Funds for Membership

Just for the sake of argument, I'll throw in my $0.02.  I actually love having multiple funds that all connect to one GL. I use a different fund for each of my discounted membership levels.  The main reason for us to do this was because we sell close to half of our memberships in the box office or call center, and the process of selling a membership through ticketing for us means I really wanted the fund name to include the price of the membership, so they wouldn't have to do math do recall was 25% off of $99 is every time they sell a discounted membership.  Having separate funds means the frontline staff have a visible cue to know how much to charge the customer.   It also means that my standard reports break out my revenue by each discount level, while still giving me a total at the bottom.  But all the revenue goes to the same GL, so it doesn't add any complications for my accounting department.

Of course, my program is more about value purchases than philanthropy, so I don't have the extra layers of solicitations, etc that other people might have.  So this technique might not work for everyone.  But depending on your goal, it's worth considering.  If you have questions, let me know.  I also talked about this briefly during the Philanthropic Memberships for All session at this year's conference; the slides for that are available online.

Beth

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From: "Frances O'Connell" <bounce-francesoconnell5073@tessituranetwork.com>
To: bvarro@smm.org
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 9:17:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Tessitura Development Forum] Funds for Membership

Hi Kathy,

I have often been involved in discussion between Finance and Development departments on the appropriate time to create a new Fund, and I have to say that 18 funds for Membership sounds like overkill.  I also sat in on a few conference sessions in 2011 where I heard other companies advise against too many unnecessary Funds - it's cluttered and if you ever pull lists by Fund, it can be complicated in Future Years.

There are obviously other ways to delineate Membership Level or Organization outside of Funds - firstly by their Membership details, and next by something like source code or designation.

I'd say a good starting point with your Finance department would be to look at their general ledger account codes.  I think a good rule is to only create a new fund if it's a different G/L code.

Good luck!

From: Kathy MacGlashan <bounce-kathymacglashan5939@tessituranetwork.com>
Sent: 9/19/2012 2:54:53 PM

We currently use 4 different funds to record membership donations. Our membership organization is divided into businesses and individuals and then additionally divided into $1,000+ and <$1,000 levels.  Our Finance Department would like us to create funds for each of our membership levels -- that would be a total of at least 18 funds.  I am wondering how other organizations handle this - it seems cumbersome to have so many funds, at least on the Development side!  I am wondering if there are implications in reporting and in other areas.

I would welcome any feedback on the setup of funds for membership.

Thanks so much,

Kathy MacGlashan

Development Data Coordinator

Maui Arts & Cultural Center

 

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