Gift Batch Entry vs. Single Gift Entry

Question

As a Blackbaud University (BBU) instructor for 5+ years, I have been teaching the concept of gift batch since my early days. I frequently encounter students who say “we are only allowed to enter gifts through batch (that is – no single gift entry allow). I have asked students if they know the reason. Most do not (just do it - as Nike says). Others indicate it has to do with auditing.

I would like to hear from a larger group of users.

* Does your organization require batch entry for gifts?* If so, what is the reason?* Ex. Auditing – batch gives us a view into the specifics of the gift that we can’t get with single gift entry.

* Can you provide specific evidence suggesting that single gift entry would not allow for the reason provided above.

I am genuinely seeking to understand where and why people fall on this topic.

Julie VanErsvelde · Accepted Answer

In our office, we only use batch entry because we pull by batch ID to create the file for our posting to the GL which is not Financial Edge. By pulling by batch ID, the transactions are grouped together so our business office can match up the commitment reports easily with the output file. There have been times when something needs entered, or corrected, outside of a batch and we have used the GL Post Date in our query but for the most part, we use the batch ID.

Tatyana Leifman · Accepted Answer

Our organization switched to requiring all gifts to be entered via batch because we have donations being deposited (via check/wire/ACH etc) into 2 separate banks and finance requested that gifts deposited to each bank be posted to FE separately.  The only way I can efficiently post gifts deposited on the same day in 2 different banks separately is by batch since gifts deposited in different banks are entered into different batches.  It is much simpler and quicker (not to mention less room for error) for me to use a query with ASK operator for batch numbers in the posting process than pull gift import ids and copy paste them into a query.

JoAnn Strommen · Accepted Answer

We generally enter by batch but can enter single gift. Batch is not required. (don't know if finance office would know the difference.)

Former org when receipting was part of mail it was easy to run receipts based on batch query.  Digital file created of receipts by batch #.

Suppose when done by dates/date range gifts could potentially be missed.  Using batch templates is a good way to ensure that all the data points are entered vs. one off entry.

I don't know that any review by finance or by auditors is done based on batch #.  It's just by gift date.

Great question, @Jeff Lallo

Bill Connors · Accepted Answer

Great question, Jeff.  As a consultant I teach that all gifts that affect Finance (e.g., Cash, Stock RG Pay; not Other, RG; Pledge maybe, maybe not) "must" be entered into a batch, even if there is only one gift.  The reason is that RE/Dev should be posting in summary to Finance, whether FE or not, not a gift at a time.  Therefore, all postable activity needs a common ID to post, reconcile, report, question, research, etc. by, and because posting should be in summary, Batch ID is that ID.  So it's a pain the … neck … if there are gifts without Batch IDs that are stragglers that need to be accounted for, etc.  Especially with monthly reconciliation, which every org should do even if they post to FE, having that common ID for batch level reconciliation is hugely helpful.

Elizabeth Johnson · Accepted Answer

@JoAnn Strommen I'm curious - do you have FE?

We live in the batch camp and are not integrated with FE. My exceptions are gift records that aren't shared with the business office except at FYE - Pledges and In-Kind gifts.

Rachel Cavalier · Accepted Answer

We use batch for all cash/pay-cash gift entry - only pledges and recurring gift records get entered one at at a time.

There are a few reasons:

* Easier to make sure you've not missed any gifts and to know where you are up to within a set of gifts* E.g. we process card payments taken over the phone or from card details written on pledge cards and we enter each day's batch of these and know what total amount we should have. Less of a problem if only one card payment has been put through, but when you might have 25 transactions to enter then that total at the end helps! (Could we import instead? Maybe but it gets very fiddly when you have a wide variety of payments in that batch - pledge payment, tribute gift etc etc)
* If we entered gifts one by one, then we'd have to stop and do a report to find out "did I do it right?" rather than being able to see immediately "oh I have one less than I was expecting" or "I am missing £5"

* We use attributes/custom fields extensively and use batch templates to help ensure the appropriate ones are added to each gift. Entering one by one would require each of the team to remember what attributes were required for every gift which is unfeasible and open to error.* We have 3 bank accounts payments might go into - an attribute for this helps with reconciliation and also helps to exclude one accounts' gifts from being eligible for Gift Aid
* Attributes to group payment sources to make reconciliation easier for our finance team
* Attributes to collect celebratory messages, relationship information for in memory gifts etc

