Mission Trip Setup
A Campaign should be created for each mission trip. The pledges are assigned to the individuals raising funds for the mission trip. Generally, these individuals are also going on the trip.
All Mission Trip campaigns can use the same Program provided that there is no requirement to post the money to different income accounts in the general ledger. If the integration with your accounting system includes project codes, then you can likely enter the project code value in the Event record associated with the Pledge Campaign. This allows you to leverage a single income account for many Campaigns
Fundraising/Commemorative Campaign Setup
A fundraising Campaign is set up in the same manner as a mission trip campaign.
Memorial Campaign Setup
For churches that record gifts in memory of a deceased person. Generally, Memorial campaigns are set up just like a mission trip:
An Event called "Memorial" should be created and given the Event Type of Stewardship Project/Trip and set On Donation Batch Tool to Yes.
The Pledge Campaign should be created:
The Donor record of the deceased individual is assigned to the Pledge record.
As donations cease, change the status of the Pledge to "Completed"
Use the Beneficiary field to indicate any intended use of the funds
Budget Campaign Setup
Budget Campaigns are typically one year in duration. See Capital Campaign Setup below. These are largely the same.
Capital Campaign Setup
From the Pledge Campaigns page click New and complete the fields, and use Capital Campaign for the Campaign Type:
The Campaign start and end dates do not affect data entry. Select dates that reflect the intended time period of the campaign.
The Campaign goal requires a value. Input the amount the church hopes to raise during the campaign.
- Select the appropriate Program record. It is not necessary to add a value to this field unless you want the Campaign to display on the Make a Pledge page of the Portal.
There is an Event field on the Pledge Campaign record. It is not necessary to add a value to this field for Capital Campaigns. This association is used primarily for Mission Trip campaigns.
Add pledges with the status of Active if they are complete. Use status of Pending if you must communicate with the donor to clarify something.
From the Programs page, create new Programs and make sure the Pledge Campaign field is populated with the Pledge Campaign created in Step 1.
If you wish for a pledge balance to appear on a Donor's contribution statement, edit the appropriate Accounting Company record on the page by that name. Set the new Pledge Campaign in that record and save. Only one Pledge Campaign can appear on a Contribution statement at one time.
Use the BMT for manual entry of checks and cash offerings. By default, pledges for both the donor and the donor's spouse appear in the BMT on the
Donation's Distribution.
Multi-site Capital Campaign Setup
Setup for a multi-site Capital Campaign is largely the same as that of a regular, single-campus Capital Campaign setup. The primary difference is that you likely create a Program record for each campus/site that is participating in the campaign. Make sure that the correct Pledge Campaign is set in each Program record.
Less Common Campaign Types
Child Sponsorship Campaigns: Create one campaign for each village/organization. Create a pledge for each Donor that is committed to giving money towards a specific child. If a Donor gives to more than one child, create a Pledge record per child. Use the Beneficiary field to record the name of the child being supported. Create a Program record for each village/organization. Make sure that the Pledge Campaign record is properly noted on the Program record.
Staff/Intern Salary Campaigns: Create one campaign for each staff person. Create a Pledge within that Campaign for each person committed to providing support to that staff person. Make sure you have a Program record per staff person. Make certain that the Pledge Campaign is properly noted on the Program record.
Accounting Notes for Pledge Campaigns
It is best to create new Program records for each new Capital Campaign.
It is acceptable to have multiple Programs associated with the same Capital Campaign.
A Donation Distribution can be assigned to a pledge by a nightly routine; however, keep the following in mind:
Make sure that the Program to which the donor gave has the Pledge Campaign listed on the Program.
Make sure that the Donor's Pledge (must be the same donor or spouse of donor) is to that Pledge Campaign.
It is required that a Program can only be associated with one Pledge Campaign for this to work.
If a multi-site church wishes to track separate balances for each Campus' contributions to the Capital Campaign, then some thought must be given to a few unique scenarios:
If a donor makes a pledge while attending Campus A, where should her donations go if she later attends and contributes towards that goal from Campus B?
If we are tracking separate balances, what will our process be to ensure that adjusting Journal Entries are made when money intended for the balance of Campus A is accidentally put to the balance of Campus B?
