What are some steps you would take?

Anna Zimmerman
Anna Zimmerman
Fifth Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

So. We had a donor inadvertently donate $5,000 to us. We've already processed the check and it's in RE AND it's for last month (which is closed). We are mailing a check back to them, but want to make sure we're groovy on all fronts and do things correctly to adjust this. What are some steps you would take? We are integrated.

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  • Dariel Dixon
    Dariel Dixon Community All-Star
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply PowerUp Challenge #3 Gift Management

    Have you spoken with the donor to determine what happened? I think you've done everything you need to do, but I think the biggest thing is that the donor is happy with the steps you've taken. If you know your organization did everything to alleviate the issue, then that's all you can do. I would continue communicating with the donor just to make sure though.

  • Anna Zimmerman
    Anna Zimmerman
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1

    yep, we're in communication with them! Is there anything special in FE that needs to be done so it doesn't appear that this donor gave more than what they have?

  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 January 2026 Monthly Challenge 2025 bbcon Attendee Badge

    Our process would be to adjust the gift to $0 on the record. Then depending on what your finance office wants enter a GL adjusted gift post date. It may be they want it for today/current month. Our office uses the original gift date as the adjustment date. (We're integrated with FE.)

    Add notes here if you haven't already why the change was made.

  • Faith Murray
    Faith Murray Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    Ditto what @JoAnn Strommen said. I would also say, in addition to putting in the GL Post date that your Finance Office wants (our FO always wants us to use current date), make sure the below box is checkmarked. The “GL post date” regulates the “incoming revenue” positive line entry for your FO, but without that box being checked, the reversal (negative entry) will still come through for the original gift date. That can make a problem if a period is already closed.

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  • Lisa Mancini
    Lisa Mancini
    Ninth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    Once the gift is adjusted in RE and posted over to FE it will reduce donations and cash. If a check is then issued out of FE to “pay the donor back” it will again reduce cash and donations. Does anyone know how to avoid this?

  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 January 2026 Monthly Challenge 2025 bbcon Attendee Badge

    Sorry, had to wait to get input from our Director of Finance. I guessed it involved manual entry but wanted confirmation. Money coming in from outside source and going back out.

    I asked her and she said, “They would need to enter a manual journal entry to debit cash and credit some sort of clearing account. Then when they cut the check back to the donor they would debit that clearing account and credit cash."

    Hope that helps.

  • Lisa Mancini
    Lisa Mancini
    Ninth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    Thank you that makes sense. The only other option I could see is to not post that adjustment over to FE and once the check was issued in FE it would reduce cash and donations accordingly.

  • Elizabeth Rich
    Elizabeth Rich
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
    I would adjust the gift amount to zero and put a comment on the gift explaining the circumstances.

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