Managing Mission Trip Donations and Payments ============================================= 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 article covers recording those donations, sending support links, adjusting fees, reassigning donations, and using coupons. .. seealso:: | :doc:`MissionTripOverview` | :doc:`MissionTripInvolvementSetup` .. tip:: You can also :ref:`email a support link` for a supporter to make an online donation even if they did not receive an email from a participant. Recording a Cash or Check Donation ----------------------------------- .. note:: We recommending using the steps below rather than entering a payment in a batch. When entered in a batch, the payment will display as "anonymous" donor on the Goer's support page and the Supporter will not be added to the involvement's Sender tab. Also, since the Sender can't make their own option to send a notice or not to the Goer, no notice will be sent. Step 1 Go to the Mission Trip Involvement, click the `People > Senders` tab, and click `Add Senders`. Using the 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 **InActive**. Click the green `Transaction` button and select `Add Mission Trip Support`. Step 3 Select the **Goer** (Participant) from the drop down menu whose balance should be reduced by the donation. Enter the amount in the `Amount Goer` box. If the Supporter is also making an undesignated gift (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. .. note:: This can be done by either the staff member overseeing the mission trip or by the person with the ``Finance`` role who handles donations. Each church should decide their policy. If donations are made to the Missions Office, it may be simpler for someone in that office to record the contribution(s) in the Involvement and then send the cash or checks to the Finance Office for deposit, letting them know the contribution has been recorded. What Happens When You Record a Donation ---------------------------------------- - A Mission Trip Contributions **Batch** is created for the day, if one doesn't currently exist. - The **Notes** on the donor's contribution will display the Mission Trip information. Example: ``SupportMissionTrip: org=89979; goer=10245``. - The donation is recorded on the giving record of the Supporter (Sender). - The donation is assigned to the **Donation Fund** indicated in the Involvement's registration settings. - The donation is applied to the balance of the Goer. - The Goer will receive a notification email using the **Mission Trip Support Notice** email template. .. note:: Recording a donation through the Senders tab creates a **Contribution** record, not a legacy Transaction Log entry. The donation will appear in the Contribution search and on the new Transactions page (since it is a contribution), but it will not appear in the legacy Transaction Log. The Fund column will display the contribution fund — the general ledger accounting code from the Involvement's fee settings is not included on the contribution record itself. .. note:: Because the donation was not made online, the **Sender** will *not* receive the email Sender Confirmation. .. _SendDonationLink: Sending a Support Link for an Online Donation ---------------------------------------------- If someone wants to make an online donation toward a Goer's trip and did not receive a support email, you can easily send them a link. Step 1 Go to the Mission Trip Involvement and click the ``Pencil Icon`` under the ``Actions`` column for the Goer's name (the person they want to support). This opens 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. When the supporter clicks the link, they will be asked to enter their first name, last name, and email address so the system can identify them (or create a new profile). The Goer will already be pre-selected as the donation recipient. There is also a field for general support for the trip. .. admonition:: Donations and Enrollment Dates When you reuse Involvements and some of the same people register again, any donations made on their behalf will be posted to the current trip based on the person's **enrollment date**. Donations made **after the enrollment date** will be posted to the current trip. Donations made **prior to the enrollment date** will not be included. .. note:: If **Enable Public Funding Pages** is turned on for the Involvement, the Support Link will redirect to the Goer's public Funding Page instead of the usual donation page. Adjusting the Trip Fee ----------------------- 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 registrations as for other online registrations with fees. .. seealso:: :doc:`../Organizations/AddTransaction` .. admonition:: Why would you need this? The fee may increase or decrease due to airline tickets and/or lodging prices varying based on the number of participants. A church may get a better price because more people registered than anticipated, or the price could go up. Moving Donations — Changing a Goer to a Sender ----------------------------------------------- If someone registers for a trip and pays the deposit but later cannot go and wants to apply the donation to the General Trip fund: #. Drop the Goer from the Involvement and check the box `Remove From Enrollment History`. #. Add the person as a Sender. #. Open member dialog by clicking on the `pencil icon` under `Actions`. Select `Add Mission Trip Support` from the green Transaction dropdown. #. Do not select a Goer (leave it undesignated). #. Enter the dollar amount in the Amount General field. #. Click `Add Donation` #. Remove the donation from the Mission Trip batch where this payment appears. If entered today, it would be in the batch dated for today. Do this so the person doesn't have duplicate giving credit on their giving record. 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 happened. This puts the amount as undesignated, and because the person is no longer listed as a Goer (or has any history), the previous total for that person is removed from the Mission Trip Funding report. If you previously tried another method (such as changing the Member Type to InActive) and the person's original total is still on the report: #. Drop the person as a Sender. #. Add them back as a Sender. #. Follow Steps 3–7 above. Using Discount Codes with Mission Trips --------------------------------- With all of the features built into Mission Trip online registrations and the Member Dialog, you generally do **not** need to issue Discount Codes for someone to register for a trip or make subsequent payments. That said, you can still use Discount Codes if you want. Discount Code for the Initial Deposit (First Payment) If a registrant uses a Discount Code for the first payment (the deposit), the system treats the Discount Code as a **discount**. It does not assume the Discount Coderepresents a cash or check payment. #. Create a Discount Code for the specific Involvement in the amount of the discount and give the code to the registrant. #. The registrant registers online, selects Pay Deposit Only, enters the Discount Code, and clicks Apply. #. The registrant receives a confirmation with a paylink showing the current balance after the Discount. #. They use that paylink for all subsequent online payments. #. The Discount Codepayment will **NOT** create an online batch or a contribution record for the Goer. Discount Code for a Subsequent Payment Using a Paylink If the registrant makes a cash or check payment, you can create a Discount Code for them: #. The Goer uses the paylink from their confirmation email. #. They change the amount at the top (which will be the total amount owed) to the cash/check amount (the Discount amount). #. They enter the Discount Code and press Apply. #. This reduces the Goer's balance by the Discount amount. #. It creates an online bundle record. #. The amount displays on the Goer's giving record. .. important:: Never use a Discount Code to give a discount when the person has already registered. This will give them contribution credit for the Discount amount, which is not what you intend. Instead, add an Adjustment to give a discount after registration. Alternative to Discount Code: Deposit Extra Value You can have a System Admin create a Deposit Extra Value on the Goer's record. This allows the Goer to register online without paying a deposit (their balance will be the full trip amount). To give them a scholarship, use the Transaction Adjustment. .. seealso:: | :doc:`../ExtraValues/DepositExtraValue` | :doc:`../Organizations/AddTransaction` .. seealso:: | :doc:`MissionTripOverview` | :doc:`MissionTripReportsTracking` | | +--------------------+------------------+ | **Latest Update** | **5/29/2026** | +--------------------+------------------+ New consolidated article combining donations, payments, fee adjustments, and coupons. Added note about Public Funding Pages redirecting support links.