How do i handle Memorials

[Zion Islandlake]

Memorials

We currently handle memorials through the contribution module. we have a contribution fund for memorials but it all goes to our general fund account and checking. so there is away a portion of our checking balance that has a restricted use by being a memorial. I will tell you up front In not as versed in accounting and or power church as i should be, and may never be, but we do get by. What i would like to do is have a way where Individual memorial balances can be tracked so when some or all of it is used it either zeros out or shows the remaining balance. Also there are several memorials that existed prior to us starting power church that are listed as a lump sum. but there is paper record of the break down. I would like that paper record to become part of power church. I realize that there may need to be two different process. one for new memorials and one for past. but would like them all recorded in one account by individual donor. So is there a simple way for an inexperienced P.C. user to get this done? I also should add that several of the lump sum memorial donors are not listed as members or contributors. I hope I have thoroughly explained my issue.
Thanks for any input.

[NeilZ]

Memorials

We currently handle memorials through the contribution module. we have a contribution fund for memorials but it all goes to our general fund account and checking. so there is away a portion of our checking balance that has a restricted use by being a memorial. I will tell you up front In not as versed in accounting and or power church as i should be, and may never be, but we do get by. What i would like to do is have a way where Individual memorial balances can be tracked so when some or all of it is used it either zeros out or shows the remaining balance. Also there are several memorials that existed prior to us starting power church that are listed as a lump sum. but there is paper record of the break down. I would like that paper record to become part of power church. I realize that there may need to be two different process. one for new memorials and one for past. but would like them all recorded in one account by individual donor. So is there a simple way for an inexperienced P.C. user to get this done? I also should add that several of the lump sum memorial donors are not listed as members or contributors. I hope I have thoroughly explained my issue.
Thanks for any input.

1. Tracking Memorials through Contributions IS the way to do this. You MUST give the donor credit for giving on their statement for taxes at the end of the year.

2. Why do you want to maintain 'individual' memorial balances? The way I see it is that the donations are given to the church for its use in its ministry, and can be used in any way it wants, with whatever memorial money it wants. Otherwise the church board is held hostage by people wanting to fund this, but there are no funds to repair the roof.

If you could try to explain why you need to track individual gifts instead of as a total amount it would help to give some advice.

[Zion Islandlake]

Some of our memorials are given with specific uses attached or given with a specific use forthcoming. So to honor the donors request they are tracked until that is completed. We are a small church so it makes this somewhat possible, granted probably not the best system. If they are given for general use they are not tracked.

[NeilZ]

Some of our memorials are given with specific uses attached or given with a specific use forthcoming. So to honor the donors request they are tracked until that is completed. We are a small church so it makes this somewhat possible, granted probably not the best system. If they are given for general use they are not tracked.

Well, depending on the size of the donation, it may be easier to track small donations in an Excel spreadsheet as these types of donations do not merit a separate restricted account. For those donations exceeding a certain amount, say 4K or 5K you may want to create a separate donor restricted account. The problem then becomes what happens with the restricted account after you finish using all the funds that were initially allocated. My suggestion is that the following year you can then 'rename' the restricted account for reuse.

The reason is that you really can't delete the account once used until you decide to do a cleanup of old accounting data, which you really can't do (per IRS) for at least 7 years or so. So my suggestion is as follows:

When you get a large amount donated, such as over 5K for an specific thing, you create a Donor Restriction. The system has a 'wizard' that will help, and it will create the income, release and equity/fund balance account for this item. It will also optionally create an expense account too. Each time you spend money for whatever the memorial was given for, you would use the expense account you may have created, and RELEASE funds from the restricted account when you write the check.

If you use it all in one year, great! You can then rename the accounts (income fund balance, expense & release) in the following year to reuse those for any new memorial that comes in. If you don't do this you should mark them inactive, but they they'll hang around until you clear out old data.

All in all, it may be a better option to track these outside of Powerchurch in a spreadsheet, and only use the restricted accounts to collect all the funds in one place. Then when you release, you can add the note that you are releasing funds from the "Smith Memorial for a new water fountain" in Powerchurch when you do the funds release; then update the spreadsheet to reflect the disbursement.

Another option would be to create a separate Accounting Fund, then create all those memorial restricted accounts there. You don't need to have a separate checking account as the program will maintain the separation of funds for you. Doing it this way, you don't have all those restricted income, release and associated expense accounts cluttering up your Operations Inc & Exp reports.