For non-profit organisations, direct debit is a crucial process. It is the cheapest way of processing donations and it provides considerable certainty about the expected income. It is therefore important to set up this process properly. There are various good tools available for Salesforce, but how does this work in practice? In this blog post, I will outline the most important steps.
What do you need?
Before you can start with direct debit, you obviously need permission and some information from your donor. These are:
Name
IBAN (BIC code is usually not needed)
Amount
Frequency (once, monthly, etc.)
Start date
End date (if any)
Possible destination (project donation)
Mandate (written authorisation for the direct debit)
It is also necessary to conclude a one-off direct debit contract with your bank. In such a contract, among other things, is mentioned how much you are allowed to collect per batch and per transaction.
Entry
When you enter an agreement with a donor, do not forget to also record a campaign of origin and a destination. The origin campaign gives insight into how the agreement was recruited and helps you make cost/benefit analyses. The destination indicates what the donation is intended for. Is it unmarked money or for a specific project? The destination also determines the thank-you text that appears on the daily statement. This allows you to thank your donors very personally.
The end result of the input is an agreement that is linked to a Payment Profile (IBAN) and a Mandate. The system calculates the next collection date.
Communication
Make sure that you communicate clearly with your donors about the collection process. This will prevent dissatisfaction, interruptions or even claims. Specify the dates on which you will be collecting and confirm what you have recorded. Think especially of the Mandate ID and the Incasso ID. A mail merge or automated e-mail confirmation is ideal for this.
Processing
It is possible to submit direct debit files to the bank on a daily basis. It is more usual to do this once a month. In an Incasso Run, you determine the date you want to collect up to and collect. A so-called term is created for the relevant transactions: in other words, an open item. If the selection is approved, a collection file is created that you can read on the bank’s website. If the file is accepted, all instalments are set to ‘collected’ and a donation is made for each donor. At the same time, the date for the next collection is updated.
Bank failures
Of course, there are direct debits that fail. For example, because of insufficient balance or because the account has been closed. This information is returned by the bank in the daily transaction files. By recognising the payment reference, the relevant instalment is set to ‘reversed’ and a negative donation is booked. The reason for the reversal will also be placed on the instalment. It is then up to you whether you want to set up a reversal process. Do you want to try again an unsuccessful direct debit? If so, in which cases and how often? All this can be perfectly set up in Salesforce and g-company will of course provide help.
Final result
The end result is a smooth and predictable collection process. The donor is not confronted with any surprises and the non-profit organisation has maximum certainty about the expected income at the lowest processing costs and a clear insight into the origin and destination of donations!
