Credit Transactions and Credit Data Maintenance

There are several situations in which your institution may want to create Credit Transactions for a constituent. Credits allow your office to create a Transaction for a constituent that can be included when calculating giving clubs, acknowledgments, or for other fund raising purposes, without interfering with the accounting standards that must be maintained between the Millennium database and the business office at your institution. Financial Cash Reports for the business office will not include Credit Transactions.

Transactions with a Type of Credit that are not linked to any other Transaction are called Independent Credit Transactions. are described as Independent Credit Transactions. Credit Transactions may also be linked to another Transaction belonging to the same constituent, for purely fund raising good will purposes.

Some institutions choose to handle donations from spouses or multiple constituents by creating a Transaction for one constituent for the full amount and creating a Credit Transaction for the other(s). These are described as Credit for Spouse or Credit for Other Constituent or Transactions. If the first Transaction had a Type of Gift, the second will be given the Type of Credit. If the first was a Pledge or an Expectancy, the second will be given the Type, Pledge Credit.

Another kind of "credit" is available when one constituent makes a donation in the place of another constituent. The techniques and behaviors are described as On Behalf Of Transactions.

It is vitally important to the integrity of your Giving data that a standard policy be devised and implemented at your institution to determine when the use of Credit and/or Joint Transactions is appropriate. This policy must be applied in ways that ensure that all users who view data, enter data, or perform report writing tasks must understand the "rules" for your institution and conform to them.

Independent Credit Transactions

In fund raising settings, situations sometimes arise making it desirable to create a Giving Transaction for a constituent simply for the purpose of adding a constituent to a particular level of recognition, or giving club, etc. While that objective may often be achieved by the creation of a Transaction that is tendered as a Gift in Kind, or by linking a Credit Transaction to another Transaction belonging to the same constituent, there are times that a simple, stand alone Credit Transaction is the most appropriate. Such Credit Transactions need not be linked to any other transaction, belonging to that constituent or any other.

This technique might be used for example, to qualify constituents for a giving club when their actual donations would not do so. In this situation, the Credit Transaction is not linked to any other Transaction.

Create a stand-alone Credit Transaction for a constituent by following the instructions for a Simple Transaction and choosing the Transaction Type, Credit.

Create a Credit for Spouse - when the Original Transaction is Created

To create Credit Transactions that are linked to the spouse's Giving Transaction at the time that the first Transaction is created, you must work from the Insert form for the first spouse's Transaction. Note that this behavior is not limited to the Relationship Type Spouse-Spouse (sp-sp). See the subject, Spousal Relationships within the topic, Relationships. Note that you may not create a Joint and a Credit Transaction for a Spouse. If one of these is already checked when you check on the other, the system will automatically toggle the check boxes so that no more than one is activated.

• Follow the procedures for creating a Simple Gift for the first spouse, but do not click Insert. The full amount of the donation must be entered in the Amount field.
• Click the check box in the lower left portion of the form labeled, Credit for: Spouse.
• Verify that all desired data is in place on this form and then click Insert. The system will automatically create a Transaction for the second spouse, using the same data as the original. The Amount fields will automatically show the full amount of the original Transaction but the Transaction Type will be a Credit or a Pledge Credit, depending on the Type of the first Transaction.

Create a Credit for Other Constituent - when the Original Transaction is Created

1. Follow the procedures for creating a Simple Gift for the first constituent, but do not click Insert. The full amount of the donation must be entered for the Amount field.
2. Click the check box in the lower left portion of the form labeled, Credit for: Other. Note that a Transaction may be credited to another constituent, even if it is also jointly owned, and even if it is also credited to a spouse. And, the original Transaction can be credited to multiple other constituents.
3. Verify that all information is in place appropriately.
4. Click Insert. The Credit ID Search from will display so that you can identify the Other constituent.

5. Enter the constituent's ID number, or name using standard Name search formatting.

   Last Name/First Name<space>Middle Name;Suffix

6. A Search Results page displays, listing the constituent or constituents who match the search criteria.

   1. A constituent will appear in the search results more than one time if he or she has more than one Lookup Name row. Click the Sort by ID and Display Unique List hyperlink to remove duplicate rows from the Search Results display. If you re-sort the search results, the multiples will display again.
   2. Locate the desired constituent and click the ID or Name hyperlink.
   3. If the desired constituent is not shown, click the Respecify the Query hyperlink. The Search form re-displays to allow you to redo your constituent search.
7. Once the credited constituent has been identified, the system will automatically create a Transaction for the second constituent, using the same data as was entered for the first constituent. The Amount field will contain the same full amount of the original, but the Transaction Type will automatically be changed to Credit or Pledge Credit, depending on the Type of the original.

