Settling Payments with the Log Hands-On Donation Payments Tool

This article will walk you through how to manage Hands-On payments made towards Pledges and Recurring Gifts when they are not made through Authorize.net. If you are unfamiliar with Hands-On vs. Hands-Off payments or the difference between automatic and manual payments, please read about them here.

In the following article. we will cover:

An Overview of the feature & best practice tips
How to Log Automatic Recurring Gifts
How to Log Automatic Pledge Payments
How to Log Manual Recurring Gifts
How to Log Manual Pledge Payments
Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments

If you're unsure of the difference between Pledges and Recurring Gifts, read about them here. 

 

Log Hands-On Donation Payments Overview & Best Practice

Ideally, donations will always come through Authorize.net so you never have to do any manual work, but that's not always the case. Sometimes people might make payments with a paper check, where the check number changes each month, or make payments through a payroll deduction. This tool is designed to help you manage those Hands-On payments without meticulously going through each pledge, or each recurring gift, and settling each payment one-by-one. Instead, you get a clean list of all the payments that are due so you can easily check off all the ones you've received on one screen. You can even send confirmation emails directly from the user interface, but we'll get to that a little later.

With all that said, this tool is designed to be used frequently. It should be a part of your regular workflow so you can stay on top of payments in real time. Depending on how many payments you receive each month, you may want to check daily but at least once a week is recommended. 

Now, let's look at how to log Hands-On Payments.

 

Log Automatic Recurring Gifts

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to Donations > Log Hands-On Donation Payments
2. Then, click the Log Automatic Recurring Gifts button 
   1. Every installment due will display in this table but not all of these installments have necessarily been received, the computer's not smart enough to know if you've received the money or not but it is smart enough to know that money is due.
   2. Another important thing to note is that this table will only show the most past due installment until that installment is received. For example, if a donor pays you $10 from their paycheck each month but you haven't logged those installments for three months, then you'll see the installment from three months ago is due. Once that installment is logged, you'll see the installment from two months ago and so on. This is why it's important to stay on top of these installments every week to make sure you aren't getting behind.
3. Check off all payments you've received
4. At this point you can either a.) simply settle the payments or b.) settle the payments and send out a confirmation email to the donor

If you want to settle the payments without sending a confirmation email:

1. Click the Log/Settle Payments button

If you want to settle the payments and send a confirmation email:

1. Click the Log/Settle Payments and Send Confirm. Email button
   1. Note, skip ahead to the Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments section to learn more about setting up confirmation emails for this tool.

 

 

Log Automatic Pledge Payments

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to Donations > Log Hands-On Donation Payments
2. Then, click the Log Automatic Pledge Payments button  
   1. Every payment due will display in this table. Not all of these payments have necessary come in yet, the computer's not smart enough to know if you've received payments or not but it is smart enough to know that one is due.
   2. Another important thing to note is that this table will show the most past due payments until that payment is received. For example, if a donor pays you $100 towards their $1200 pledge each month, but you haven't logged those payments for three months, then you'll see the payment from three months ago is due. Once that payment is logged, you'll see the payment from two months ago and so on. This is why it's important to stay on top of these payments every week to make sure you aren't getting behind.
3. Check off all payments you've received
4. At this point you can either a.) simply settle the payments or b.) settle the payments and send out a confirmation email to the donor

If you want to settle the payments without sending a confirmation email:

1. Click the Log/Settle Payments button

If you want to settle the payments and send a confirmation email:

1. Click the Log/Settle Payments and Send Confirm. Email button
   1. Note, skip ahead to the Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments section to learn more about setting up confirmation emails for this tool.

 

 

Log Manual Recurring Gifts

Since these are manual payments, they're going to take a little extra work than automatic payments. That's because they require data entry each time they are logged.

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to Donations > Log Hands-On Donation Payments
2. Then, click the Log Manual Recurring Gifts button   
   1. Every installment due will display in this table but not all of these installments have necessarily been received, the computer's not smart enough to know if you've received the money or not but it is smart enough to know that money is due.
   2. Another important thing to note is that this table will only show the most past due installment until that installment is received. For example, if a donor pays you $10 from their paycheck each month but you haven't logged those installments for three months, then you'll see the installment from three months ago is due. Once that installment is logged, you'll see the installment from two months ago and so on. This is why it's important to stay on top of these installments every week to make sure you aren't getting behind.
3. Unlike automatic payments, these payments must be settled one at a time. Select the payment you want to settle and click the Review Payment Before Settling button.
4. Enter the Payment Information
5. If at this time you'd like to send a confirmation email, you can do so by clicking the Save Donation and Email button. If not, click the Save Donation button.

To learn more about sending emails, skip ahead to the Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments section.

 

 

Log Manual Pledge Payments

Since these are manual payments, they're going to take a little extra work than automatic payments. That's because they require data entry each time they are logged.

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to Donations > Log Hands-On Donation Payments
2. Then, click the Log Manual Pledge Payments button 
   1. Every payment due will display in this table. Not all of these payments have necessary come in yet, the computer's not smart enough to know if you've received payments or not but it is smart enough to know that one is due.
   2. Another important thing to note is that this table will show the most past due payments until that payment is received. For example, if a donor pays you $100 towards their $1200 pledge each month, but you haven't logged those payments for three months, then you'll see the payment from three months ago is due. Once that payment is logged, you'll see the payment from two months ago and so on. This is why it's important to stay on top of these payments every week to make sure you aren't getting behind.
3. Unlike automatic payments, these payments must be settled one at a time. Select the payment you want to settle and click the Make Payment button.
4. Enter the Payment Information
5. If at this time you'd like to send a confirmation email, you can do so by clicking the Apply Payment and Email button. If not, click the Apply Payment button.

To learn more about sending emails, skip ahead to the Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments section.

 

 

Setting up Confirmation Emails for Hands-On Payments

These confirmation emails are triggered when you settle payments with the Log Hands-On Donation Payments Tool and opt to send an email. You will need to have Client Settings Permissions to set up these emails.

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to System > Settings > Client Settings
2. Click the Donations tab
3. Scroll down to Confirmation Emails For Payments That Aren't Processed By Authorize.Net. You'll see three drop-downs a.) for external automatic pledge payments b.) for external automatic recurring gifts and c.) for manual pledge payments. 
4. You'll notice that each drop-down has a blue plus icon and a green pen and paper icon. The blue plus icon means "add new" and the green pen and paper means "edit." For demonstration purposes, let's add new, click the blue plus icon next to "Confirmation email sent to donor when admin logs external automatic pledge payments (e.g., payroll deduction)"
   
   
   
   
   1. Give your email a title and a subject line
   2. Now, in the Email Text box, you can create your email.
   3. Copy and paste the markers to the left of the box to autofill certain values like "donatedAmount" or "GivingName." Below is a simple example of one of these emails:
   4. Once you're finished, click the Save and Back button. 
   5. Repeat for the other emails