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:
- 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).
- 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.
Start of the school year
Option 1: Charge the same for all students (simplest)
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).
Related Articles
Basic Setup for Kindo Payables
Access: Payable Administrator Background This setup will show you how to; create a payable on the partner site, apply payable item on the shop site, Outstanding Payables items will appear on the home page for each family on their personalised myKindo ...Tidying up and retiring payables
Access: Payable Administrators Retiring or writing off Payables from Caregivers accounts has never been simpler with Kindo. You can do this at the end of the academic year or at the end of each term, depending on the payable. By retiring a payable, ...Kindo Payables Manual
We have created a Kindo Payables Manual, which gives you detailed information about how to create your Kindo payables on the partner site, how to apply a payable item to specific room numbers, year levels, custom groups, individuals, how to send ...Payables Reporting Manual
Access: Payable Administrators In the Payables reporting manual, we will look at three different categories of reports. SMS - Kindo Student Links Report - will generate a report of those students who are not linked to a myKindo account, along with ...Kindo Payables for Sports Coordinators
Access: Payable Administrators You can manage your Sport payments easily with a combination of taking registrations and/or deposits through Kindo shop and then the reminder of the payment as a Kindo Payable item. This is great for when costs are ...