wondering if gnucash is suitable for this task. Advice?

[Robert Smits]

On October 2, 2008 09:39:27 am H.S. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am volunteering in a small community center to setup a basic
> accounting application. I am familiar with Linux but I am not an
> accountant so I have a few basic accountancy question regarding gnucash.
> Also, I gather that gnucash is also installable on Windows. That might
> be useful for the people at the center.
>
> The center receives donations from its patrons throughout the year. A
> donor is to be identified by either his name, telephone number or both.
> Perhaps a unique 'donor ID' might also be given if it a better option.
>
> The requirement is to maintain this list of donors and at the end of a
> year generate a receipt for each donor specifying the amount of money he
> donated during the year and his name and contact information. (this
> requirement is the result of some new taxation laws)
>
> For example, suppose a donor John Doe donated in this manner:
>
> $20 on 2008 Mar 30
> $50 on 2008 Aug 2
> $30 on 2008 Dec 20
>
> At the end of the year, the center wants a single page receipt which
> lists the total donations from John Doe and his name and contact
> information. It is to be mailed to the donor.
>
> And this is to be done for all the donars.
>
> So, can this be done in gnucash? I am willing to tinker with gnucash a
> bit to set it up. But it is important that a data entry not be difficult
> for an accountant who may not be computer savvy (but is familiar with
> some basic computer usage).
>
> Other advice and suggestions in this regard are also welcome.

Hi. I'm a financial agent for a political party riding association. I do just 
this with Gnucash.

What I do is create, under income, an account called contributions. Under 
contributions I create individual accounts for every contributor. When I get 
a contribution, I allocate it to that contributor.

Now, when I do a cash report, I can see at a glance the total amount donated 
by each contributor. If I click on an individual contributor in the cash flow 
report, I can see when they made a particular contribution.
-- 
bob at rsmits.ca