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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: EDITING CATEGORIES > Donation Categories |
A donation category is entered as part of each donation.
You maintain the list of available categories by selecting Maintenance ⇒ Donation Categories from the main menu. You can also get to it by selecting the "<Add New>" entry on the Category drop-down list in either the main window or the One Date Batch Entry window (in which case you will immediately have the cursor put into a new empty row, where you can enter a new category's name).
The categories entered on this window are displayed in a drop-down list when you enter donations, in alphabetical order.
There should usually be a donation category called "General", which is the only one that comes by default in a new installation of DONATION. You can add as many other categories as you wish to use. If there is a category "General", it will be the default category for new donations. However, you can change which category is the default for new donations, with an option on the Donation tab of the Maintenance ⇒ Main Window Options window. If you feel a need to change the "General" category to a slightly different name, but still want it to be the default category, be sure to set it to be the default on that window.
On the Donation Categories window you can click the New button or press Enter to add a new category. To edit the name of an existing category, just click into the name and make your changes, then press Enter or click the Save button to save your changes. Click the Cancel button or press ESC to undo an edit, or to not save a category entered with the New button.
You can click Delete to delete an unused category that you have selected by clicking on it. It will not let you delete a category that is being used by one or more donations. (If you decided that you should not have used that category, you could find those donations, change their category to some other category, and then delete the category.)
If you try to change the name of a category that already has donations using it, you are prompted to make sure that is what you want to do. Changing the name will change the category on all donations that currently use that category.
Click Close or press ESC when you are done editing donation categories.
Non-Receiptable Donation Categories
You will notice that beside each Category name on this window, there is a display-only field "Receiptable", to show whether that category is Receiptable or Non-Receiptable. It shows a check mark for Receiptable, or an "X" for Non-Receiptable. This is based on the categories being Non-Receiptable if they contain exactly "Non-Receiptable", or start with "NR " ("NR", plus a space), or end with " NR" (a space, plus "NR"). Examples of the latter would be "General NR" or "NR General". "NR" is an abbreviation for "Non-Receiptable".
Any donation whose category is considered to be Non-Receiptable will never be included in any official receipt created with the Receipt menu options.
For details on the other ways to mark a donor or donation as Non-Receiptable, please see Non-Receiptable Donors and Donations.
Categories and Bank Deposits
If you have configured bank deposits in DONATION with the Maintenance ⇒ Configure Bank Deposits menu option, part of that configuration is to associate accounts in your accounting program with donation categories. As a result, if you make changes in this Donation Categories window, you may have to make some corresponding changes in those associations.
To make that happen, you will be prompted when closing this Donation Categories window, if you have configured bank deposits, to open the window for associating accounts with categories. It is strongly recommended that you answer Yes to do so, and review whether any changes are needed.