Contribution Statements
Running reports for tax purposes will likely be one of the most purposeful reasons you’ve collected the contribution data. Let’s look at how we can create and customize those Contribution Statements to show just what your members need.
To begin, navigate to the Contributions>Statements page using the top menu.
Once there, you will find the navigation pane will show the previously run batches of Contribution Statements, and the detail pan will show the statements included in that batch.
Across the page menu, you will see options to add, delete, regenerate, and more.
Running a Batch of Statements
To run a new batch of statements, click on the +Add button in the page menu. This will open a pop-up window that will walk you through the steps to generate a new Contribution Statements batch.
Empower allows you to run a few different types of Contribution Statements. The amount of detail varies on each statement type. Selecting your statement type will be your first step.
Then, give the report a title, and next, select the date range to run the report.
On the next screen, you will be asked to select the Personal Statuses you wish to include in the Statement batch.
Remember, your Personal Statuses are customizable in the Utilities>Options>People>People Status.
This will filter the batch of Contribution Statements that you are reporting.
You can also choose to filter donors by the amount given. Clicking this box gives you the option to add a minimum amount contributed filter by total or one-time gift.
The last option on this screen asks whether you would like to exclude all Donors that do not have an active pledge during the statement period.
Clicking Next, you are prompted whether you want to print the Statements.
The next screen allows you to add a custom message to the Contribution Statement, both under the contributions section and at the bottom of the statement.
These messages will remain saved for each Contribution Statement batch that you run.
When you’ve entered the messages you’d like to include, clicking Next will run the batch of statements.
The complete Contribution Statement batch will now be displayed in the navigation pane on the window’s left-hand side. Statements are arranged by date run (not by the time frame of the batch). The batch that was most recently run will appear at the top of the list.
Batches are titled with the report’s time frame and a subtitle noting the type of Contribution Statement that has been run.
Clicking on the report will list the individual Donor statements in the display pane.
Printing, Saving, Sending Contribution Reports in Bulk
Once a batch of Contribution Statements has been run, they will remain saved in Empower (unless they are deleted). If you would like to save a copy of the batched report, click on View/Print in the page menu. This will produce a PDF of the batch of statements in a new tab or window.
You can then click the download or print icon in the top right corner of the report.
To email the statements in bulk, click on the Email button in the page menu. This allows you to email all of the reports to those Donors that have Email as an Output Option.
After emailing those that allow, clicking on View/Print will give you the option to view or print only those reports that were not emailed to the Donors.
Printing, Saving, Sending Individual Contribution Reports
To View, Print, Send, or Save an individual statement, click on the blue ellipsis ⋮ icon to the far right of the desired Donor report’s row.
Here, you have the option to generate a savable and printable PDF, send the individual statement by email, regenerate the statement (in the event of a correction), and email the details of the statement.
Before Contribution Statements are sent out, you will need to change their status. For more on Contribution Statement Status, see our support article outlining the purpose and process. Until the statements are marked Published, there will be a Draft watermark across each statement.
Archiving vs. Deleting
Also, in the page menu, you will find the option to either Archive or Delete a report. Let’s talk about the difference before you click one of those buttons.
Archive: To archive a Contribution Statement batch will remove it from the navigation pane of the Statements page, but it will remain in the Statements tab of the Donors page.
Keep in mind that once you Archive the batch, you’ll lose the ability to make any bulk changes or actions with that batch of statements.
Delete: Deleting the batch will remove it completely from the Empower database. There will be no record on the Statements page or on the Donor’s page. To see the information, you will have to run the report again.