Happy Friday, everyone.
I work at the LA Phil as the Senior Gift and Data Specialist and am seeking some advice and/or inquiries are handling contributions proofing procedures. We're looking into ways to proof gifts over $1K without completely halting the process.
The idea is to have another team member look at the batch data and proof that everything has been entered accurately for the right fund and purpose, as to reduce errors. Some ideas we've considered are:
If anyone has any insight about the topic I would greatly appreciate any comments here. If there is any confusion about the topic, and need me to explain further I will gladly do so.
Thank you,
Tyler Teich
We don't pause batches--though I'll definitely be watching this thread to hear about anyone else who does--but we do have an automated custom report which summarizes development's Transactions each day. It goes to a central gift processing czar, who scans the list and looks for any issues, which can then be addressed. It's rare we have to make changes, but usually pretty easy to fix.
I will say, we use an older custom report, but I think you could get a pretty close approximation using OOTB finance cube elements in Analytics. A thought!
Hi Tyler,
We at the NY Phil actually follow the first bullet point you listed: one Development Operations staff member (usually our Associate) enters contributions into controlled batches (split by campaign). Once all contributions are entered, then the processor passes along to another staff member to review the batches. The batch reviewer then closes the batches and reports any credit card declines or issues. It helps to reduce human error and adjustments after the fact by putting another set of eyes on anything that has been entered. This process was in place when I started working here, but we don't find it really halts our process as we usually wait until close to EOD to review the batches so we're not stopping and starting the entry process.
Happy to answer any questions or explain the process in more detail!