Articles in this Newsletter December 18, 2020

Thank you for being a reader of our Friday Morning Coffee Break newsletter; this is our last issue. In 2021, we are replacing this weekly newsletter with a new monthly newsletter filled with actionable tips, thought leadership and content relevant to you. Stay tuned for the first issue in January.

Congrats to our customers who successfully completed the Data Integrity Clinic. We appreciate your commitment to data cleanliness and understanding of the importance of good data. Congrats to:

Deborah Silvia, United Way of Fairfield County
Scott Reed, United way of Fairfield County
Beth Craft, United Way of Fairfield County
Rebekah Osborn, United Way of Broward County
Elizabeth Flores, United Way of Broward County
Jenny Maleitzke, United Way of Broward County

These customers have earned the coveted Data Integrity Badge that they can add to their Andar Software Users Community profile. 

Our Data Integrity Clinic is a mixture of small group learnings along with one-on-one training between your instructor and your team. These sessions are designed for you and your team to learn, analyze, and strategize your data systems' cleanup and planning.

"I certainly recommend the Data Integrity Clinic. It’s important for organizations to go through the process to better understand and better care for their data so they can use it to their best benefit!"

Deb Silvia
Director of Finance and Administration United Way of Fairfield County

This tip is by Peg Stuber

You might have wondered “In Andar, how should I enter a pledge and/or payment that comes in through a Third-Party Processor, when processing fees are being deducted by that Processor?”

This situation can be handled in a variety of ways – depending on the identity of the third-party processor, and the information that you receive from them. The following is a general recommendation:

1. Since you were not the original processor, it is typically not up to you to send the donor a billing statement or a tax receipt. The third-party processor would be responsible for those tasks.

2.    When you enter the transactions into Andar, use one of the transaction types that were created specifically for this purpose.    

a. Instead of ‘Corporate’, use ‘Corporate (No Bill/Receipt)

b. Instead of ‘Employee Payroll’ or ‘Employee Fully Paid’ or ‘Employee To Be Billed’, use ‘Employee (No Bill/Receipt)

c. Instead of ‘Individual Fully Paid’ or ‘Individual To Be Billed’, use ‘Individual (No Bill/Receipt)

d. Or, if you did not raise these monies, you might use the non-campaign transaction types: ‘Corporate (No Bill/Receipt) (Non-Campaign)’, ‘Employee (No      Bill/Receipt) (Non-Campaign)’, and ‘Individual (No Bill/Receipt) (Non-Campaign)’.

3.    Using 2 separate envelopes, enter 2 separate transactions for each pledge / payment.   

a. The first transaction can go into a Miscellaneous envelope, or a Workplace envelope, or an A/R Payments envelope. 

b. Double-check to determine if you have previously entered the donor’s Pledge amount in another envelope/pledge.   

c. On the first transaction, enter the donor’s total Pledge amount (if it has not been recorded previously). And, assuming you have received at least a partial payment, enter the Payment amount that you actually received.   

d. The second transaction would go into an Adjustments envelope.   

e.    On the second transaction, the Pledge and Payment amounts would be $0. The Adjustment amount would be the amount of the fee, and it would be entered as a positive number. And, the Adjustment Reason would be ‘1020 – Processing Fee Deducted By Others’.

4.    You may send the donor a Thank You – as long as there is nothing that indicates the donor did not want to hear from you.

This tip is by Kim Osmena

Email is one of the most used forms of communication in an organization. Users can easily send and receive communication via email. However, an email attachment that contains malware is spread just as easily.

Common file types such as .txt, .pdf, .doc/docx, .xls/xlsx, .ppt/pptx, .jpg, .zip could easily be infected by malware. These file types are commonly used in an organization, making them ideal for hiding macros/worms/malware etc. One click of the file could easily infect every computer on your network. Always be cautious when opening an attachment through email.

How to protect yourself

There are many ways to protect yourself from malicious email attachments, but the 3 main rules which would make you safer in your daily email communications are:

1. Antivirus Programs

Antivirus programs recognize some viruses and malware and will help you detect suspicious attachments. However, many malware can bypass antivirus programs, especially when the viruses or trojans are new and unknown to those programs. It is important to keep your antivirus program updated regularly.

2. Verify the Sender

Always check the “From” when you receive an email with an attachment to verify the sender. It would also be better to call the sender to verify the email with an attachment. Some hackers are capable of mimicking email addresses that would make the email item look legit.

3. Knowledge

It is helpful to understand how to deal with these types of files and their extensions. When receiving an email with an attachment, be aware that it could contain malware, and you will need to confirm if it is safe to open the attachment.

Overall, be cautious when dealing with email attachments. A single mistake could cause serious damage to your network.

“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.”
George Eliot