Hi there,
I'm trying to run a Gift Aid claim using Tessitura and was just wondering if anyone else has done this before?
I'm having some issues that need further investigation - I think it may only running the claim against Direct Debit pledges.
I'd appreciate any insights anyone can offer!
Many thanks
Amy
Hi Amy,
We run our Gift Aid claims fully through Tessitura and I believe several other orgs so. We have a custom report that is a wrapper for the Gift Aid Claims report and it happily pops it into a better format for HMRC.
What specifically are you having trouble with?
In addition, are you considering GSV? We submitted an error to Tessitura that hits when multiple payment methods are used alongside GSV which is especially evident with DD payments. I'm also aware of some troubles other venues were having so please do expand and I'm sure we'll all pile on... I mean everyone LOVES gift aid admin right??
Hi Amy (and Victoria),
We calculate the Gift Aidable part of the Membership plus Donation, but it's not done for each individual. We work out the average and then multiply by the number of Members. One of our Development Team was able to get an agreement with HMRC to do it that way, but it seems like each Organisation comes to a different agreement depending on the phase of the moon, who answers the phone and what they had for dinner!! There seems to be no consistency.
It's supposed to be free money, but the cost is the work involved to actually make a valid claim!
Good Luck.
Debbie
Hi Victoria and Debbie, thanks so much for your replies.
I'm preparing a LOT of Gift Aid feedback for Tessitura! I'll forward it onto you if it's better for it to all come from one place?
Basically the main problem I'm encountering is that when I run the Gift Aid Spreadsheet report it is pulling out donations based on when they were entered into Tessitura rather than the date I've entered them as being made on (if that makes sense?). This means lots of donations from outside of the time frame I'm looking to claim for are being included because over the past year I've added A LOT of retrospective contributions (it's a long story). I thought I could solve this by narrowing the report down to the campaigns for the financial year I'm claiming for but this doesn't solve the problem of the report only picking up Direct Debits.
I really hope this makes sense, I feel like I'm ranting like a madwoman. I've got to get this done before Thursday when I go on maternity leave so that adds another fun dimension to the awesomeness of Gift Aid.
Debbie - I had no idea you could negotiate these things with HMRC! Thanks for the tip. Although at this late stage I think I might save that one for the next claim!
Victoria - what is GSV?
Cheers!
GSV is goods and services and if you guys don't use it, I'm insanely jealous! Don't worry about it!
In your gift aid report is there the option to restrict by transaction date rather than contribution date? This might help exclude your rogue donors? Also, you could potentially run a list through the report of everyone you know definitely should be considered (eg. filter your constituents through a campaign list first) it might pick up a few but could grab most?
We always run our exclusions first before running the final claim, do you have a DBA who could help you with this (are you consortia still?)
Victoria
Any feedback on Gift Aid that you gather (unless it is a support issue) would be greatly received by any of the members of the MAC (Member Advisory Committee), but probably more useful coming to me or to Kelly Enderwick (as the UK members) so that we can feedback to Tessitura for any future developments etc.
Caryl