statemetns we can show the contributor what each contribution was directed to.
This can work out for you if you don't want to separate out the different offerings in your COA. You can use the totals listed for the year in the contribution funds report to create your checks from the 'Special Offerings'.
However, we break these offerings down in our yearly budget, and allocate so much based on previous years. So each contribution fund is mapped to its own income line item in the budget. If we hit or surpass our initial target, great we send out the entire amount .. if not, we make up the shortfall out of operating funds. We've not had to make it up in a while, since we now have a handle on the usual committments made by our congregation.
Neil Zampella
Using PC+ since 1999.
Using PC+ since 1999.
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peabodyumc
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Re: There has to be an easier way.....
" Each offering has its own special envelope, and our Financial secretary has created a separate contribution fund for each one. This way on the contribution statemetns we can show the contributor what each contribution was directed to."
That is how the UMC does special offerings as well -- we have special envelopes. So in contributions I have accounts set up for Peace with Justice Sunday, UM Student Sunday, etc. Those contribution accounts are tied to an income account of the same name. So those I can easily see how much has been contributed and even after I have sent the money in and a straggler donates to that offering I can tell by my Balance Sheet how much I still owe.
However, when Susie Q dies I make a contribution acct. for the Susie Q memorial but it is tied to the income account called Special Offerings. When the after prom committee asks for donations for the after prom party I put that in the contribution account called After Prom. This contribution account is tied to an income account called (surprisingly enough) Special Offerings. So I run a report in Contributions and it tells me that I have collected $125 for Susie's memorial and $75 for the after prom party. But I paid $50 of the after prom party money a couple months ago and someone donated a check after that payment. So the contribution report shows Susie Q $125 and After Prom $75 but my balance sheet shows Special Offerings $150. I don't see any way to get a breakdown of what I still need to pay out if I continue the practice above. (I have to transfer the memorial monies out to a savings acct. that someone else manages so I need to know how much to send her.)
The way I am doing it still breaks everything down on the giving statement for everyone (and I just sent our first 2nd qtr statement and have to say how cool it was -- especially for those people who give to lots of different things!) but figuring out what is left to pay is a major hassle. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do an income acct. for every contribution acct. to get the figures I need.
Laurie
That is how the UMC does special offerings as well -- we have special envelopes. So in contributions I have accounts set up for Peace with Justice Sunday, UM Student Sunday, etc. Those contribution accounts are tied to an income account of the same name. So those I can easily see how much has been contributed and even after I have sent the money in and a straggler donates to that offering I can tell by my Balance Sheet how much I still owe.
However, when Susie Q dies I make a contribution acct. for the Susie Q memorial but it is tied to the income account called Special Offerings. When the after prom committee asks for donations for the after prom party I put that in the contribution account called After Prom. This contribution account is tied to an income account called (surprisingly enough) Special Offerings. So I run a report in Contributions and it tells me that I have collected $125 for Susie's memorial and $75 for the after prom party. But I paid $50 of the after prom party money a couple months ago and someone donated a check after that payment. So the contribution report shows Susie Q $125 and After Prom $75 but my balance sheet shows Special Offerings $150. I don't see any way to get a breakdown of what I still need to pay out if I continue the practice above. (I have to transfer the memorial monies out to a savings acct. that someone else manages so I need to know how much to send her.)
The way I am doing it still breaks everything down on the giving statement for everyone (and I just sent our first 2nd qtr statement and have to say how cool it was -- especially for those people who give to lots of different things!) but figuring out what is left to pay is a major hassle. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do an income acct. for every contribution acct. to get the figures I need.
Laurie
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Matt
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Laurie,
In order to get the tracking you are looking for you will need to set up separate income and expense accounts for each designation. However, you could set up one group income account called "Special Offerings" at a level 5 and then set up subaccounts under that account at level 6. That way you could print your Income and Expense Statement at level 5 and only the Group Account with a summary total would show.
If you set up designated income and expense accounts with the same subaccount numbers for that designation you could then run the sub-account report in Fund Accounting to quickly see how much income you have received, how much you have paid out, and what the remaining unpaid balance is for each designation. I find this setup to be extremely useful in tracking designations and determining what is left to pay.
Matt
In order to get the tracking you are looking for you will need to set up separate income and expense accounts for each designation. However, you could set up one group income account called "Special Offerings" at a level 5 and then set up subaccounts under that account at level 6. That way you could print your Income and Expense Statement at level 5 and only the Group Account with a summary total would show.
If you set up designated income and expense accounts with the same subaccount numbers for that designation you could then run the sub-account report in Fund Accounting to quickly see how much income you have received, how much you have paid out, and what the remaining unpaid balance is for each designation. I find this setup to be extremely useful in tracking designations and determining what is left to pay.
Matt
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peabodyumc
- Posts: 81
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- Location: Peabody UMC
Laurie,
I use Flow Thru's for money collected for Fund Trips...ie Women of Faith. The money is deposited and paid out just to that activity.
