Standard-M

Are you dreading having to manually calculate processing and fundraising fees to be Standard-M compliant? Andar/360's Standard-M module will do the calculations for you and prepare the reports you need to conform to the Standard. Whether you are a processor or a recipient of pre-processed gifts from another United Way, the Standard-M module will do the dirty job for you.

Background Information

In late 2004, United Way of America released the new Standard-M (aka Criterion-M) to formalize the allowable fee sharing scenarios between United Ways. Standard-M is a United Way of America membership requirement. It allows fundraising and processing fees to be allocated between the United Ways involved. For example: in some cases, a donor works in one United Way's territory [A], the gift is processed by another United Way [B], and the donor designates to a third (check-off) United Way [C] (possibly the donor's home United Way). Processing fees can be charged by the processing United Way [B] and the check-off United Way [C]. Fundraising fees can be charged by the processing United Way [B] and the fundraising United Way [A]. Whenever more than one United Way is involved in a workplace campaign, the management of fundraising and processing fees quickly becomes very complex.

The purpose of standard-M is to assure the public that:

  1. donors are charged no more than the actual cost incurred to process and transfer gifts,
  2. there are no duplicate charges or redundant services assessed to the donor, and
  3. all United Ways have a consistent, fair and understandable methodology for calculating and recovering fundraising, processing, disbursement, management and general expenses on designated donations (agency transactions).

Andar/360 Standard-M

Although Andar can deduct fees from gifts and handle processor versus check-off United Way, it does not handle the separate fees for fundraising nor the payout of fees to the United Way organizations involved. Andar/360's Standard-M module addresses these issues from the perspective of all United Ways involved in a campaign. This includes the processing United Way, the fundraising United Way, as well as the check-off United Way. The module ensures that as a processing United Way, fees can be deducted up-front for all processing and fundraising activities in compliance with the standards. Similarly, when information received by a fundraising United Way from a processing United Way, Andar/360 ensures that donations are not assessed additional charges. The Andar/360 Standard-M module also calculates the fees to be distributed to other United Ways involved in the campaign. Numerous windows within Andar have been updated to show information from the perspective of the fundraising, processing, or check-off United Ways. The reports produced by the module are also compliant with the requirements of the standard.