* Speed of entry! We might be entering many gifts a day and with batches it is very quick - particularly if you set default fields. I cannot imagine going to constituent records one by one in web view, waiting for the page to load and then entering a gift. Even using the add gift button in the sidebar doesn't add anything that we wouldn't have in batch.
* Batch description is actually pretty handy when the auditor wants you to lay your hands on some paperwork (ours is digital only). Our is all filed by batch type (e.g. cheques and charity vouchers, standing orders, card payments, website donations etc) and there can be some overlap with the gift subtypes or pay methods and having the batch description attached to the gift and therefore in the report the auditor gets makes it quicker to retrieve any "paperwork".
* I suppose this one is a personal one - at the end of the month, if I accidentally date a whole bunch of gifts 30th September instead of 30th August in database view batch, I can use "global change date" from the tools menu in batch if I spot it before the batch gets committed or I can use global change on a query using the batch number if it only gets spotted as that commit report flashes in front of your eyes. Would that wrong date get spotted as quickly if the gifts are entered one by one? Would be it be as quick to fix? Probably no.

Dariel Dixon · Accepted Answer

This is an excellent question @Jeff Lallo.  Let me tell you what my experience has been.

Batch is generally the quickest way to enter multiple gifts.  There are exceptions to this, but I've found that for gift entry in volume this is the way like @Rachel Cavalier mentioned earlier.

The other issue is control.  There are no restrictions or guardrails with individual gift entry.  A gift comes in and is entered individually; there are no reports available (which is why so many organizations have relied on the Batch Control Reports) and no batch IDs to help with reconciliation.  Entering as a batch means there's more points of control, and no one person just doing their own thing.  That also belies another question for my batch entry folks.  Are you approving and committing your own batches or is there a check and balance system in place where a supervisor or a colleague does the committing?

As you can see @Jeff Lallo, there's no clear answer.  Sometimes it's "just the way we've always done it", but that doesn't mean that policy wasn't put in place for a reason.  I'd be willing to bet that it might have something to do with reporting and what finance needs as these systems don't operate in a vacuum generally speaking.

Carlene Johnson · Accepted Answer

Great thread, and it sounds like most of what I'd add has already been said above. The instances where I personally enter gifts individually on the constituent record:

Pledges — there are a lot of pieces to think through, and I find it easier to see everything in the context of the gift screen rather than a long row in batch. Typically I need to add the pledge, link it to the opportunity, mark the opportunity as funded, attach the pledge agreement, and sometimes add an action to the record. Working from the constituent record lets me bounce back and forth between tabs to get all of that done in one pass. Pledges also don't hit the bank the way cash gifts do, so they're reconciled differently.

Stock gifts — I'm typically entering the gift and then immediately selling the stock, so again, a lot of detail that's easier to manage on the gift screen than in a batch row. These get reconciled differently than cash anyway, since the stock gift never matches the check being deposited. I handle these as individual gifts for that reason.

Planned gifts — the available fields change depending on the vehicle, so there's a lot of detail and a lot of fields, and these are typically one-offs anyway. There are usually also updates needed on the constituent record when a planned gift is added, so I find it easier to do everything soup to nuts from the constituent record. Planned gifts also aren't posted to FE at any organization I've worked with, so there's no GL tie-out to worry about there either.

For me, having these gift types go in without a batch number, even in shops integrated with FE, has never caused a problem.

It will be interesting to see how I feel once all the functionality is available in webview batch!

Rachel Cavalier · Accepted Answer

That also belies another question for my batch entry folks. Are you approving and committing your own batches or is there a check and balance system in place where a supervisor or a colleague does the committing?

@Dariel Dixon With the batches, it really depends on who's doing the gift entry. My manager and I have a lot of experience and familiarity with the gifts we're entering, so mostly we commit our own batches - although we're mindful that if a batch was particularly tricky that we ask each other to commit for us and generally won't commit a batch right after the data entry has been completed to allow a little distance from it. For the other members of the team who do batch entry, either my manager or I will commit their batches.

Then at the end of the month we export all of the gifts from that month and give them a once over to check that nothing is out of place (or inadvertently missing, like if a particular day's single telephone card payment got overlooked).

Elizabeth Johnson · Accepted Answer

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/316463#Comment_316463

Great follow up queston Dariel :)

Our office is not large enough to have a second person proof all the batches. During the onboarding of new gift entry staff, I will personally approve all batches until they gain sufficient experience and consistently produce work with minimal errors. I have a thorough checklist before commiting batches and most issues are identified through the audit queries I have established, and gifts are reviewed weekly and monthly before reports are generated to catch any past mistakes.

Currently, we utilize database view (dbv) dashboards primarily comprised of solicitor queries (should be familiar to those who use dbv dashboards—though I will not expand on this as they will soon be phased out). We also employ gift entry sheets to assist new staff in ensuring they are reviewing all necessary details and asking the right questions.

