[GNC] Club membership fees and charitable contributions - Business Features or Assets?

[Mike or Penny Novack]

On 8/2/2019 3:34 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> I’m not sure about keeping track of member donations in an Asset account.
>
There are difficult issues doing financials for non-profits which can 
require some fiddling using gnucash (or any alternative).

For example -- the members  may want to receive "statements" (invoices) 
and want these to reflect a unified statement (membership as well as 
pledges) BUT membership dues are NOT a receivable for such organizations 
<<which may be keeping books on a cash basis, but more important, a 
member can withdraw at any time, does not OWE the billed dues. They DO 
owe pledges, but only according to the terms of the pledge* >>

ONE solution is to bite the bullet and keep multiple books for different 
purposes. Main books on a cash basis NOT tracking members but just the 
source of the income (dues, donations, pledges, etc.) and the other used 
just to be able to invoice and track which members have paid, etc. In 
the example situation above where members may contribute (get credited 
for contributions actually made by others) that is another level of 
complexity.

Michal D Novack

* Thus if a pledge is $5000 in the form of $1000 a year for five years 
they do not owe $5000 immediately