Contents - Index

Preferences

To setup how you prefer Donarius® to operate, go to the Setup menu and choose Preferences.... Change the settings then click Save or press the Enter key.

Addresses:

You have three choices for whether addresses are required or not:
Full, partial or no address
 You can enter all parts of an address, part of it or none of it.
Either full or no address
 You either enter the entire address or none of it (i.e. no partial address).
Full address only
 Only the complete address may be entered.

Click on the choice until it says what you want.  Also, when entering the people in a family only one person needs an address (eg: one parent) and the others can be entered without the address and then linked to the parent.

Searching by Name:

When searching for a donor by name, you have two ways to indicate who you are looking for:
a) Type either the start of the first name, the start of the last name or both.  All the matching names will be shown so you can choose the correct one. e.g. to find donors with names similar to Janice Anderson you can type any of these:
 JAN
 ANDER
 JAN AND 

b) Type the first three letters of the donor's last name. For example: if you have a donor with the last name Graham, just type GRA for the donor #.  When there are several donors with a similar last name you will see a list where you can choose the correct one.  You can also add the first few letters of the first name.  So if you are looking for John Graham you would type GRAJ.  If you are looking for David Graham you would type GRAD.

Donor Numbers From Previous Software:

The previous software you were using probably had a different style of donor number from the alphanumeric one that Donarius® uses.  Then if you imported your data from your previous software, you may have also imported the old style donor number.  In any dialog box or window where you type a donor number you have a choice of giving either the old donor number or the alphanumeric one.  The donor will be found with either number that you type.

All reports usually display the alphanumeric donor number.  If you prefer to have the old donor number shown on all reports then click on the checkbox:
Show old donor #.
When you check this, Donarius® will look for for any duplicate or blank old donor numbers.  If any invalid numbers are found you will be given instructions on how to fix them.

Click the Donors icon and choose Add/Edit Donors...  You will see both the alphanumeric and the old donor numbers.  When you add a new donor, you will have to pick an old donor number that no other donor is using.

Report/Receipt Appearance:

You can change the appearance of reports and receipts by setting the:
- Font style
- Font sizes
- Left and top margins on each page

- Maximum number of categories to list on a report.  Some reports list donations by category with each one in a column or row. Reports can be printed in portrait or landscape mode, so choose the maximum so that the categories can fit on a page.  When you show categories in the middle of the page, all of them will fit so type the word ALL for the maximum.

-how zero amounts will be displayed on reports. (This does not apply to tax receipts.)  To show blanks when an amount is zero put a checkmark where it says:
 Zero amounts on reports show as blanks

Backups:

Choose whether you want to be prompted to do a backup and how often you want to be prompted.

Report Initial Date Range:

When doing a Donations by Date or a Donations by Donor report the date range is initially today's date or the date of the last donation you entered or the date range of the previous report. If you want the initial date to be the entire fiscal or taxation year then put a checkmark on: Date range begins at start of fiscal/tax year.  For example if the date is Oct 31, 2014 then the initial date range would be Jan 1, 2014 to Oct 31, 2014. When you do a report in the first month of a fiscal or taxation year, the initial date range would be the entire previous fiscal or taxation year. For example, in Jan 2016 the initial date range would be: Jan 1, 2015 to Dec 31, 2015. When you enter new donations then do a Donations by Donor report it will always be for the date of the donations you just entered. Then it will go back to the entire fiscal or taxation year. For some organizations the fiscal year is different from the taxation year.  In this case you must indicate which year you want on the Donations by Date window.  Click on (Fiscal) to switch it to (Tax) or click it again to go back.

Entering Donations:

Font Size:
To make all the text and boxes in the donation entry window bigger or smaller, change the font size at the top right.

Payment Method Shortcuts:
While entering the amount donated you can press a letter to choose a payment method. The letter used for each method can be changed.  Find where it says Payment method shortcuts: and you will see a list of letters for each one.  Hold the mouse over the list to see the order of the shortcuts.  Change them if you prefer something different.  You can also pick a slash / or an asterisk * so you can use the numeric keypad.

