Donor Management Process Maps - Part 3: Donation Processing
Third in a series of articles about process maps for donor management
None of our processes up till now have handled real money. In this post we’ll look at what happens when the check comes in.
Processing money is where organizations start to differentiate their processes. For example, some groups have Memberships, where a donor gets an annual term and some level of member benefit. A key part of managing members is managing their expiration dates, and making sure memberships don’t lapse. Other groups just take donations that are generally on a yearly cycle–if a donor gives $100 in June 2005, it is considered a loss if their next gift doesn’t come in by June 2006 for at least $100.
This process map (Fig. 1.) starts with a check and the decision if the gift is a donation or a membership. Then we check to see if this is an expected payment (it’s already in the system) or one we weren’t anticipating.
Fig. 1. Processing the money when it comes in is where things start to get a bit complicated (PDF)
The gift then gets connected to an appeal, to help us determine the source of the money and also allow us to measure the return on those outreach efforts.
The last, and very important step, is to create a new gift 12 months out. This gift will be marked as “Prospecting” so we know it’s not a check that came in, but rather an opportunity for revenue in the future. By doing this, we’ll make sure not to lose track of this donor and their potential gift. And it will also inform our financial forecast for the next year. If you put all your potential gifts on the calendar, you can then see what your revenue picture will look like (Fig. 2.)
Fig 2. Some sample data representing all gifts for 2007. Red indicates gifts that have been received. Blue indicates gifts that have not yet been solidified.
As you might imagine, this can be very helpful in the budgeting process, and in dealing with cash flow issues. Most groups have their giving weighted heavily toward the final quarter of the year, as in this graph. By forecasting potential revenue, that picture becomes much clearer and can be managed more effectively.
