Software Update for UUFA Board of Directors and Finance Committee

Transcription

1 Software Update for UUFA Board of Directors and Finance Committee Background Back in the spring, Mark Harmison volunteered to create a requirements document for new software for the office. He conducted interviews with representatives involved in membership management, stewardship/fundraising, religious education management, facilities rental, archives, library/inventory, music, security (of information), and integration with the website. The focus was on congregational management, not accounting. Mark created a spreadsheet with all the requirements and compared six pieces of software to the criteria. The task force met again in the early fall to review the top three options. At this time, Brenda Witherspoon, Diana Crosswait and Lisa Harmison were given the charge to investigate these further. I have looked at these more closely and am leaning toward one of them as our best option. During this fall review of the top three, we were asked about accounting software as part of our research and I have included a brief report on what I know. Congregational Management choices My first choice would be CiviCRM. This is an open source software constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is web-based, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups. It would integrate very well with our website. There are several components that can also be downloaded that would address our needs, including creating contribution data that can be imported/exported to other programs like accounting packages. While this software is free and highly customizable to our needs, it would cost us money to hire a consultant to do the initial design and, perhaps, future maintenance issues. I have not investigated this enough to know how much a consultant would cost. My second choice is undecided, perhaps it would be best to limp along until we are able to afford to implement the first choice. Accounting Only one of the six we looked at had accounting capabilities. ICON CMO has extensive accounting software as part of the program. However, it does not have the membership flexibility and customization we want. For example, as with most pieces of software, there is no way to have a same sex couple properly represented in the database. We do not want to implement this software as it would be a step backward from what we have now. We use Power Church Plus in the office as our membership management database. It is okay but we have been limping along with its limitations. The disadvantages we find with Power Church are that the customization we want with membership is not possible and is not integrated with our website. It does not run on a Mac so Lori can not access the database even if she is networked in. It does have accounting modules which are described below. We currently do not use them. In conversations with the First

2 Unitarian Church of Des Moines staff, I have learned that they also use Power Church Plus, including the accounting modules. They have invited us to come visit them on a Monday afternoon sometime in January to see how they use Power Church Plus. From the Power Church website: Accounting Features The Accounting system is made up of several individual modules, referenced below: Fund Accounting The Fund Accounting module is a cash-basis, double-entry accounting system designed specifically for churches. Defining multiple accounting funds allows you to maintain separate, parallel-running charts of accounts. For example, a new building campaign can raise millions of dollars over the course of several years. When the building is being designed and built, the monthly expenses incurred will be as much or more than the rest of the operating expenses combined. Keeping all building fund activity separate from the general operating fund allows you to see a more accurate financial picture of each. Enter unlimited number of transactions. Accounting Setup Assistant helps get your initial chart of accounts and balances set up. Record repeating transactions. Keep up to 18 accounting months open at a time. Mark accounts inactive. Move or combine accounts at any time during the year. Reconcile Bank Accounts process helps match PowerChurch Plus transactions to those reported on your bank statement. Enter budget amounts for individual accounts or to be shared by a group of accounts. Track "donor restricted" funds. Copy budget to next year function allows you to easily copy budget from one year to another, then change only those that are incorrect. Export raw data file with monthly balances and budgets for each account. Generate graphs of account balances. Reports - 36 built in reports include standard month-end financial reports as well as PowerChurch-specific reports. Fund Accounting account balances. Accounts Payable The Accounts Payable module records payments to pre-defined vendors, whether by

3 printed computer check or handwritten manual check. Information posted from Accounts Payable updates the Fund Accounting module. Record unlimited Accounts Payable transactions. Accounts Payable transactions post to update Fund Accounting automatically. Record vendor contact information, such as address, 4 phones, , and web site. Record vendor account information, such as account number, balance, credit line, tax ID, due days, last buy date, last payment date and vendor notes with timestamp. Mark vendors as inactive. Merge duplicate vendor records together. Print computer checks or record hand-written checks. Supports Canadian cheque formats. Print vendor account number in memo line on checks. Void check utility. Record repeating transactions. Print mailing labels. Print 1099-MISC forms for selected vendors. Reports - 8 built in reports include Vendor Directory, which serves as a hard copy of all vendor contact information. Accounts Payable data. Accounts Receivable The Accounts Receivable module allows you to issue invoices for money owed to predefined customers. For example, a building-reservation has been made and you need to issue an invoice requesting payment. Accept partial payments against invoices and issue credit memos for over-payments. Record unlimited Accounts Receivable transactions. Add customers from scratch, or link them to existing entries in the Membership system. Accounts Receivable transactions post to update Fund Accounting automatically. Issue invoices for payment. Record repeating invoices, such as day care enrollment fees. Apply payments against specific invoices. Issue credit memos in case of overpayment or data entry errors. Print mailing labels. Reports - 10 built in reports, including Account Statement to send to customer, showing invoices, payments, and credit memos. Accounts Receivable data.

4 Payroll The Payroll module was completely rewritten for version 11. Many new features allow you easier setup and maintenance of important Payroll data. Record unlimited Payroll transactions for up to 9,999 employees. Payroll transactions post to update Fund Accounting automatically. Track employee contact information, such as address, 2 phones, and address. Track emergency contact information for each employee. Customizable position, department, and pay group fields. Process contributions deductions from employee payroll. Easily track pastor salary and housing allowance. Supports all US Federal and State tax tables. Easily set up and track pre-tax deductions, such as retirement and medical insurance. Request background checks for employees through Protect My Ministry. Generate direct deposit through third-party payment processing services, such as Vanco Services. Track time off earned and used. Time off types are customizable. Track employee salary and position history. New streamlined process generates hourly and salary process using a step by step assistant. Automatically create Accounts Payable entries for deduction amounts 941 assistant walks you through the process and generates a report with 941 amounts. Print W2 forms for all or selected employees. Reports - 14 built in reports including 941 Tax Deposit report. Payroll data. Power Church Plus is on the two office computers only. Power Church offers an online version that allows two people to be on it at a time, accessible by PC or Mac. The online version is $39.95/month ($455/yr). An additional $25/month will allow two more people to be online at the same time. There is currently a free set-up special which normally costs $99. Conclusions I would like to have the Board s blessing to continue investigating the costs associated with implementing CiviCRM. I think it would be wise for us to begin using the accounting modules in Power Church Plus for a few months, side by side with the current record keeping that our treasurer does. If it looks like we can do this in house, perhaps this would be the most cost effective method for accounting. This is a fairly brief report of the extensive requirements we included in our evaluations. If you would like, the requirements document and evaluation spreadsheet will be shared.

5 Lisa Harmison December 8, 2010