Create a Credit for Other Constituent - Add it to an Existing Giving Row

Linked Credit Transactions may be added to another constituent's Giving Transaction at any time after the original has been created. In fact, to give Credit for more than one constituent for a single Giving Transaction, you may create only one Credit at the same time that the original is created, and then all subsequent Credits must be added after the original Transaction and the first Credit Transaction have been created. Added Credit Transactions are created using the Transactions menu, accessed via the Edit button to the left of the first Transaction.

1. Locate the specific Gift or Dues Transaction to which the Credit Transaction is to be linked. The original Transaction will belong to a different constituent than the constituent who will own the Credit Transaction.
2. Pass the mouse pointer over the edit button to the left of the original transaction's common information to access a context menu and then pass it over the item, Transactions to access that cascading menu.
3. Click Add Credit for other Constituent. You will be given a Credit transaction insert form. The Credit For text box is used to identify the constituent who will own the Credit Transaction. At any point, you may click the Cancel button on that form to return to the display of the original Transaction without creating the Credit Transaction.

4. In the Credit For text box, Enter the constituent's ID number, or name using standard Name search formatting.

   Last Name/First Name<space>Middle Name;Suffix

5. Use standard data entry techniques to edit any of the default data shown in the form, which is a copy of the information from the original Transaction.
6. When all data appears as desired, click Insert.

7. A Search Results page displays, listing the constituent or constituents who match the ID Number or name entered.

   1. A constituent will appear in the search results more than one time if he or she has more than one Lookup Name row. Click the Sort by ID and Display Unique List hyperlink to remove duplicate rows from the Search Results display. If you re-sort the search results, the multiples will display again.
   2. Locate the desired constituent and click the name hyperlink.
   3. If the desired constituent is not shown, click the Respecify the Query hyperlink. A Search form displays to allow you to conduct a more intensive constituent search.
8. Once a constituent has been uniquely identified, the system will create the Credit Transaction. If the original transaction had multiple Allocations, you will automatically be prompted to create additional Allocations for the Credit Transaction you are creating. As in any other Multiple Allocation situation, the form will default to the data for the first Allocation. You must enter or edit the data for the subsequent Allocations as desired.
9. If the original Transaction consisted of a single Allocation, or when you have finished creating the Credit Allocations, the system will return you to the display of the original constituent's Transaction. Scroll to the bottom of that Transaction's display and you will see the label, Credit for... and then hyperlink text showing the second constituent's name. If you want, you may click that hyperlink to view the individual Credit Transaction that has been created for that constituent. If you do so, at the bottom of that display you will see the label, Credit from... and then the hyperlink text showing the first constituent's name.

Create a Credit for Another Constituent through Coverage

Review the Coverage topic for complete information about Coverage relationships before reviewing the following information.

If a Coverage relationship exists between two constituents, and a Gift, Bequest (not linked to an Expectancy), Pledge, Sustainer Pledge, or Expectancy stand-alone transaction is entered for the covering constituent, the system can automatically create a Credit transaction for the covered by constituent. The Credit transaction is linked to the original Giving transaction, and it is created at the time the original Giving transaction is created. If the donor of the original Giving Transaction is covering multiple constituents (the donor has multiple Coverage relationships), then a Credit transaction can be automatically created for each and every constituent that is covered by the donor.

Coverage relationships do not apply to Pledge Payments and do not apply to Bequests that pay down Expectancy transactions.

If the Coverage relationship is not restricted by Campaign, Campaign Year, or time period, the system will always create a Credit transaction when the original Giving transaction is created.

If a Coverage relationship only applies for a specific time period , the credit is automatically created if the original Giving transaction is entered into Millennium on a date on or after the Coverage's Start Date, and on or before the Coverage's Stop Date. The Effective and Process Dates on the Giving transaction are not taken into consideration.

If the Coverage relationship only applies to a particular Campaign, and/or to a particular Campaign Year, the credit is automatically created if the Giving transaction's Campaign and/or Campaign Year matches the Coverage Campaign and/or Campaign Year. In the case of a multiple allocation Giving transaction, the Campaign and/or Campaign Year on the first (also known as primary) allocation must match the Campaign and/or Campaign Year on the Coverage relationship. Review the Multiple Allocations topic for information about creating and maintaining multiple allocation Giving transactions.

A Coverage relationship is useful in scenarios where the same constituent (Spouse or Other) receives credit every time a specific constituent makes a donation. Coverage relationships are also useful in scenarios where one Giving Transaction generates multiple credit transactions, and it is the same constituents who receive credit for every donation that is made by one specific constituent.

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Create a Credit Given On Behalf of Another Constituent

Sometimes funds will be received with the instruction from the donor that the payment is being made "on behalf of" another constituent. There is a subtle difference between this situation and one in which the donor's gift is also being credited to another constituent, but Millennium allows you to make this distinction if you want. In both cases, the donor will end up with a Giving Transaction (with the appropriate Type: Gift, Pledge, etc.) and the second constituent will end up with a Credit Transaction (with the appropriate Type: Credit, Pledge Credit).