In the past, we worked with consultants who recommended that we always use these sheets and have someone review each batch. While the first suggestion was manageable, the second was not feasible given our current resources.

Our acknowledgment process has also served as a valuable checkpoint to identify errors. As humans, mistakes can happen even with diligent effort, which is why we have established these safeguards to help maintain accuracy.

JoAnn Strommen · Accepted Answer

The person who enters the batch also commits for our org. Only time it is reviewed is in training new staff.

We do enter individual, one-off pledges directly on gift records. Phonathon pledges are entered by batch. Template and RE ID make it so quick.

Like others, stock and planned gifts are done directly on records. Rarely is there more than one the same day to consider a batch and we don't require batch.

@Elizabeth Johnson  - yes we use FE

Robin Kuehn · Accepted Answer

Gift batch is not required at our organization, and in many cases is not preferable to gifts being imported as separate entities, especially because of the limits to editing after-the-fact. I know in other Orgs, halting the ability to go back and fix a gift is important, but our team is small enough that there's only one gift processor (me).

However, I've chosen to start entering checks with gift batch because then I can easily identify all checks that were in a single bank deposit, but otherwise unrelated. The templates in webview are helpful too.

Lynnetta Whitehurst · Accepted Answer

For our organization, we are a full RE to FE model. So, I am definitely on the batch team. The batches are entered by date in order to match (as close as possible) to the bank reconciliations, to support auditing at the end of the year, capital campaign reports, etc. & for many of the reasons mentioned above. I am the "first touch", a staff accountant brings over and commits the batch from RE to FE, and at the beginning of the next month all things are balanced down to the penny by both accountants. Every org will be unique. One of our unique features is that we have 3 entities that are housed within RE. I do stock and planned gifts on separate batches. However, I do not separate my pledges, recurring gifts, etc. from my other gifts. Batches are entered by day and by entity (foundation, alumni or athletics). I have business rules that are incorporated in my batch entry to alert me for proposals (called opportunities now); apply gift to a pledge or recurring gift; membership renewals; annotations, etc. This is why there was a HUGE gap in knowledge and expectation when RE pushed out RENxt without ALL the basic batch features without seemingly consulting the "first touch" of donations. I do single gift entry in order to correct gifts (adjustments, write-offs) and ties to that correction because (again) we are tied to FE and FE must reflect that correction in some way. Also, in the auditing world for us, we are asked to pull the documentation on at least 10 random gifts that catch the auditor's eye. When I look that gift up, I look under properties to find the batch ID. Our batches are scanned for future digital access by the batch ID # of RE & FE which has its own generated ID #. Not to mention the research I must do for donor questions and our fundraising team. For me, single gift entry on a daily basis is just slower. Furthermore, we are connected to many avenues of gift giving (ACH, Checks, Square, Online MG platforms, etc.).  I can continue to state the reasons of batch entry vs. single entry to be used on a daily basis even for 1 gift. However, I will end this by saying that it is more efficient and provides a detailed tracking trail for our organization.

Steve Townsend · Accepted Answer

I am in a small team where I am the only one entering gifts. Most of our gifts these days come in via online credit card payments. If there are enough of these I will import them but otherwise I always use batch - similar to what @Rachel Cavalier said, if I use a batch template I can see all the fields that need to be completed, we also use quite a few gift attributes so it makes it much quicker. However we've never had any rule against single gift entry - I don't think it would make any difference to our accounts department, they don't have a system that connects to Raiser's Edge so we've never had to post gifts, we just upload daily gift reports for them to check. Oh, and I'm still doing all gift processing in database view, I haven't tried the web view gift batch yet.

Anne Kirschmann · Accepted Answer

We enter by batch so our batch numbers correspond to a deposit date and payment type in our bank accounts or general ledger. For example, one batch includes all of the gifts included in a Blackbaud disbursement or all of the checks deposited on a single day.

Debbie Burr · Accepted Answer

We only use batch entry for gifts because we can pull the needed control report for audit trail of all gifts associated with that batch number.  We also export by the batch number and import into our financial system which creates an invoice number using the batch number for reference back to the batch.  Recording and invoicing by batch also helps us record the payments in our financial system to be applied to the corresponding invoice.  Since we have several sources of payments, this helps us and our auditors tie the payment to the batch of donations.

Alan Cole · Accepted Answer

Like many others, I also recommend gifting by batch.  Using templates relevant for specific gift types (i.e. Cash/Checks/Pledges vs Credit Card/Direct Debit/ACH) payments is a great training tool and promotes consistency in gift entry.  There are some exceptions stock gifts, planned gifts and Gifts in Kind. I typically enter those in a one-off format since they don't go the bank. They are reported to on a case-by-case basis as we don't typically get enough of those to create a process specific for them.

