Submitted by lizb@twcny.rr.com on Sat, 2008-07-26 11:29.
I am a new member, trying to read in data from my Excel file into ebase. How do I read in information about anonymous donors(those not wanting to be listed on our annual role of donors) and gifts made "in honor of ......" or "in memory of ". The first(anonymity) is an attribute of the donor, while the second is for a particular gift.
All of this info is required to draw up the annual honor role, Names of donors, which is divided into 7 sections according to size of gift.
I also have some gifts which are designated for certain projects or for the endowment. This doesn't go on the honor role, but should be noted so we can establish that the money is handled appropriately.
You are correct that anonymous donors are a completely different beast than tribute gifts.
1) anonymous donors - are people and are (hopefully!) only anonymous to the public. So you need a field you will use for text that will be used for publications. I suggest one of the Custom Demographic fields on the Profile screen.
2) tribute gifts - are a type of payment. You add a log entry ("Tribute") to the donor's record, and use another field to note to whom and why the gift was given. Either the Description of Log Entry or Note field would be useful.
3) When you will publish the honor roll, you can look for the 7 different levels by searching using a date range and an amount.
4) Restricted funds should definitely be handled different in your accounting system. You have more leeway in how you attribute them in the database because it shouldn't be the final word to the IRS. The database is a mostly internal resource. You can create a log entry "Restricted Funds" and note to which project in the Description or Note field.
Data entry
I am a new member, trying to read in data from my Excel file into ebase. How do I read in information about anonymous donors(those not wanting to be listed on our annual role of donors) and gifts made "in honor of ......" or "in memory of ". The first(anonymity) is an attribute of the donor, while the second is for a particular gift.
All of this info is required to draw up the annual honor role, Names of donors, which is divided into 7 sections according to size of gift.
I also have some gifts which are designated for certain projects or for the endowment. This doesn't go on the honor role, but should be noted so we can establish that the money is handled appropriately.
Liz
Separate types
Welcome Liz!
You are correct that anonymous donors are a completely different beast than tribute gifts.
1) anonymous donors - are people and are (hopefully!) only anonymous to the public. So you need a field you will use for text that will be used for publications. I suggest one of the Custom Demographic fields on the Profile screen.
2) tribute gifts - are a type of payment. You add a log entry ("Tribute") to the donor's record, and use another field to note to whom and why the gift was given. Either the Description of Log Entry or Note field would be useful.
3) When you will publish the honor roll, you can look for the 7 different levels by searching using a date range and an amount.
4) Restricted funds should definitely be handled different in your accounting system. You have more leeway in how you attribute them in the database because it shouldn't be the final word to the IRS. The database is a mostly internal resource. You can create a log entry "Restricted Funds" and note to which project in the Description or Note field.
Hope this helps!
Beth Hynes