Bill/Coin Sizes:
The size of each cash bill is shown here.  Edit this list to match the sizes of the bills used in your country.  If you wish to record the number of each coin then add the size of each coin to the list.  For example, to record pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, enter 0.01, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.25 into the list.

Other Payment Methods:
You can also add up to 12 other payment methods in the Other Payment Methods list box.  For example you could add methods such as: PayPal, Money Order, Visa and MasterCard.  To record the ID# of a money order, type a name with a # sign at the end, like this:
Money Order# or MO#.
Pick a shortcut key for the ones you have added or let Donarius® pick one for you.  When you delete a payment method you will be asked what to do with any donations that use that method.  You need to pick another payment method to set for those donations.  If you need to delete a few methods, delete only one at a time, clicking 'Save' after each.

Donations received through Canada Helps will be issued a separate tax receipt by them so you should add add (NR) at the end of the payment method to make it non-receiptable. The payment method will then be: Canada Helps (NR).  Those amounts will not included in the receiptable amount on the donor's tax receipt. 

You can also have extra pre-authorized methods such as for credit cards. Just include the words Pre-auth, Auto, or Monthly as part of the payment method's name. Or include the abbreviation you use for regular pre-authorized payments. eg: P.A.D., A.C.H. or E.F.T. depending on which you use.

Maximum # of edit boxes for categories:
When you use a large number of donation categories, it may be easier to have only a few edit boxes for entering the donation amounts.  You should probably have enough for the ones you use most often and a few extra for the categories you use sometimes.  To enter an amount for a category that is not shown, just change the category by clicking on the category name above the edit box.  If you type the word ALL then all of the categories will be shown.  If you have only one edit box for the category, you can choose the category without using the mouse.  After typing the donor# or env#, press Tab or Enter and then the category list will be visible.  Use the up/down arrows to select the category then press Tab or Enter.

Donations in the future:
Usually you will enter donations with today's date or a past date.  Sometimes you may need to enter a donation in the future.  For example, a post-dated check or a pre-authorized deposit.  If you need to do this, then check the box: Can enter donations with a future date.

Cursor Movement:

When entering donations you find a donor by typing an Env# or Donor# then press Enter or Tab.
The cursor will then move to one of the category boxes. Which category it goes to can be changed for when you are entering a new donation or editing an existing one:
Here is what each choice means:
First category -  Always go to the first category
Same as previous - Go to the same category where you entered the previous donation
First amount entered - Go to the category where you entered the first amount
  (if you exit to the main window then go back to the donations window, this starts over)
First this date - Go to the first category on this date with a donation

After you enter an amount or change an amount then press Enter the cursor will automatically move to either the Env#, Donor# or a category amount box.  The behaviour of the cursor can be changed.  When you choose which clicked first then the cursor will go to whichever box you clicked on after you entered the first donation. You can make the cursor behave differently when you are adding new donations or editing the donations.  Choose whichever cursor movement is best for the way that you enter and edit donations.  When you select Donor # & Blank or Env# & Blank the donor#, env# and name will become blank when the cursor moves.  This enables you type into a blank box.  For all other settings a donor is shown and when you start typing, the box will become blank and show the first character that you typed.

Envelope # Checksum:

To verify that donation entries match those entered into some other software, you can use an Envelope # Checksum.  This is just the sum of all the envelope numbers of donors who made a donation on a particular date.  To use this, put a checkmark on the checkbox:
Show an envelope # checksum.
The checksum will be shown when entering donations and when you view donations by donor, sorted by envelope number.

Donor's Address:

To show the address to help you verify that you have the correct donor, put a checkmark on the checkbox:
Show address when entering donations.

Donor's Telephone#s:

To show the donor's first two phone #'s to help you verify that you have the correct donor, put a checkmark on the checkbox:
Show tel#s when entering donations.

