sql-ledger-users

[SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Wallace R. C. <wrc...@gm...>]

I selected the California non-profit CoA, hoping that would get me
close.  For donors, I set them up as customers, since they're "buying"
a "donation" which I'll probably set up as a service.

Does this sound correct so far?
-- 
Best Regards,
Wallace

Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Paul T. <pt...@wa...>]

Donations are GIFTS.
Iirc a gift is defined as something given with NO rights to or expectation
of any kind.

Sure , if people are giving you money it might be handy to have them in a
CRM (customer relation management) to send christmas greetings and or beg
letters. But that has nothing to do with  donations or accounting.

Unless you plan to keep up a frequent donations scheme, there is no need to
enter all personal data of people donating anything. Just the journal entry
BANK debit, donations incoming credit.
There is NO sale, so no sales account. There IS income (incoming donations)
so it is strictly an income account.

For tax deductions their own bankstatement should be sufficient, and you may
want to note the adresses, but not in the financial data I suggest. (Privacy
Laws in Europe are a lot tighter, we MAY not enter that kind of data even if
we like without the written consent of the person being registered. But then
we always were a silly bunch to begin with ;-)

Hth

Paul

2007/11/28, Wallace Roberts Consulting <wrc...@gm...>:
>
> I selected the California non-profit CoA, hoping that would get me
> close.  For donors, I set them up as customers, since they're "buying"
> a "donation" which I'll probably set up as a service.
>
> Does this sound correct so far?
> --
> Best Regards,
> Wallace
>
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Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Wallace R. C. <wrc...@gm...>]

On 11/28/07, Paul Tammes <pt...@wa...> wrote:
> Donations are GIFTS.
> Iirc a gift is defined as something given with NO rights to or expectation
> of any kind.
>
> Sure , if people are giving you money it might be handy to have them in a
> CRM (customer relation management) to send christmas greetings and or beg
> letters. But that has nothing to do with  donations or accounting.
>
> Unless you plan to keep up a frequent donations scheme, there is no need to
> enter all personal data of people donating anything. Just the journal entry
> BANK debit, donations incoming credit.
> There is NO sale, so no sales account. There IS income (incoming donations)
> so it is strictly an income account.
>
> For tax deductions their own bankstatement should be sufficient, and you may
> want to note the adresses, but not in the financial data I suggest. (Privacy
> Laws in Europe are a lot tighter, we MAY not enter that kind of data even if
> we like without the written consent of the person being registered. But then
> we always were a silly bunch to begin with ;-)

Paul,

This is for a church, so yes, the donations are pretty frequent &
regular.  We need to track them by person, because we can then provide
a statement for each person at the end of the year, thus allowing them
to deduct their donations on their income taxes.  This is SOP here in
the USA.
-- 
Best Regards,
Wallace

Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Rich S. <rsh...@ap...>]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007, Wallace Roberts Consulting wrote:

> This is for a church, so yes, the donations are pretty frequent & regular. 
> We need to track them by person, because we can then provide a statement
> for each person at the end of the year, thus allowing them to deduct their
> donations on their income taxes.  This is SOP here in the USA.

Wallace,

   SQL-Ledger will allow you to handle the church's finances in any of several
ways. I would urge you to speak to the accountant and ask her how she
prefers to have donations tracked. They could easily be considered
customers/clients and an A/R record for each established. This would provide
reports on donations (as customer/client payments) as statements that can be
printed and sent periodically.

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.               |  Integrity            Credibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.        |            Innovation
<http://www.appl-ecosys.com>     Voice: 503-667-4517      Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Paul T. <pt...@wa...>]

In that case by all means, use customers and the sales function to "sell"
them donations.
Just remember you are not actually selling anything.

Although people tend te get hope and relief at churches, there are no
physical goods.
So using a service may be correct at that.
Tip: Pricing it at 1$ will make the year end statement processing easier

And like I said, we are overprotective on privacy in Europe.
I mean, who would be ashamed if it became public that they give money to
church or charity?

Greetings,
Paul

2007/11/28, Wallace Roberts Consulting <wrc...@gm...>:
>
> On 11/28/07, Paul Tammes <pt...@wa...> wrote:
> > Donations are GIFTS.
> > Iirc a gift is defined as something given with NO rights to or
> expectation
> > of any kind.
> >
> > Sure , if people are giving you money it might be handy to have them in
> a
> > CRM (customer relation management) to send christmas greetings and or
> beg
> > letters. But that has nothing to do with  donations or accounting.
> >
> > Unless you plan to keep up a frequent donations scheme, there is no need
> to
> > enter all personal data of people donating anything. Just the journal
> entry
> > BANK debit, donations incoming credit.
> > There is NO sale, so no sales account. There IS income (incoming
> donations)
> > so it is strictly an income account.
> >
> > For tax deductions their own bankstatement should be sufficient, and you
> may
> > want to note the adresses, but not in the financial data I suggest.
> (Privacy
> > Laws in Europe are a lot tighter, we MAY not enter that kind of data
> even if
> > we like without the written consent of the person being registered. But
> then
> > we always were a silly bunch to begin with ;-)
>
> Paul,
>
> This is for a church, so yes, the donations are pretty frequent &
> regular.  We need to track them by person, because we can then provide
> a statement for each person at the end of the year, thus allowing them
> to deduct their donations on their income taxes.  This is SOP here in
> the USA.
> --
> Best Regards,
> Wallace
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> SF.Net email is sponsored by: The Future of Linux Business White Paper
> from Novell.  From the desktop to the data center, Linux is going
> mainstream.  Let it simplify your IT future.
> http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/8857-50307-18918-4
> _______________________________________________
> sql-ledger-users mailing list
> sql...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sql-ledger-users
>
>

Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Wallace R. C. <wrc...@gm...>]

On 11/28/07, Paul Tammes <pt...@wa...> wrote:
> In that case by all means, use customers and the sales function to "sell"
> them donations. Just remember you are not actually selling anything.

Well, yes -- not anything tangible... ;-)

> Although people tend te get hope and relief at churches, there are no
> physical goods.
> So using a service may be correct at that.
> Tip: Pricing it at 1$ will make the year end statement processing easier

I see.  So, if somebody donates $100, they get a quantity of 100 of
these $1 "donation" services?

> And like I said, we are overprotective on privacy in Europe.
> I mean, who would be ashamed if it became public that they give money to
> church or charity?

I think the concern is more of what happens if a thief breaks in &
steals the computer on which all this personal information is stored.
"Aye, there's the rub."  The thief could use that information to
commit identity fraud.  This has happened numerous times in the USA on
a very large scale; for example, last year thieves stole the personal
information of over 40,000 people from a credit card processing site.

-- 
Best Regards,
Wallace

Re: [SL] Setting up a non-profit

[Bob G. <bo...@rc...>]

On Nov 28, 2007, at 16:52, Paul Tammes wrote:

> <snip>

> And like I said, we are overprotective on privacy in Europe.
> I mean, who would be ashamed if it became public that they give  
> money to
> church or charity?


If you are in the US, and the church happens to be a muslim  
organization, there might be a problem :-)

Unfortunate, but true.

Bob G