Yes, $0 dues payment for the recipient and $x contribution for the giver is what we do. We used to just mark the to/from information in the memo field but we have just switched to marking the giver and recipient with symetric records numbers in each one's records. We also also mark who is to get the renewal notice (where we know it). This is the really touchy issue in the whole process - who do you remind to renew? Our current forms do not request this information so it is hard to guess. We think that most of ours are one shot deals, trying to get them to join by giving them a free sample. One joined as a life member on getting his first renewal notice - didn't want to keep getting renewal notices.
> -----Original Message----- > From: Larry Bednar [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 2:46 PM > To: TechRocks Support > Subject: [support] Gift memberships > > > I'm working with an organization that has a history of selling "gift > memberships". Handling this information in Ebase presents a few > problems. I would appreciate the sage advice of any of you who > might have > thought about this already. > > The main difficulties seem to me to arise because, the "gift membership" > payment comes from someone different than the person whose > "membership" is > affected. > > At present, I've added a "Gift From" field to the "payments" database, as > suggested by M.Scholtz (I THINK it was Matthew) in an email to > this support > group a few months ago. In many respects this works decently. I > do need to > modify some layouts to display this information, but it can basically be > added to the layouts where it should be expected without heroics. > > The one thing uncomfortable about this approach is that the actual > "payment" didn't come FROM the person who got the membership. The Ebase > "dues summary" field for the person getting the membership then includes > the "dues payment" tallied in his name - even though this payment was > actually MADE by another person. Someone else once commented here that a > payment should indicate the last person who touched the money before the > organization got it. This makes sense to me, but that ISN'T what happens > in this approach... > > A related problem is that the amount of the gift membership isn't > added to > the purchaser's "dues" or "contribution" total either - even though they > actually provided the money... Because the amount is tallied with the > membership, the actual contributor doesn't get credited. > > I've considered the alternative of actually entering two payment records > for a "gift membership", one for the recipient indicating a payment of > zero, and one as a "contribution" or "merchandise purchase" for > the person > providing the money. This seems a little bit yucky, since it relies > heavily on the operator following the correct entry procedures...but at > least the dollars tally to the correct individuals. > > Any comments from folks who have dealt with/thought about this would be > VERY welcome... > ************************************************************** > Larry F. Bednar > Consulting in Statistics, Quality, Data Managment > Portland, OR 503.493.8542 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ************************************************************** > > > ------------------ > Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to > http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and > enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase > support list:: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