You said you have 6 of these. They should be appearing on your Balance Sheet with each title and amount in each Pass Thru. If they aren't, check on your report level for these 6 in your COA.
For yearly contributions that will go towards someone's contribution statement I use Funds with sub-accounts.
To track givings. I have a Missions Fund then sub-accounts in it.
Designated Fund
40-Mission Fund
Fund report only shows the total in the funds...money given to the Missions Fund and the sub-accounts.
Sub-Accout Report
40-4554-041 Missions: Children's Home (Income)
40-4555-041 Missions: UMCOR(Income)
40-5940-041 Missions: Children's Home (Expense)
40-5941-041 Missions: UMCOR (Expense)
To add these in your Chart of Account you would enter the 4554-041 and then check which Fund you want it included in...40 Missions.
To keep track of totals that come in and what was spent run the Sub-Account Report. To keep track of individual givings I use the Contributions Module. I create a contribution number for each sub-account.
40-Missions
41-Missions: Children's Home
42-Missions: UMCOR
I know that PowerChurch now has Donor Restrictions, but I have not had time to look at it yet... and there is iformation written in the PowerChurch Tales from the Tech # 30?.
Once you just get started with the way that you decide you need, you will see how fast your work will go. It's the deciding part, because there are a variety of options.
God bless you~Kristi
[/u]
I use Flow Thru's for money collected for Fund Trips...ie Women of Faith. The money is deposited and paid out just to that activity.
You said you have 6 of these. They should be appearing on your Balance Sheet with each title and amount in each Pass Thru. If they aren't, check on your report level for these 6 in your COA.
For yearly contributions that will go towards someone's contribution statement I use Funds with sub-accounts.
To track givings. I have a Missions Fund then sub-accounts in it.
Designated Fund
40-Mission Fund
Fund report only shows the total in the funds...money given to the Missions Fund and the sub-accounts.
Sub-Accout Report
40-4554-041 Missions: Children's Home (Income)
40-4555-041 Missions: UMCOR(Income)
40-5940-041 Missions: Children's Home (Expense)
40-5941-041 Missions: UMCOR (Expense)
To add these in your Chart of Account you would enter the 4554-041 and then check which Fund you want it included in...40 Missions.
To keep track of totals that come in and what was spent run the Sub-Account Report. To keep track of individual givings I use the Contributions Module. I create a contribution number for each sub-account.
40-Missions
41-Missions: Children's Home
42-Missions: UMCOR
I know that PowerChurch now has Donor Restrictions, but I have not had time to look at it yet... and there is iformation written in the PowerChurch Tales from the Tech # 30?.
Once you just get started with the way that you decide you need, you will see how fast your work will go. It's the deciding part, because there are a variety of options.
God bless you~Kristi
[/u]
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
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peabodyumc
- Posts: 81
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- Location: Peabody UMC
Kristi AND Neil....
What happened!!!!????
Kristi -- I do have 6 pass thru accts but they are for 6 special offerings that the UM church takes every year. For all the other little things that come down the pike I just used one more pass thru called Special Offerings. I get a total of my special offerings on my balance sheet but no breakdown of the different fund amounts in that special offerings acct. Like right now I just received some memorial money in memory of a recently deceased member. I would set up a contribution fund under name so that any contributions from church members will have her name on their contribution statement. But I was putting that contribution fund into special offerings. So when I went to pay the different things special offerings wouldn't give me a breakdown -- just a total that I need to pay out.
What i will do with this memorial is set up a contribution fund in Rosemary's name. Then under special offerings I will set up a liability sub account in Rosemary's name. When I run my balance sheet to see how much I have to pay out from special offerings I should get a breakdown but when I just run my BS for the board I won't tear it down that far -- they won't care about that figure as I don't enter non-member memorial gifts into the system. So the figure in special offerings isn't a complete picture of Rosemary's memorial -- that will have to come from the gal in charge of memorial funds. I am just trying to make sure members get credit for their gifts and I can distribute the money where I need to.
Thanks for your suggestion though. I will have to sit down and take a look at it. I find it confusing when we all have different names for the groups we give money to and the funds/accts. we use. I am sure I am using them incorrectly which is part of my confusion!!
Laurie
What happened!!!!????
Kristi -- I do have 6 pass thru accts but they are for 6 special offerings that the UM church takes every year. For all the other little things that come down the pike I just used one more pass thru called Special Offerings. I get a total of my special offerings on my balance sheet but no breakdown of the different fund amounts in that special offerings acct. Like right now I just received some memorial money in memory of a recently deceased member. I would set up a contribution fund under name so that any contributions from church members will have her name on their contribution statement. But I was putting that contribution fund into special offerings. So when I went to pay the different things special offerings wouldn't give me a breakdown -- just a total that I need to pay out.