Also mentioned by others, this allows the batch number act like a primary key. The batch number is part of our file naming structure for our ack letters, archives and digital storage files. This allows us to quickly find duplicate ack letters for donors at tax time, source documents requested during the annual audit, etc.

Katie Hoch · Accepted Answer

We always enter in batches. Batches are checked before any gifts are committed as our excellence check; if a gift was entered not in a batch it would turn into the wild west!  Also, as others have mentioned I rely on my pre-created batch templates for both imports and standard batch entry and utilize different gift attributes for different batches that might be missed if gifts were entered as single entries.

We also track by Batch number as our finance team does not use FE, and we use the batch commitment reports for their reconciliation (so glad that these are now available in NXT gift batches!). If a day's worth of checks is deposited, all those gifts will be recorded in one batch in RE. If there are any issues with a gift, we can identify which batch that gift was in. At the end of each month I query on all gifts for that month - including the batch numbers - and send finance that list so that they can ensure total reconciliation between Raiser's Edge and finance. Batch numbers also offer one more query-able field.

Phillip Shipsides · Accepted Answer

I'm in the UK and we batch to reconcile with a disbursements or payments into our bank account on a given day. It also easier for adding multiple gifts, and crucially DBV gives us the functionality to add custom fields onto the gift at the same time. Batching also gives us the opportunity to add expected number of gifts and expected amount, reducing the scope for error in a batch.

I'm not seeing the specific custom fields in webview yet and I sincerely hope that functionality, in batch webview, will be added soon.

Keith Wilson · Accepted Answer

It is a great question @Jeff Lallo, and one that I have thought a lot about. More and more organizations are pushing to only send payments via ACH, which means there are a number of gifts that now show up as individual deposits at the bank (Benevity, DAFgiving360, Fidelity Charitable, and many others). Therefore, is it really necessary for us to create a batch for the single gift, or just add the gift as a single entry? I lean towards single-entry, but when I arrived at this org, the person training me was adamant that every gift be entered through Batch for auditing purposes.

Here's a curveball though—gifts imported via Power Automate workflows. 😉

A couple of years ago, we created workflows to import Employee Payroll Deductions directly into RE-NXT. No Batch Numbers. No Control Reports.🤯 We built a custom report to ensure the gifts imported match F&A. We automated other gift entry processes as well. Again, no control reports, just custom reports to ensure we match F&A.

Web view now has the APIs to import to a Batch, and since we started using a lockbox for gift processing, those gifts are imported to a batch and then reviewed for proper constituent linking, CFA codes, etc. before committing.

Dariel Dixon · Accepted Answer

@Jeff Lallo, it's been some time now.  What conclusion have you come to regarding this question?  I'm really curious as a Blackbaud trainer if you have thought about it any differently.

Jeff Lallo · Accepted Answer

What have I learned from this post? 1) People love to talk about what they do :-) and 2) this topic is one that has been discussed in great detail in many organizations. I am looking forward to my next teach of Batch so that I can share the insights. For those inquiring minds (aka…all of you), I decided to let co-pilot do a summary of all your responses. Thank you all for the contributions to this inquiry.

RESPONSE SUMMARY:

The responses show a strong preference for batch gift entry, particularly for organizations that need reliable reconciliation with finance systems, banks, auditors, or general ledger processes. Many respondents use batch IDs as a consistent tracking mechanism for posting gifts, matching deposits, generating audit trails, producing control reports, and reconciling transactions. For organizations integrated with Financial Edge or other financial systems, batch numbers serve as a critical reference point for reporting, research, and month-end balancing.

Another common theme is that batches provide better control, accuracy, and oversight. Batch entry allows staff to verify expected gift counts and totals, use control reports, identify missing or incorrect entries, and establish approval processes before gifts are committed. Many respondents noted that batch numbers simplify audits, donor inquiries, and reconciliation activities, while also creating an organized record that can be traced back to source documentation.

Respondents also highlighted the efficiency and consistency benefits of batching. Batch templates help ensure required fields, attributes, and business rules are applied consistently, reducing errors and training challenges. For organizations processing large volumes of gifts, batch entry is significantly faster, provides better visibility into progress, and simplifies corrections when mistakes are discovered.

While most organizations favor batching, there is broad agreement that certain gift types are often entered individually. Common exceptions include pledges, planned gifts, stock gifts, recurring gift setup records, gifts-in-kind, and some corrections or adjustments, which typically involve more complex details and different reconciliation processes. Several respondents noted that smaller organizations or those without finance system integration may successfully use individual gift entry, but even many of those teams still prefer batches for cash gifts because of the control, efficiency, and reporting advantages they provide.