"Proofing" Batches During Entry

Chris Fies

Has anyone found a good process for proofing gifts in a batch during entry?


What report works best for something like this?

Karen Diener

I don't think there would be any RE report that you could use, solely because the gifts are in batch and do not exist as records in the database until committed.


One built-in feature that can be helpful is on the batch setup screen where you can enter the number of gifts and total amount of gifts that are expected in the batch. Then you can use the "validation" process to see if the batch totals that were entered match the expected amounts, and adjust as needed.


What sort of "proofing" are you hoping to do? I worked somewhere that had 3-4 people who did gift entry, and they would review each others' batches as part of the normal process. If you don't have that much redundancy in gift entry (most places don't) then is there a supervisor that reviews batches before they are committed?


Karen

Faith Murray

In an org where we had only one person to enter gift batches for many years (me) the only way to proof before posting was to review with a keen eye for detail. Having a Policies and Procedures manual works only to the extent that a new employee bothers to refer to it or notices their own mistakes. There's the projected estimates and validation reports, of course, but that won't work for text field entries (like Gift references) or for making sure the correct appeal/fund/letter are selected. I would emphasize train, train, train.


When I am training a new staff person nowadays, I usually sit down and review it myself before they commit, for the first month or so of training. After that, I review their posted batch print-outs for another 2-3 months until I no longer see errors cropping up. Even after they "graduate" from my training at that point, our Development Director still reviews all committed batches before signing off on them, as part of our audit process.

Stacy Evans

Karen and Faith gave great answers to this question. However, I will add that the error will rear it's ugly head sooner or later. For example when you run a report and find out that the gift was applied to the wrong fund or campaign. Also, whoever does the acknowledgement letters usually will notice any mistakes.

Elizabeth Johnson

Hi Chris Fies‍, I absolutely echo Karen, Faith, and Stacy. We have a form we use for gift entry to fill out - it is quick and makes sure we are using the correct donor, appeal, and looking at gift tabs for soft credit history. Helpful before getting to the batch. Money and quantity of gifts are counted before entry and here is a checklist (always adapting to fit needs) to proof the batch so we are looking at the items that are most likely to have issues each time.


It didn't paste perfectly here but each number has a keyword or phrase bolded to make it easier to check when you perform this task multiple times a day.

Before Committing Batch Checklist:

1. Make sure the batch description is useful. (e.g. AF or NAF with pay method)

2. Add up $ and count of checks, cash, and credit. It should match what you entered for the projected $ and count in the batch design prior to gift entry.

   1. For checks - physically look over checks before sharing with the business office.

      1. Any international not in their own batch?

      2. Signature, date, $ match word form?

      3. Memo captured on gift entry sheet?

3. Did all the right donors get credit?

   1. Are they alphabetical order by hard credit?

      1. Exceptions

         1. Credit and Direct Debit

4. Where the check name does not match the donor name - (rare - usually trusts)

   1. Did you include “check: name” in the reference field?

5. Do you have copies of checks that are likely to be questioned and for all IRA rollover gifts

6. Gifts that have multiple records being soft credited

   1. Did you double-check the gift reference and actual soft credits?

7. Pledges properly applied?

   1. Donors that were flagged that they had outstanding pledges or company matches - Do they reflect what they should?

8. Do you have the correct gift dates?

   1. Did the GL post date get confused with the gift date?

   2. Is the GL post date the date the gift was entered? (We do not post to our GL and this allows our reporting to work well)

   3. Is the gift date >= to the check date? If not, adjust the gift date to match the check date.

   4. If the gift date = to today? Look closer, that doesn’t happen often.

9. Campaign and funds correct?

   1. AF - should be to the correct year (by gift dates no exceptions)

   2. No campaign

      1. Progressive Education Lab/Rwanda Fund

      2. Gifts-in-Kind

         1. There may be some exceptions to this G-i-K and they will be significant if they happen.

   3. All other funds should be assigned to Campaign 2025

10. Appeals and packages correct?

    1. Any appeals that require packages missing the package?

    2. For third-party donors did you go back to the donor of origin’s record for their appeal?

11. Anonymous added to the reference field for anonymous gifts?

12. Any planned giving boxes checked? Development Operations Manager notified?

13. Any gifts missing constituent codes?

    1. New record holder - is the constituent code from date <= the gift date?

14. Staff managers added?

15. Tributes - were they tributed correctly?

    1. New tributes set up properly? New tags for existing tributes?

    2. Do they have the actual tribute tab set up?

    3. Is the reference field populated with iho: or imo:
       
       

Chris Fies

Awesome! Thank you

Chris Fies

Good info! Thank you