Hello all-
We've been running into some new challenges with how we record gifts of stock. Previously, we would track received stock information in a spreadsheet out of Tess. When the check would arrive, we would then book the gift in Tess, using the average of the high and low x # of shares as the value of the gift. Any gain/loss as well as a difference in the value from the donor's intent (if they intended a certain value but the stock at the time of sale was just under) would be added in as another payment type "stock sales expense". This worked well for us as we had a "sell now" policy. Now, like most orgs probably are, we are holding on to stock transfers, which causes issues around acknowledging donors who use stock to pay off a pledge, for example. It also creates the issue of dividends we receive. We are thinking to book dividends in Tess on the donor's account but don't want it to affect their giving total or membership. Would love to know what other orgs are doing right now! Thank you.
Hello Kerry,
I will be brief and happy to discuss further, if you like.
When stock is received into your brokerage account, calculating the avg of high and low x shares on that date would be the recognition value. Whether or not your organization sells the stock and when, is not at all part of the contribution transaction for the donor.
Dividends wouldn't be part of the contribution transaction. I would hope your finance dept has a way to record gains and losses of investments on the g/l.
Be well!
Anita