Backdating payroll donations and match requests (date of intent)

At the end of the calendar year, you may find that some people’s recent donations have been submitted, but will not be processed until the next year. One example of this is a payroll donation in December that is not processed until January due to pay periods and payroll team approvals.

In this scenario, Benevity helps you backdate these transactions so that each donation is still using the correct budget limits and matching rates. We call this process “date of intent”. A donation is intended for one year, but is committed in another.

Types of transactions that Benevity backdates

• Payroll donations
• Match requests for external donations

Turning date of intent off and on

• Payroll donations always have backdating/date of intent logic turned on. You can’t turn it off.
• You can toggle match requests on and off by request. If you want to turn it off, email our technical support teams at help@benevity.com. It’s currently a setting that requires Benevity support.

How backdating process works

The logic behind this process can be complex, but having a base level understanding of how Benevity does this may be helpful when it’s time for your own end of year reporting. In the sections above, we explained the why behind backdating: to make sure that your peoples’ donations are connected to the correct budgets and matching limits. In the sections below, we will go into the how behind backdating. Again, these processes are complex. Do not worry if you cannot fully understand everything. Our Benevity support teams are always available at help@benevity.com to help with your specific questions.

Backdating for payroll donations

Payroll donations can be created in Spark months before they are committed into the platform to become real transactions. For example, someone has a recurring payroll donation to their favourite cause. This means that the system needs to capture the rules at the time of the donation to the best of its ability.

When a user makes a one-time donation, the assumption is that they intend for their donation to take place at exactly that time. The same logic is applied to the first recurring donation. All subsequent iterations of the recurring donation are then set to have an intent time equal to the pay date for the period it is tied to. Future dated payroll donations also leverage the pay date as the date of intent. This is because when the user creates a future dated payroll donation, they are literally choosing a pay date that exists in the future.

Backdating for match requests

Match requests are backdated using the date the request was originally submitted.

Below are two simple examples of how backdating may work for match requests from different times of the year.

1. The match request is submitted on December 24, 2022, and it’s committed on February 11, 2023:
   • The 2022 budget and match campaign are used.
   • The 2022 matching rate is used.
2. The match request is submitted on January 27, 2022, and it’s committed on April 4, 2022
   • There are no changes from the submit date to the commit date.
   • The 2022 budgets and match campaigns are used.

Date of intent logic broken down by aspects of a donation

The table below provides a few scenarios, out of many, of how a payroll donation or match requests are handled based off the differences in processing vs. submission dates. Unfortunately, the logic is inherently complex, but a basic understanding of the differences between processing vs. submission dates may be helpful.

Further help

If you want to learn more about how this process impacts your specific campaigns and budgeting concerns, please reach out to either your Client Success Manager or our support teams at help@benevity.com.