The differences in these similar situations are shown in the chart below.

	Donation that is credited to spouse or another constituent	Donation that is made "on behalf of" spouse or another constituent
In the display	The donor's Transaction will show the hyperlink message, Credit for (constituent's name) The credited constituent's Transaction will show the hyperlink message, Credit from (constituent's name)	The donor's Transaction will show the hyperlink message, On Behalf of (constituent's name) The credited constituent's Transaction will show the hyperlink message, Given by (constituent's name)
In the data	The linkage is maintained via the giftcrdkey or duescrdkey field.	The linkage is maintained via the gifthnrkey or dueshnrkey field. The gifthnrmkr or dueshnrmkr field will hold a 'B'. If the donation is made on behalf of another constituent to pay down a pledge for the other constituent, the credited constituent's Transaction will link to the donor's transaction via the gifthnrkey or dueshnrkey, but will also link to the credited constituent's pledge via the giftplgkey or duesplgkey.
In the creation process	The process begins by accessing the donor's display and creating a Giving Transaction for the donor with the Credit for option activated.	The process begins by accessing the credited constituent's display (the constituent who is NOT delivering the funds) and creating a Transaction, changing the Given By field information to show the donor's name.

1. Access the Gift or Dues display for the constituent on whose behalf the donation is being made (not the constituent who will deliver the funds).
2. Access the context menu from the header edit button, or from the primary Edit button from any existing Transaction and click Insert or Insert via Default to access a form to create the Transactions.
3. By default, that form will show the constituent's name in the Given by text box (unless you are using a Default form that you have defined otherwise).

4. Replace the constituent's name in the Given by text box with the ID Number (or the name using standard Name search formatting) of the constituent who is delivering or will deliver the funds.

   Last Name/First Name<space>Middle Name;Suffix

5. If necessary, edit the Gift Type entry to show the kind of Transaction that the DONOR is making - not the kind of transaction that the displayed constituent will be given. For example, if Jane is making a pledge on Joe's behalf, access Joe's display, change the Given by data to Jane, and change the Transaction Type to Pledge.
6. Enter or edit the data for all other text boxes as desired.
7. Click Insert. (at this step, you can, instead, click Cancel to halt the process; no transactions will be created).

8. A Search Results page displays, listing the constituent or constituents who match the ID Number or name entered.

   1. A constituent will appear in the search results more than one time if he or she has more than one Lookup Name row. Click the Sort by ID and Display Unique List hyperlink to remove duplicate rows from the Search Results display. If you re-sort the search results, the multiples will display again.
   2. Locate the desired constituent and click the name hyperlink.
   3. If the desired constituent is not shown, click the Respecify the Query hyperlink. A Search form displays to allow you to conduct a more intensive constituent search.
9. Once the desired Given By constituent is identified, the system will create both transactions and then return you to the Giving display of the credited constituent. If you want, you can use the Given by hyperlink message to access the display of the donor's transaction.

Create a Credit for Same Constituent - Add it to an Existing Giving Row

At times in the business of fund raising, it may be desirable to create a Credit Transaction and link it to another Transaction belonging to the same constituent for purely good will reasons. For example, if a donation comes in the form of stock certificates and the value of that stock on the day that they are sold is less that the value on the day that they were delivered to your institution, the constituent will have a Transaction with an Amount that is less than what was anticipated. Furthermore, this difference might not allow the constituent to qualify for a giving club or recognition level. By linking a Credit Transaction for the amount of the difference to the Gift Transaction, and by including that Transaction Type when calculating Giving Totals, the constituent can be assured of inclusion in the anticipated giving level. At the same time, Credit Transactions are never included in financial reports for business purposes, and so Accounting standards are maintained.

Note that the purpose, the technique, and the results are different than those for creating a Transaction with a linked Credit Transaction belonging to another constituent. In that case, the Credit Transaction should be for the same full amount as the original Transaction.

1. Access the display of the appropriate table and locate the specific Transaction to which the Credit Transaction is to be linked.
2. Pass the mouse pointer over the edit button to the left of the transaction to which the Credit transaction will be linked to access a context menu and then pass it over the item, Transactions, to access the cascading menu.
3. Locate and click the item, Add Credit for this Constituent. You will be given an Insert form for a new Transaction with a Type of Credit. If you would like to add a linked Credit Transaction that is an exact copy of the existing Transaction belonging to the same constituent, select Copy to Linked Gift from the Transactions Menu instead.

   Note: Because the credit is linked to the gift (giftsumkey), the total displayed is increased by the amount of the credit.

4. Using that form and procedures for a Simple Transaction enter the appropriate data. (Or utilize other options as appropriate. See the Transaction Index.)
5. When all data appears in the form as you want, click Insert to create the row,
   OR
   Click Cancel to halt the process without creating the Credit Transaction.

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