ADMINSTRATIVE PROCEDURE
LifeStream Services, Inc.
Policy Name: Fundraising Procedure
Department: Development
Initial Date: January 27, 2007
Authorized By: ______________________________
Robby Tompkins, Director of Development
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Purpose:
In order to achieve the Mission of the organization, the CEO shall cause an awareness
within the private sector of the financial needs of the organization through the
implementation of a plan for private gift support. The plan will consist of an organized
program of obtaining gift support from board members, employees, corporations,
foundations, organizations, community members, etc.
Policy:
Fund-raising shall take place consistent with the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards
of Professional Practice of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Mission Statement:
“To improve the quality of life for people at risk of losing their independence.”
Personnel Affected:
These policies and guidelines apply to staff, volunteers, consultants and contractors
involved in fundraising.
Procedure:
1. Planning
An annual fund-raising plan will be prepared which identifies the elements,
purpose, goals, methods, materials, and budget of the plan.
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2. Acceptance, Recording, and Acknowledging of Gifts
It is the responsibility of the Finance Department to officially record and
acknowledge receipt of all gifts including cash, pledges, securities, trusts,
insurance policies, real estate, and other gifts in-kind.
A complete and accurate record of every donor shall be maintained by the
Development Department and shall be kept strictly confidential. There is monthly
reconciliation between the financial accounting system and the donor database.
Donor anonymity will be protected whenever desired.
3. Gifts
Acceptance of restricted/designated gifts imposes a legal obligation to comply
with the terms established by the donor. Therefore, it is necessary that the nature
and extent of this obligation be clearly understood and accepted by LifeStream.
Unrestricted/undesignated gifts will go into the general fund to be used at the
discretion of the CEO to enhance current or future operations.
LifeStream reserves the right to decline a gift or donation based on the ability to
utilize the gift effectively.
Designation codes within the accounting system will allow for specific program
designations as desired by donors.
4. Fund-Raising Materials
Any material, including brochures, booklets and letters, used to attract private
funds shall be coordinated with and approved by the Director of Development and
President/CEO to assure the completeness, accuracy and appropriateness of the
information it contains.
5. Involvement of Volunteers
All volunteers will follow LifeStream volunteer training procedures and when
volunteers are involved in fund-raising, it is the responsibility of the Director of
Development to ensure they receive training and information necessary for them
to solicit funds effectively.
6. Gift/donation Processing (reconciliation of records between Development and
Finance Departments)
A donor makes a donation by check, cash or credit card, or in-kind goods or
services.
a. All gifts of check, cash or credit card will be given to the Finance Department
with the following information:
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Donor’s name and address.
Amount of gift.
Date received.
Name in which the gift is to be deposited.
Designation.
Purpose.
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 Other pertinent information.
b. All in-kind gifts are received and recorded under supervision of the
Development Director. All service volunteer hours are recorded according to
AngelWorx standard operating procedures and all in-kind goods are recorded
as received. The Development Director will keep records of In-Kind
donations and report totals to the Controller for any reporting that finance
needs.
Upon receipt of a gift, the Development Department will record the gift and
acknowledge the donor. A complete record of every individual’s
contributions will be maintained. Restricted gifts will be recorded by the use
of fund codes.
c. The Development Department records the gift in the donor’s eTapestry account.
Restricted: In eTapestry, the gift is designated for one eTapestry fund (such as
Guardianship, Caregiver, etc. – not to be confused with the accounting term
“funds,” which means “dollars.”), depending on how the donor wants the
money to be used.
Unrestricted: If the donor does not designate a fund verbally or by writing a
note on the check, the donation is designated as unrestricted (it is not
restricted to a specific LifeStream fund and may be used wherever LifeStream
determines it is most needed) in eTapestry.
Note: the purpose of eTapestry is not to copy LifeStream’s accounting system.
Rather, eTapestry is a method of tracking and thanking donors and their gifts.
eTapestry also enables LifeStream to view the amount of donations made to a
specific fund in any given time period.
d.
Finance deposits both restricted and unrestricted donations into the Mutual
Bank donations account.
e.
Whether or not a donor “restricts” a donation to a specific fund, LifeStream
may or may not place a “time-of-spending restriction” on those dollars for
accounting purposes. These accounting restrictions are determined by the Vice
President of Finance and the Director of Development under the counsel of a
financial consultant. The “time-of-spending restriction” depends on the fiscal
year in which the dollars need to be spent and whether the dollars may be used
to achieve “match” funding.
VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS USED AT LIFESTREAM SERVICES
DONATION Also called a gift. Anything (cash, stock, items, services, memorials,
bequests, pledges…) given to LifeStream without expectation of something received.
LifeStream’s Finance department is involved in processing donations by cash, check and
credit card – not donations of items or services.
DONOR
The person or organization making the gift. The Development department
will record the name of the donor accurately for the purpose of thanking and
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acknowledging the donor in various ways (such as in LifeStream’s annual report). For
example, a donation from Company A should not be recorded as a donation from Jane
Doe, the employee who signed the check from Company A. From an accounting
perspective, it is not as important to record the name of the donor.
Note: a person making a payment for an event (such as or the Active Aging Conference)
is not a donor. He or she is a “guest” or “registrant” or “participant.” Also, an
organization paying for some kind of recognition/marketing opportunity at an event is not
a donor, but a “sponsor.” Sponsorships and registrations are not recorded in eTapestry as
donations, but the eTapestry accounts of the payers are tagged to show that they are
sponsors or registrants.
GIFT see “donation.”
ETAPESTRY ACCOUNT Not to be confused with a financial account. In eTapestry
all information about a contact person or organization, including name address, phone
number, giving history, and affiliations (e.g., focal point, Aging Well sponsor, health
facility, government official, etc.) are recorded.
ETAPESTRY FUND
Not to be confused with accounting funds. In eTapestry and
donation management: a specific program or area in which the donation will be spent.
Examples of LifeStream eTapestry funds are Caregiver, Guardianship, AngelWorx,
AngelWish, Meals, Transportation, etc.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNT Not to be confused with an eTapestry account. In
accounting: the specific place where dollars are be allocated. The VP of Finance and the
Development Director determine, with guidance from financial consultants, where
donation dollars are to be allocated. The allocation depends partly on the dates by which
the dollars will be used and on the wishes of the donor.
FINANCIAL FUND Not to be confused with eTapestry funds. Dollars, or a supply of
money (e.g. a retirement fund, funds for a computer, tuition reimbursement funds,
transfer funds from one bank to another).
IN-KIND
Given in goods, commodities, or services rather than money.
7. Gift Acknowledgment (a separate workflow exists for this process)
Personal letters acknowledging all gifts will be sent to donors by the
President/CEO or the Development Director as gifts are received, and an annual
gift acknowledgment to all donors will be made by January 31st. This is the
minimum; calls or additional thank you’s can be made at the discretion of the
Development Director.
8. Community Foundations
Wherever possible, the organization will use local community foundations rather
than establish its own separate foundation.
9. Annual Review
The organization will have its fund-raising program reviewed annually via the
board mandated external audit. There will also be an internal analysis of the
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feasibility of fundraising activities in relation to cost versus amounts raised as part
of the annual budgeting process.
6/3/08jr 7/7/09jr 11/19/09jr 08/25/10 8/11/11jr 8/21/12 8/31/12 8/13/13 12/5/13 12/8/14
12/8/15
Please track revision dates in the table above.
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