Here's wishing you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Even though these greetings are a wee bit late (I've been out of the office a few weeks) , I felt I should extend them because BVCMS has given you several Christmas gifts. Well, at least that's how I think about them. If you read the most recent couple of BVCMS News posts, you will know what I'm talking about. These are some wonderful new features that David added during the holidays. I'm going to take several posts to expound on these and point you to more information.

The new feature for this post is the ability to track Gifts-in-Kind in BVCMS and have them display on a person's C ontribution Statement . First, let's define a Gift-in-Kind. This is a donation to your church of goods or services, anything that is not actual cash.

There are all sorts of items that qualify as a Gift-in-Kind (stock, vehicles, services). Some of these will be sold and the proceeds donated to a specific fund. Others will be retained and used by the church. Still others will be services for which the church did not have to pay anything.

You may decide that you want to record only those items that will actually convert to cash, such as gifts of stock or vehicles that will be sold. The other types of Gifts-in-Kind can be acknowledged with a letter. Your church should determine the policy they wish to follow.

NOTE: The IRS is very specific about how to handle the reporting of these types of gifts. We suggest you consult your church accountant before you begin.

Read more about Gifts-in-Kind and how to record Gifts-in-Kind in BVCMS.

Stay tuned for more posts about our other new features!