Unusual Donations you may Receive

Table of Contents
For any weird data entry related situations, please see Development Director or ask AK/RK how they want it to be handled. Asking questions is ALWAYS the best policy

Atypical Correspondance:

Anonymous donations

Freebie renewals

Somebody writes RK or AK a letter
  1. Data enter donation and mark “Do Not Thank”
  2. Put in contact note summarizing letter
  3. Print 1st page of info sheet
  4. Put sheet in envelope and then place in RK's mailbox if the person is not a major donor. If they are a major donor, write MJD on the envelope and put in Adelaide’s box.
  5. It is always good to have someone third check before sending the envelope to RK

A member requests removal
  1. Put any sort of contact note in the record
  2. Print 1st page of info sheet
  3. Put in Richard's mailbox if they are not a major donor. If they are a major donor, write MJD on the envelope and put in Adelaide’s box.
  4. DO NOT remove MEM and replace with RMV until RK says it is okay. If he says it is okay, remove the MEM flag and replace it with RMV. Remember, the member will keep all of the other flags they have. ​

A member is deceased
  1. ​Put any sort of contact note in the record
  2. Add deceased flag, remove member flag. UNLESS there is a spouse on the record.
    • If there is a spouse on the record, change the record into the alive spouse's name and put the deceased spouse under the "spouse" section with the deceased box checked
  3. If a person is deceased, all of their flags stay with them except for member. (ex. MJD, CMG)
  4. Print ​out the info sheet
  5. Put in RK's mailbox if they are not a major donor, if they are a major donor put it in Adelaide’s box. One of them will write a condolence letter.

Donations over $1000
  1. Any donations $1000 or more should be data entered and deposited immediately.
  2. Do the first and second check the same as usual.
  3. Data enter as you would any other donation.
  4. Send an email to Adelaide with the info sheet attached, anytime that a 1000 dollar or more donation comes in - she likes to email or call the donor immediately and thank them.
  5. If a large donation (more than $5,000) comes in, it may be better to call Richard and Adelaide to let them know immediately.

A person’s credit card fails/ check bounces/ other donation problems
  1. You will need to call, email, and/ or mail the donor to let them know what happened (follow that order: call first, email, and then mail as a last resort).
  2. Failed Credit Card: It is easiest to take the remit slip with the details of the failed donation, put it in an envelope, and mail it back to them with a letter describing the problem.
  3. A copy of a letter for virtually any situation can be found in the membership drive> "letters” folder> "common responses" sub-folder.
  4. Make sure to put a very thorough contact note explaining what happened and the steps that you took.

A person sends us a blank check
  1. Call, email, and/ or mail (follow this order of contact) to let the person know that this happened. Make sure to tell them the check number and that we immediately shredded the check.
  2. Shred the check!

Atypical Ways to Donate

Corporate Matching Gifts
Matching Gifts occur when a corporation “matches” an employee’s gift made to Vote Smart. Sometimes they will match the gift in full (member donates $100, corporation donates $100), while other times they match 50 or 75% of the original gift. The corporation will usually send information listing the donor by name by email or mail.
  1. You may need to contact the company to make sure the donation is being attributed to the correct donor if no address/ name is given.
    • In some cases you may not be able to get this information - if you can’t, then data enter under Mister Anonymous.
  2. You may be contacted via email or mail to login to the corporation’s online giving website and verify the donation. Make sure that you do this! If you do not, we are missing out on potential incoming money. Login information for these can be found on DevComm Clipperz.
  3. Please make a note somewhere in the persons's record about what company is sending the matching gift on behalf of the donor.
  4. To data enter:
    • The original donation from the member (the gift the corporation is matching) should be data entered per normal - i.e. whatever solicitation code it was originally received with. The “Matching Gift XX” solicitation code should be used, is when you are data entering the matching gift from the corporation itself.
    • The matching gift from the corporation must be data entered under the member’s record. A record should NOT be created for the corporation.
    • Thank the member with the “matching gift” thank you letter - this letter will let them know that the gift from the corporation was received by us.

Recurring Donations via Check
Recurring donations via check are a very gray area. They fall under the solicitation code of “Recxx”.
A recurring donation via check is NOT going to arrive on the same day every month! It can vary between days, therefore, it can be hard to tell if it is recurring or not.
  1. To figure out if a check is recurring, I typically ask myself the following question: Did the member donate once every month, via a check for the same amount, every month, for the past several months?
  2. If the answer is yes then they should be given the “Reccxx” solicitation code, and be marked DNT.
  3. If the check comes from Chase or a payment service, that can be an indicator of the check being a recurring donation.

