Donation Records & Statements

[Guest]

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[Henry]

Did you happen to notice if you do a Sort on Transaction type, it will at least group them. 

[AccountAbility]

Did you happen to notice if you do a Sort on Transaction type, it will at least group them. 

Henry - Thanks for the tip.  We seem to be running two threads around this new "improved" look of our Kiva accounts.  On the other thread, I did mention this, but the donations still extend beyond one page, so even the copy and paste workaround is cumbersome at best.   

Perhaps instead of a sort they could put a select and then have a total field at the end.

But as you and I have been lobbying, what it really needs is some reporting functions and an export.   

[Sherri]

But my question is, since we get the money back, this doesn't count (income tax purposes) as a donation does it? You can't declare it if the money is coming back to you can you?

[Kay]

Dan (AccountAbility) is talking about the optional donation that Kiva asks for when making a loan.

[cpbailey]

The donation is notable for tax deduction.  However, the other aspect is that a loan going bad can be considered an unpaid debt--also something that records are needed for the tax man.  Although not much of that at Kiva!

Colette

[Kay]

Yes, indeed, a loan in default can be considered a capital loss. 

[AccountAbility]

My friends, we listen.  Done.

Ben

Okay, Ben, what will it take to get the donation record back?

[AccountAbility]

Here is an update on the donation receipt issue from Liz.  I wrote an email directly after Fiona said the staff do not monitor these forums. (My email is below her reply.)
Dan

************************
Hi Dan,

Thanks so much for your email.  Our next portfolio update will include information about donations.  We'll talk to our attorneys about your suggestion regarding the receipts.

Best,

Liz

On 10/22/07, <Dan> wrote:

    Dear Kiva - Please reinstate the donation record in the lenders account
    which you so nicely did a few months ago--only to remove it in Sept.
    While you are at it, you might as well comply with the IRS rules for
    donation receipts which requires a statement that no goods or services
    were given in exchange for this donation, other than intangible "feel
    good" stuff (my loose interpretation).
    Dan

[cpbailey]

If donation records are cumbersome under the current system, consider one lump sum donation with a non-multiple of $25 (so it cannot be mistaken as a group of loans).  Easier than adding up a bunch of little amounts.  Frankly, I suspect that most people would give more in $2.50 per loan than an annual large lump sum, so it is probably in Kiva's best interest to keep the records simple for the most generous supporters.

Colette

[AccountAbility]

I don't know exactly when, but the donation record is back.  It is now located on the top of the My Portfolio page.

It's just a list of donations with donation ID, Amount and Date.  It defaults to date order although it appears as though you can sort by any of the columns, similar to the transaction record in My Account.

While it would be nice to have a total by year, it is easily pasted into a spreadsheet (assuming it doesn't break into pages above some number of donations beyond the number we have).

It also would be nice to have the lender information on the same page so a printout would identify that this lender made these donations.

But at least it's back. 

Dan