Pledges:

Carrying Forward to Next Pledge Period

When you have a series of pledge periods, one after the other, you have a choice of how to handle those people who have not fulfilled their previous pledge. For example, you have a one year pledge from Jan 1, 2010 to Dec 31, 2010 and another one year pledge from Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011.  Suppose a person is $50 short on their 2010 pledge.  When you do a report in 2011 do you want to carry the $50 forward and add it to the amount short for 2011? Or do you want to show only how much they are short in their 2011 pledge?  To carry it forward put a checkmark on Carry pledges owing forward

Starting Early

Usually you have a pledge drive that begins on a certain date and donors start giving toward it on that date.  However, sometimes for tax reasons donors would like to give before the actual start of the campaign.  For example, your pledge may start on January 1 but some people want to give in December so that their donations can be used on the previous year's income tax.  If this is the case for you look near the bottom where it says:
Pledges start [ ] days early
and change it to 30 to allow pledges to be received a month early.

Church/Organization with Multiple Locations
Your church or organization may have multiple locations, each with their own copy of Donarius.  Sometimes you will want to merge all of the data from each site together.  To enable this put a checkmark where it says: We are a church with multiple locations.  Then when restoring data, you can select that you want to merge data from another location.

Using on a wireless network

When Donarius® is used on a wireless network, the connection between a client and the server can sometimes be lost.  This may happen if Donarius® is idle for a long time.  If this is happening to you, put a checkmark on Connection to server can be lost.  When you do not do anything that requires access to the files on the server for 30 seconds, all the server files will be closed.  Then when you require file access again, the files will be re-opened, re-establishing the connection with the server.

Windows Colors:

You can set the color of Donarius® windows to be different from what you have set up in Windows. You can change the color of the background and the color of edit boxes, combo boxes and list boxes.  Just click on Background Color or Edit Box Color and click on a new color.

Window Size:

You can enlarge the donation entry window by changing the font size when entering donations. (near the top right).  To make all windows bigger, increase the number where it says Scale All Windows By. For example, to make all windows 20% bigger type 1.20.  After changing that you need to close and re-open Donarius® for it to take effect.

Teller Signatures on Report:

If tellers/counters are required to sign a report of what they entered then enter how many signatures are required.  Signature lines will be put at the bottom of the report.

Print/Email Tax Receipts When Donating:

Some donors would like to receive a receipt right after donating. Others want an email sent with a receipt attached.
If some donors want either of these, then (near the bottom) put a checkmark where it says:
 Print/email a receipt for each donation

You should set all donors to get Yearly Receipts so they can also receive one at the end of the year, summarizing the entire year.  Click on the Donors icon and choose Add/Edit Donors.  Then near the bottom right, change the receipt type to Yearly Receipts, then go back to the list of choices and select All => Yearly Receipts.

When you enter the donations into Donarius® you will see a Print button, to print a receipt.  If the donor has an email address, you'll also see an Email button. The default receipt it will print will use a Custom Letter called Receipt1.  If you would like to change the formatting of the receipt, you can do it yourself or send us a sample and we'll set it up for you. To set it up yourself, click on Mailings and choose Setup Letters then where it says Letter to edit choose Receipt1. When a receipt is emailed, it will first create a PDF of the receipt instead of printing it.  That receipt will then be emailed to the donor. You can change the wording of the email by clicking on Mailings and choosing Setup Emails then where it says Email to edit choose Ereceipt1.

(Note: you need to purchase the Letters/Emails/Text Messages module to use this functionality.) 

Receipts Issued by Another Organization:

Some donations that you receive, have already had a tax receipt issued by some other organization on your behalf.  For example, when you receive donations through Canada Helps they issue a receipt to the donor for you. Or you may receive donations through your head office and another division of your organization.  In this case they would have already issued a receipt to the donor.

If you want to track these receipts, put a checkmark on:
 Can track receipts issued on your behalf

When you enter these donations, put them into a non-receiptable category (so that Donarius will not issue another tax receipt).  Near the bottom of the donation entry window, you will see a box to enter the receipt# used by the other organization on your behalf. If you don't know the receipt# type a question mark (?) in the box.

When you do a tax receipt summary, these amounts will be shown with NR beside the receipt# and totaled separately at the bottom.





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