Gift Memberships
A member of Vote Smart may opt to “gift” a membership to someone they know that would enjoy Vote Smart. The receiver of the gift is going to typically be a new member.
  1. Data enter under the receiver of the gift membership: Solicitation code: “Giftxx”, Sub Solicitation: N, TY letter: “Gift Membership TY”
  2. The Gift membership thank you is not uploaded in DonorPerfect! You will need to go to “mailings and publications - 2017 mailings - 2017 TY Letter Templates - Gift Recipient letter”
  3. Fill out the highlighted pieces of information and make sure to personalize the letter.
  4. You should get in contact with the giver of the gift membership to thank them for helping to share PVS with others!
  5. Make sure to put a contact note in for both the receiver and giver of the gift to detail that a gift membership was given.

Memorial Gifts/ Gifts of Honor
Sometimes a donation will be given in honor of a family member/ friend (usually after the person has passed away). These donations will often be given by people who are NOT members of Vote Smart, in honor of a member of Vote Smart. However, members may also give memorial gifts to other members.
  1. Memorial gifts should be data entered under the person who gave the gift.
    • To data enter: use the “HONxx” solicitation code, and give them the 19 Memorial giver thank you letter.
    • This thank you letter is NOT uploaded in DonorPerfect - you can find it under “mailings and publications - 2017 mailings - 2017 TY Letter Templates - Memorial giver TY code 19”. You will need to personalize it and fill out the pieces of information highlighted in yellow.
  2. You will need to notify the family of the honoree, that this gift was given in their family member’s name. This letter will need to be personalized based off of that person’s involvement as a member.
    • There is an example letter that was used in the past that you can use for ideas - do not use it verbatim - personalize the letter!
      • The letter can be found under “mailings and publications - 2017 mailings - 2017 TY Letter Templates - Memorial giver TY code 20 - old example”
  3. IMPORTANT: When a memorial gift comes in, you will want to contact AK/ RK to make sure they don’t want to write a personalized thank you - for example, if the person had been a major giver, volunteer, friend of AK/RK, etc.
  4. Put a contact note and a gift note to explain that it was a memorial/ honor gift and who it was given in honor of.
  5. Make sure that you add the memorial/ honor gift onto the website by putting a ticket in with IT. Notify the family and send them a link to the page when it is live on the website.

Stock donations
Information requests on giving stock should ALWAYS be passed on to Adelaide.
  1. From time to time members give stock or securities to Vote Smart. This is handled by our broker Scott Ollerenshaw. The information a member will need is listed below:
    2. Scott Ollerenshaw
    Ollerenshaw Wealth Management, Managing Principal/Financial Advisor
    Ph. 541-286-7717
    Fax: 541-230-1947
    Vote Smart account name: Center for National Independence in Politics Project Vote Smart
    Acct. #: 2186-5279
    DTC #: 0141
    Vote Smart's EIN # is 85-0364261 (proving our 501c3 status with the gov)
  2. If you receive an email about the gift with the details of the stock donation, enter it immediately and add the details of the shares into the narrative of the gift.
  3. When we receive the paper copy of the gift details, this acts as a second check to ensure that the gift was entered correctly.
  4. To data enter: put the gift type in as “stock” and data enter for the exact amount you are told. Solicitation code will typically be “Unsolicited Member Donation xx.” Typically, stock donations are large gifts and Adelaide or Richard will write a personal thank you letter, so you should mark DNT. Ask them how they want the thank you letter handled.
  5. IMPORTANT: Put a contact note in explaining the $ amount of stock, how many shares, from which company, and any other notes explaining the transaction. You should receive this information from Scott or Toni via an email to membership@.

Bequest Gifts
This means some one would like to place PVS in their will and their contact details should be immediately passed on to Adelaide for further cultivation. They may also ask for the EIN # 85-0364261. However, always take down contact details and forward to Adelaide. A giver of a bequest needs to have the WIL flag - this includes people who have committed to putting Vote Smart in their will.
  1. If someone gives a bequest, Adelaide and the National Director need to be immediately notified (send the info sheet to Adelaide)
  2. How to data enter:
    • “Gifts by bequest xx” solicitation code
    • Talk to Adelaide about the thank you letter. Typically you would mark them “Do Not Thank” - Adelaide will write them a personal thank you letter. However, they have the WIL flag and will show up with her major donor thank yous.

Non-donation, non Donor-Perfect checks
From time to time, the National Director/ Office Manager will give you non-donation checks that do not need to be entered in DonorPerfect, but do need to be deposited in Wells Fargo and logged on the accounting packet. Examples include: Progressive insurance reimbursement, dividend payments, prize for PVS staff winning a competition
  1. Make a copy of the check image and deposit confirmation from Wells Fargo CEO, and save both a print copy and a copy on the drive under “(month) single deposits.”
  2. When you do the accounting packet for the month this non-donation came in, you will need to note that this money was deposited into our account, and is NOT a donation.

Additional ways to give that you should be aware of
(Adelaide Handles)
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