What i will do with this memorial is set up a contribution fund in Rosemary's name. Then under special offerings I will set up a liability sub account in Rosemary's name. When I run my balance sheet to see how much I have to pay out from special offerings I should get a breakdown but when I just run my BS for the board I won't tear it down that far -- they won't care about that figure as I don't enter non-member memorial gifts into the system. So the figure in special offerings isn't a complete picture of Rosemary's memorial -- that will have to come from the gal in charge of memorial funds. I am just trying to make sure members get credit for their gifts and I can distribute the money where I need to.
Thanks for your suggestion though. I will have to sit down and take a look at it. I find it confusing when we all have different names for the groups we give money to and the funds/accts. we use. I am sure I am using them incorrectly which is part of my confusion!!
Laurie
Laurie,
The way we handle something similar here is to reserve a block of sub-account numbers that you figure would be sufficient to cover the number of items you may see "come down the pike", that you use under a heading account you would call 'Special Offerings'. Set the report level of the special offering heading account at the level you print for the reports for the board, so they won't see all the details they don't need, and the sub-accounts you will create as they come down the pike at one level lower. You create on the expense side a heading called "disbursal of special offerings" and whenever a new category of special offering comes down the pike, you create both an income and expense account at the subaccount level using one of the unused sub-account numbers from the reserved block, with the income one linked to the contribution module account created for that special offering. By printing a sub-account report ranged for the block of accounts under 'Special Offerings', both income and expense for each sub-account will be printed as well as the difference between them, so you can see if as much has been disbursed as taken in. Sounds like a bit of work, but in the long run, is less hassle than picking through a lot of lines of activity if everything is posted into one general 'Special Offering' account number, to try to find how much has come in for a certain offering, and to compare on the expense side if the right amount was sent out for it. With 1000 sub account numbers available(000-999), maybe you can find an unused block you can set aside for this purpose. Accounts that only get used once can probably be re-used several years later for future one time only items once backups have been done prior to database cleanup. I don't know if there is a suggested maximum number of years of data to keep in the current database to prevent it from becoming too large for efficient operation, since we haven't had the ability for fund accounting to hold more than 1 year of data before version 9. Maybe there is a filesize limit we will need to keep an eye on to decide when to do a cleanup of old data, and smaller churches won't reach that limit as soon as larger ones.
The way we handle something similar here is to reserve a block of sub-account numbers that you figure would be sufficient to cover the number of items you may see "come down the pike", that you use under a heading account you would call 'Special Offerings'. Set the report level of the special offering heading account at the level you print for the reports for the board, so they won't see all the details they don't need, and the sub-accounts you will create as they come down the pike at one level lower. You create on the expense side a heading called "disbursal of special offerings" and whenever a new category of special offering comes down the pike, you create both an income and expense account at the subaccount level using one of the unused sub-account numbers from the reserved block, with the income one linked to the contribution module account created for that special offering. By printing a sub-account report ranged for the block of accounts under 'Special Offerings', both income and expense for each sub-account will be printed as well as the difference between them, so you can see if as much has been disbursed as taken in. Sounds like a bit of work, but in the long run, is less hassle than picking through a lot of lines of activity if everything is posted into one general 'Special Offering' account number, to try to find how much has come in for a certain offering, and to compare on the expense side if the right amount was sent out for it. With 1000 sub account numbers available(000-999), maybe you can find an unused block you can set aside for this purpose. Accounts that only get used once can probably be re-used several years later for future one time only items once backups have been done prior to database cleanup. I don't know if there is a suggested maximum number of years of data to keep in the current database to prevent it from becoming too large for efficient operation, since we haven't had the ability for fund accounting to hold more than 1 year of data before version 9. Maybe there is a filesize limit we will need to keep an eye on to decide when to do a cleanup of old data, and smaller churches won't reach that limit as soon as larger ones.
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Zaphod
- Program Development
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Sorry about all that, guys. I'm not sure what happened, but I've managed to delete the duplicate posts. Whenever there are problems, please email me at webmaster@powerchurch.com. I'm currently researching new hosts for our website, so we'll probably be moving at some point. We seem to be outgrowing our current host, which was a big step up just a couple of years ago. That's a good thing, I guess.NeilZ wrote:The website has been doing some really strange things on this end. I only submitted once, and it showed up twice !! I'll try to delete one.
Well ... can't do it from my end on those two .. but it would let me delete this one !!
When you find a good host, let me know .. we're looking to get off Earthlink .. <sigh> ...Zaphod wrote:Sorry about all that, guys. I'm not sure what happened, but I've managed to delete the duplicate posts. Whenever there are problems, please email me at webmaster@powerchurch.com. I'm currently researching new hosts for our website, so we'll probably be moving at some point. We seem to be outgrowing our current host, which was a big step up just a couple of years ago. That's a good thing, I guess.NeilZ wrote:The website has been doing some really strange things on this end. I only submitted once, and it showed up twice !! I'll try to delete one.
Well ... can't do it from my end on those two .. but it would let me delete this one !!
Neil Zampella
Using PC+ since 1999.
Using PC+ since 1999.