G/L Post Gift fields
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard my clients say, “Oh, we can’t use those fields; {C}we don’t have the Financial Edge“;others simply say, “I don’t even know what those fields mean!” Oh, my goodness, what a shame! These 2 field names, found on the Miscellaneous tab of a Gift record in the Raiser’s Edge, stand for General Ledger Post Status and General Ledger Post Date. They are required fields on a Gift record, and their default values are Not Posted and today’s date. Even if your organization does not have the Financial Edge (and most of my clients don’t), these can be still very helpful, time saving fields. When used in conjunction with G/L Distribution tab on the Fund record and the Post to the G/L tool (found in Admin in the Raiser’s Edge), they can help foster peace, love, and harmony between the business office and the development office, as well as add an increased degree of transparency that auditors love. In short, when used consistantly (there’s that word again!), these tools can:
- eliminate duplicate data entry (and therefore, potential data enty errors-don’t get me started!)
- synchronize information between the business and development offices (what a concept!)
- create clean audit trails (making auditors happy!)
In an earlier ABC’s post (D is for Development Database), I lamented about the business office driving the set-up of your Raiser’s Edge, especially your Fund records. The G/L distribution tab of the Fund record in the Raiser’s Edge can make everybody happy! You don’t have to set-up your Raiser’s Edge Funds to match your G/L chart of accounts-Financial Edge or otherwise! The development department can use the Fund record appropriately (to track the specific reasons you’re raising money), while the business office can point multiple Raiser’s Edge Funds to the same G/L account based on Gift type. You can even mark some gifts, Pledges, for example, Do Not Post, so they don’t flow into the General Ledger.
For you non-accounting types, it may sound like geek Greek, but it’s really not. It’s a relatively simple concept, and it works-trust me. If the idea of workplace harmony and happy auditors sounds like heaven to you, give some thought to taking advantage of these handy tools you already have at your disposal.
Who wouldn’t love some more love at work?
