- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
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I am a volunteer bookkeeper for a small animal rescue nonprofit in Virginia. One of our volunteers has asked me why we don't allow/encourage people to bequeath funds to us in their wills. It's not that we DON'T let people do that, just that we haven't looked into it and don't ask people to do it - no mention of it on our website.
She thinks it's as easy as telling people to write it into their wills. I want to know from professionals, is there more to it from a bookkeeping perspective? We are a cash-based organization although I do a few invoices from partner organizations as true accounts receivable. We have no capital or liabilities/loans, and I want to keep our books as simple as possible for now. (Until we grow large enough to warrant hiring an actual accountant to manage our books.)
Some of the specific questions I have are:
1. Would I need to keep track of who has promised us a legacy/gift? If so, do we need to keep in touch with them periodically? If so, how do you do that diplomatically since we are in essence waiting for them to die to get our money - so tacky!
2. Are there laws about this that I should research and be familiar with?
3. Is there specific paperwork required to either track or report on these?
4. Anything that hasn't even occurred to me?
She thinks it's as easy as telling people to write it into their wills. I want to know from professionals, is there more to it from a bookkeeping perspective? We are a cash-based organization although I do a few invoices from partner organizations as true accounts receivable. We have no capital or liabilities/loans, and I want to keep our books as simple as possible for now. (Until we grow large enough to warrant hiring an actual accountant to manage our books.)
Some of the specific questions I have are:
1. Would I need to keep track of who has promised us a legacy/gift? If so, do we need to keep in touch with them periodically? If so, how do you do that diplomatically since we are in essence waiting for them to die to get our money - so tacky!
2. Are there laws about this that I should research and be familiar with?
3. Is there specific paperwork required to either track or report on these?
4. Anything that hasn't even occurred to me?