It Only Counts Once: Bridging the“GAAP”
Financial Management and Human
Resources Forum
Atlanta, GA
October 7-9, 2013
Presenters
Kristen McCollum, Controller
United Way of Greater Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Brittany Burnett, Vice President of Workplace
Campaign
United Way of Greater Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
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Agenda
• Define the issue
• Discuss the potential problems
• Develop a decision tree
• Review examples of promises to give with potential “GAAP”
between Finance and Resource Development
• Summary
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Define the issue
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Board of Directors meeting (Resource Development’s
portion of the meeting)
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Board of Directors meeting (Finance’s portion of the
meeting)
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Define the issue
• Resource Development is focused on raising money (and they are
under a lot of pressure to do so, both internally and externally)
• Finance is focused on ensuring the pledge amounts recorded are in
accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
– The pledge is a promise to give (irrevocable)
– Revenue is earned
– The pledge is unconditional
– The pledge is nonreciprocal
• The purpose of this session is to discuss the various differences
between Resource Development and Finance when it comes to
accounting for the various dollars raised.
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Examples of various differences
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Discuss the potential problems
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Discuss the potential problems
• Pledges must meet all four criteria (irrevocable/promise to give,
earned, unconditional, and nonreciprocal) and this is not necessarily
at the top of their mind in Resource Development
– Everyone gets excited about a campaign GOAL being met, but
did the revenue meet the recognition criteria?
• Counting revenue two or three times (when pledged, when collected,
etc.)
• Counting a multi-year gift in each year versus the entire gift being
counted in the year of the gift
• Counting a planned gift in campaign dollars
• Counting the full value of a life insurance policy in campaign dollars
• Counting sponsorships in campaign dollars
• Defining what is in “campaign” versus “non-campaign”
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Develop a decision tree
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Develop a decision tree
• See the enclosed document for a decision tree on contribution
revenue. This document will help Resource Development as they
pursue various types of gifts.
– Does the revenue meet the four criteria?
– Beyond that measure, is the revenue counted in UW1, UW2,
UW3, UW4, UW5, UW6, or UW7 (per the NPC Total Resources
Generated policy)
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Examples
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Examples
Example #1 – Contingent pledges and revocable gift expectancies
• John Smith is an executive at Coca Cola and he has stated that once
Coca Cola stock is trading at $45 per share, he will give United Way a
$1M gift.
Question to ask? Does the pledge meet the four criteria?
What does Finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #2 – Another United Way is doing the fundraising
• John Smith used to live in Atlanta but has now been transferred to
Birmingham to work in commercial real estate. His new company
runs a United Way campaign. He pledges through the local United
Way campaign but designates his gift back to Atlanta.
Question to ask? Which United Way is doing the fundraising?
What does Finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #3 – A third party processing the pledge payments.
• XYZ Company runs a local United Way campaign and the local
United Way does the fundraising for the campaign. The Company
hires JK Group to process the payment of the pledges to the various
non-profits.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #4 – Example of a multi-year pledge
• John Smith pledges $200,000 a year for five years.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #5 – Corporate sponsorship
• Bank of America agrees to sponsor the local United Way hosted
fashion show by donating $25,000. The fashion show costs $15,000
to produce. Proceeds from the fashion show go to help the local
homelessness population.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria? Did
Bank of America receive anything in exchange for their
sponsorship?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #6 – Jeans day example
• UPS hosts a jeans day event every Friday in September. Employees
must contribute $3 each Friday to wear jeans.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #7 – Government grant example
• Local United Way was awarded a $200,000 grant from the
Department of Education. The grant year runs from October 1 –
September 30 (and the local United Way’s year-end is June 30).
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #8 – Endowment example
• John Smith loves United Way and he has decided to give United Way
$1M to help build their endowment. He would like the annual
investment earnings to be spent on education related programs.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #9 – Will example
• United Way receives a letter in the mail from a local law firm along
with a $10,000 check. The letter states that we were one of the
beneficiary’s in Mary Smith’s will and this $10,000 is our portion of her
estate.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
What happens if United Way receives a letter stating we are the
beneficiary in a will (but that person is not deceased yet?)
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Examples
Example #10 – United Way is named the beneficiary of a $1M term life
insurance policy.
• John Smith owns a $1M term life policy and he is paying the
premiums on the policy. He has no family and has chosen United
Way as the beneficiary of the policy.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Examples
Example #11 – A donor purchases a whole life policy, transfers
ownership of the policy to United Way, and names United Way as the
beneficiary.
• John Smith purchases a $1M whole life policy and names United Way
as the owner and beneficiary. He pays United Way the premium
amount annually and United Way pays the premiums on the policy.
Question to ask? Does this pledge meet the four criteria?
What does finance record?
What does Resource Development record?
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Summary
• Align with the Resource Development folks at the beginning of the
campaign cycle to ensure everyone is on the same page. We can
bridge the GAAP!!
– Issues and problems can be resolved!
• Review the decision tree with Resource Development and go over
any questions they may have or specific examples.
• Review the revenue recognition criteria and ensure all revenue is
recorded correctly.
– Where the funds fall in accordance with the NPC Total
Resources Generated policy is a second tier review.
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Thank you