Cash/Check Donations, Revise Trip Cost, Email Support Link - Mission Trips¶
TouchPoint’s Mission Trip feature uses online registration and online donations from supporters. However, you will still receive some cash and check contributions that you will want to record in TouchPoint for a Participant (Goer).
This can be done by either the staff member overseeing the mission trip or by the person with the Finance role who handles donations in your church’s finance office. Each church should decide their policy regarding this. If the donations are made to the Missions Office, then it is probably simpler for someone in that office to follow the steps below to record the contribution(s) and then send the cash or checks to the Finance Office for deposit, letting them know that the contribution has been recorded.
Tip
You can also email a link for a supporter to make an online donation even if he or she did not receive an email from a participant. See below.
This short video demonstrates how to add a supporter and his or her donation, as well as how to increase or decrease the total cost of the trip for all members with just one transaction.
Note
If the cost of the trip changes after people have already registered, you can adjust the fee for all current members of the Involvement with one transaction. This works the same for Mission Trip online registrations as it does for normal online registrations with fees. We have written instructions in the Add Transaction or Make Adjustment help article.
Record a Cash or Check Donation¶
- Step 1
Go to the Mission Trip Involvement, Senders tab and click Add Senders.
Using normal Search / Add process, find and select the person and then click Commit and Add
- Step 2
Click the Pencil Icon under the Actions column for the person you just added to open the Member Dialog box. The Member Type will be Sender.
Click the green Transaction button and select Add Mission Trip Support.
- Step 3
Select (from the drop down menu) the Goer (Participant) whose balance should be reduced by the donation.
Enter the Amount being applied to this Goer in the Amount Goer box.
If the Supporter is also making an undesignated gift (i.e. a donation that is not applied toward a specific Goer’s balance), enter that amount in the Amount General box.
Enter the check number in the Check No box. If the gift is cash, enter
Cash.Click the blue Add Donation button.
Important
Do not use punctuation when entering dollar amounts. Example: enter 150; not $150.00
- Step 4
If that Supporter’s donation is to support more than one Goer, click the Continue button and repeat Step 3.
If you are finished with that Supporter’s donation, click the Close button.
Results¶
Here is what happens regarding the donation when you follow the steps above:
A Contributions Bundle is created.
The Notes on the donor’s contribution will display the Mission Trip information with the Involvement ID and the People ID. Example: SupportMissionTrip: org = 89979; goer=10245.
The donation is recorded on the giving record of the person you added as a Supporter (Sender).
The donation is assigned to the Fund that is indicated in the Settings of the Mission Trip Involvement.
The Transactions Log will display the Accounting Code that is in the Involvement’s Settings. It is added to the Description. Example: Honduras Mission Trip (555 600 1234).
The donation is applied to the balance of the Participant (Goer).
The Goer will receive an email notification.
Note
Because the donation was not made online, the Sender will not receive the email Sender Confirmation. Of course, the donation is recorded on his or her giving record and will be included on his or her contribution statement. The Goer should, of course, send thank you notes (or emails) to those supporting him or her.
Send SupportLink for an Online Donation¶
If someone wants to make an online donation toward a Goer’s Mission Trip and did not receive a support email, you can easily send them a link in an email.
- Step 1
Go to the Mission Trip Involvement, and Pencil Icon under the Actions column for the Goer’s name (the person they want to support). This will open the Member Dialog.
- Step 2
Right-click on the SupportLink and Copy Link Address.
- Step 3
Paste the link into an email to the person wanting to make an online donation for that Goer.
When the supporter clicks the link, he or she will find his or her own record in the database, and will then be on the page where he or she will enter the dollar amount for that specific Goer. There is also a field for general support for the trip. He or she will then proceed and enter his or her payment information.
See also
Assign a Goer to Donation¶
What about a donation that is made without the donor selecting a Goer? If the donor lets you know that he or she intended to specify a Goer but didn’t do that (or if he or she selected the incorrect Goer), you can fix that after the fact.
Go to the Sender’s Member Dialog in the Mission Trip Involvement and click the View Transactions link.
Find the specific transaction and select Edit > Assign Goer ID. Enter the People ID # for the Goer on whose balance you want to apply the donation. Then click OK.
This will assign that donation to the Goer whose ID you entered.
Move Donations - Change a Goer to a Sender¶
If someone registers for a trip and pays the deposit and later is unable to go, but wants to apply the donation to the General Trip, here is what to do.
Drop the Goer from the Involvement and check the box Remove From Enrollment History.
Add the person as a Sender.
Select Add Mission Trip Support.
Do not select a Goer.
Enter the dollar amount in the appropriate field.
Enter the Transaction ID# of the original transaction in the notes section.
Remove one of the 2 donations on the record of the person in question. You do this in the Bundle.
Each of those actions (initial registration and the Add Support) created a donation record. It doesn’t matter which one you remove. Just make sure you have a message in the note section regarding what really happened.
This will put the amount as undesignated, and because the person is not longer listed as a Goer (or even has any history), the previous Total amount for that person is removed from the Mission Trip Funding report.
If you have tried to perform this some other way (by changing the Member Type to Sender, etc.) and the person is on the Sender tab, but their original total for the trip is still on the report, you can fix it by doing the following.
Drop the person as a Sender.
Then add him back as a Sender.
Follow Steps 3 - 7 above.
Latest Update |
5/11/2022 |
Update terminology for Involvements