Wednesday 14 November 2007

Charitable Receipt Software

The question was simple: does anyone know of a software package to do tax receipts for a small charity, but it got me going. To me, the receipt is only part of the process. There are other questions to consider as well, such as:

  1. Is a personalized, well worded thank you / request for ongoing support included with each receipt?
  2. Is the donor given the choice of receiving the receipt right away or at year end?
  3. Is there a procedure for issuing replacement receipts?
  4. If the donor gives multiple donations are they summarized on one receipt, ideally with an accompanying remittance summary?
  5. Is the donor reminded of other outstanding pledges or the balance on his/her multi-year pledge?
  6. Does the fundraising staff have access to the historical donation information in a searchable way?
  7. Do the fundraising and accounting systems reconcile (i.e. do they agree on the amount of money raised in each month/year)?
The accounting procedures need to be part of the overall fundraising strategy or you are missing a golden opportunity to build goodwill with your donors.

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