Voluntary donations - suggested ways to setup and manage payables

Voluntary donations - suggested ways to setup and manage payables

Access: Payable Administrators

There are a number of ways that schools choose to request voluntary donations, and some of these are easier for Administrators to manage than others. This can be complex, so if you need further advice after considering this information, please  email our helpdesk.

We hope this information helps you review the best approach for your school.
We have included:
  1. Three options for creating and applying payables at the start of the school year. These range from Option 1 (simplest) to Option 3 (most complex).
  2. Two scenarios for how to manage these for new enrolments during the school year. Scenario A is the simplest, and Scenario B is more complex.
NOTE: The MoE / IRD have specified that the wording for school donation receipts should state 'voluntary donation' or 'voluntary contribution'. Any wordings such as 'earlybird special' and 'early payment discount' are not eligible - we recommend schools seek further advice if they wish to use this practice.

Start of the school year

Option 1: Charge the same for all students (simplest)

All students at the school, regardless of the number of siblings, are charged the same amount.
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation'     Apply to: 'Entire School'  (e.g. $100)

Option 2: Charge a single student donation or a family donation (less simple)

Charge for a single student, then a family donation for any additional siblings.
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation'                  Apply to: a group of only child students (e.g. $100)
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation (family)'     Apply to: a group of eldest children with siblings (e.g. $180)

Option 3: Charge by number of students (most complex)

Charge for 1 student, 2 students, and 3 or more students.
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation 1 student'                    Apply to: a group of only child students (e.g. $100)
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation 2 students'                  Apply to: a group of eldest children with 1 sibling (e.g. $160)
  Payable: '2024 full year voluntary donation 3 or more students'    Apply to: a group of eldest children with 2 or more siblings (e.g. $180)

If you are currently using Option 3, you may wish to consider changing to Option 1 or 2. For many schools, there are only a handful of families with 3 or more students, and the overall difference in income generated may be minimal. This could also be mitigated by adjusting the requested $ amount slightly.

New enrolments during the year

How you choose to manage donation requests for new enrolments during the year will depend on your particular school enrolment numbers and timings. You may wish to consider how many new enrolments you would normally expect (more for primary schools, less for colleges), and whether they arrive irregularly throughout the year, or in cohorts at the start of each term.

Please also refer to the Managing groups and new enrolments... section below.

Scenario A: Full year amount charged (simplest)

Use the relevant full-year payable (from any of Option 1, 2 or 3 setups), but ensure parents/caregivers of students enrolling during the year receive a letter/information with suggested per-term contribution amount. 'Part-payments' is the default for payable items, so parents/caregivers can choose for themselves whether to pay the full amount, or an amount proportional to when their student started.

Scenario B: Pro-rata charging (more complex)

Use a Single Payable: '2024 part year voluntary donation' payable
Apply to: Individual students, using change Start Amount $ to define the pro-rata amount requested.

Use Multiple Payables:    '2024 - 3 terms voluntary donation'
                                             '2024 - 2 terms voluntary donation'
                                             '2024 - 1 term voluntary donation'
Apply to: groups of students (e.g. enrolling in term 2, enrolling in term 3, enrolling in term 4) OR
Apply to: individual students if numbers are lower, on the Payable Apply page. You could also use the change Start Amount $ option to adapt the amount across the term, if this is your school's preference.

Managing groups and new enrolments for donation payables

For Option 1 above, the payable is applied to 'Entire School' and a rule is created. When new students are added to the school roll, you can then choose whether this rule is applied to those students using the Proposed action on the Payable Maintenance page.

For Options 2 and 3 above, you will need to create groups to apply the relevant payable to.
These groups will be one of the following:
i. Kindo Groups created using information derived from your SMS.
New enrolments can be added to Kindo Groups. Any payables that have already been applied to the group will automatically be added to the new student. These will not appear on the Payable Maintenance page.
ii.  Kamar / Edge Groups created in your SMS, which update automatically in Kindo (hourly).
New enrolments can be added to Kamar/Edge groups in the SMS. Any rules that have been applied to a Kamar group will show on the Payable Maintenance page as suggestions for new students. You can choose to accept the suggestion, or apply an alternative payable (e.g. Scenario B).

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