Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Anita Graves]

Yes, you are right…I forgot to cc the list and I will do so by forwarding our exchange of emails to the list and ask Mike Novak to take a look at my questions.

By the way, we have a cultural issue:  You apparently are British, and I am American, so that’s why I didn’t get the ‘widget’.

Thanks for your help!

Anita

> On 18 May 2017, at 5:46 PM, Maf. King <maf at chilwell.net> wrote:
> 
> Hi Anita.
> 
> There are others on the list who are more familiar with Church & charity 
> accounting and earmarked donations.  (Mike Novak springs to mind), which is 
> precisely why replies should be kept on-list.
> 
> This sort of thing has come up before.
> 
> I think so.
> 
> The asset accounts would probably be best as sub-accounts of your bank, if all 
> the "reserved" funds are held within the same physical bank account(s)
> 
> So
> 
> Asset:Bank:Reserved:Project1
> Asset:Bank:Reserved:Project2
> etc.
> 
> (when you reconcile, check the "include sub-accounts" box)
> 
> Then as you close the books (I think you said you had closed the books & 
> started a new file), just carry the balances of each account forward and make 
> the expense payments from thos reserved "pots" as needed.
> 
> Should work.
> 
> Cheers,
> Maf.
> 
> 
> On Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:35:16 BST you wrote:
>> Well, let’s begin all over because I am getting the idea that another
>> question I have is linked to this same one we have been talking about:
>> 
>> I am the treasurer for a religious organization and we have some funds that
>> are ‘earmarked’.  That’s what we call them.  And that means that people
>> contribute funds for a specific purpose and that has to be somehow shown
>> against our assets so that those funds which are earmarked cannot be spent
>> for anything else.
>> 
>> Therefore, I am trying to be insightful here and if I understand the
>> principle you evoke, I could open Asset subaccounts (child accounts) for
>> each of the individual earmarked funds and treat them in the same way by
>> expending them into the expense accounts that are related.
>> 
>> And, in the case of funds that are carried over from one GC year to the
>> next, the balances in the asset subaccounts that have not yet been
>> expended, could be then entered in the new year’s asset subaccount as a
>> balance forward, and spent against the corresponding expense account.
>> 
>> Please tell me if this is the same thing basically as my previous question
>> in which the expense is ‘prepaid’ as you say….
>>> On 18 May 2017, at 4:58 PM, Maf. King <maf at chilwell.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Anita.
>>> 
>>> I guess widget is english slang - maybe this will help:
>>> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widget
>>> 
>>> But forget widgets.  Henceforth, I'll assume that your pre-paid expense is
>>> for curtains.  Maybe it is macadamia nuts. It really doesn't matter!
>>> 
>>> When the money left you bank last year, you book a transaction into
>>> Assets:PrePaymentToAliceForCurtains - so the bank balance goes down by
>>> £600
>>> and there is a matching increase in that asset account.
>>> 
>>> When Alice sends the new curtains, you transfer the money from the Asset
>>> to
>>> Expense:Curtains, such that the asset goes to zero.
>>> 
>>> hope that clarifies.
>>> Maf
>>> 
>>> On Thursday, 18 May 2017 14:32:29 BST Anita Graves wrote:
>>>> Maf., if you could explain in more simple terms.
>>>> 
>>>> Create balance forward in Asset subaccount
>>>> 
>>>> Release the funds in expense account
>>>> 
>>>> Do I have that correctly?  I have still no idea what you mean by a
>>>> widget.
>>>> But I need your help still.  Thanks so much.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Maf. King
> PGP Key fingerprint = 8D68 A91F 733B 2C1F 43B7  2B7C E591 E8E1 0DE7 C542
> 
> 
>