SteepleMate’s Offering Management feature helps you efficiently record and manage donations, both physical (cash and checks) and external payments from sources outside your merchant account. One of the core features in this system is the ability to create and manage Batches, which are useful for tracking and reporting donations. This guide will walk you through setting up and managing offerings.

What Are Batches?

Batches are collections of individual donations that are grouped together for easier tracking and reporting. They can help with organizing deposits and ensuring your accounting ledger matches bank statements. While useful, not all churches may need to use batches for managing offerings.

Step 1: Creating a Batch

1. Navigate to Offering Management

   • Sign in to your SteepleMate account.
   • From the left navigation menu, click "Finance".
   • Select "Offering Management" from the Finance menu.
     
     

2. Create a New Batch

   • Click "New" to create a batch.
   • Enter the Batch Create Date, Batch Name, and any relevant Notes.
   • Click "Update" to save your new batch.
     
     

   
   

Tip: If your accounting ledger requires a batch that matches the total deposit on your bank statement, create multiple batches if donations were submitted to the bank separately.

Step 2: Adding Entries to a Batch

Once a batch is created, you can add individual donations to it.

1. Manage Entries

   • In the Offering Management screen, you will see a list of your batches.
   • Click "Details" next to the batch where you’d like to add donations.
     
     

2. Add a Contribution

   • Click "New" to enter a new contribution.
   • Select the Contributor by searching for an existing person in the SteepleMate system. If the person is not listed, try refreshing and searching again, or select other Donor Types as applicable.
     
     

3. Entering Loose Cash Donations

   • Enter the Amount of the donation and update the Contribution Source as needed.
   • Click Save to finalize the donation entry.
      
     

4. Splitting Donations

   • If a donation is being split across multiple funds or giving categories, click "Add Line" to add additional entries for the other categories.
   • Enter the Memo and Amount for each fund, then click Save.
     
     

Step 3: Adding Contributions to an Existing Batch

If you need to add more donations to an existing batch:

1. Search for Batches

   • In the Offering Management screen, use the dropdown to search for batches by a specific time frame.
   • Click "Search for Batches".

2. Manage Entries

   • Select the batch by clicking "Manage Entries", then repeat the steps to add new contributions to the batch.
     

Step 4: Tracking Currency with the Currency Counter

When making a bank deposit, it is helpful to track the currency types for detailed records.

1. Use the Currency Counter
   
   • In the batch you are managing, click "Currency Counter".
   • Add the number of bills and coins for each currency type.
   • Click Save to store the information.
     
     

Step 5: Creating Deposits

Once your donations have been added to batches, you can create deposits for accounting and reporting purposes.

1. Create a Deposit

   • In the Offering Management screen, click "Create Deposits" for processed batches that are ready for deposit.

2. QIF Export

   • Deposits marked as processed can be exported using the QIF format for accounting. Your current export mode may be Category-based, but you can change this by going to Settings Manager > Finance.
   • QIF exports will reflect gross donation amounts (before processing fees), and any differences due to fees will be noted accordingly.

3. View and Print Deposit Details

   • To view more information about the deposit, click the ">" icon.
   • To print a Deposit Slip, click "Deposit Slip".
   • Once your deposit is processed at the bank, you can upload a receipt by clicking "Receipt" in the Offering Management screen.

4. Fund Summary Report & Batch Detail Report

   • For further reporting, you can generate and export the Fund Summary Report or the Batch Detail Report from the Offering Management screen.

By following these steps, you can efficiently manage your church’s offerings and donations using SteepleMate’s Offering Management features.