Pure Charity offers our nonprofit partners the ability to process their checks through a lockbox. Please read through the questions below to learn more.

Question 1:  What is a lockbox?

A service Pure Charity offers to our larger Nonprofit Partners for the receipt of checks from their donors. Under the service, physical checks sent by donors are directed to a special secure Post Office box, rather than going to the Nonprofit office. Through an automated and secure process physical checks are collected from the Post Office box, processed, and the funds are deposited directly into the Pure Charity account designated for the Nonprofit Partner. Then all physical donations are processed in Pure Charity and assigned to the correct Fundraiser or Donation Category.

Question 2:  How will a lockbox benefit my organization?

1. Depending on how your organization processes donor checks, a lockbox can save time from the manual requirements of opening mail, scanning checks and manually recording them.
2. Increase productivity
3. Decrease labor costs
4. Digital records of all checks
5. Improved security and accountability of physical checks
6. Daily import of transactions via Accounting Dashboard

Question 3: What are different lockbox service levels? 

1. Pure Charity Managed – A Pure Charity Managed lockbox removes an organization’s burden from receiving, scanning, recording, processing, depositing, tracking, record keeping, and assigning donations to specific accounting funds/categories. Pure Charity manages that process for you. Exceptions are routed through a nonprofit contact for any required confirmations.
2. Nonprofit Managed – A Nonprofit Managed lockbox removes an organization’s burden from receiving, scanning, recording, processing, depositing, tracking, and record keeping; however, it allows the organization to control the assigning donations to specific accounting funds/categories.   This is most usually use by organizations with more complicated donor tracking requirements, a high percentage of one-time donors, or a high exception rate of non-compliance by donors in filling out required forms.

Question 4: What type of lockbox service does my organization need? 

1. A Nonprofit Managed lockbox is recommended for those organizations that currently process more than 50 checks on a monthly basis or require a deep institutional knowledge regarding how checks are assigned to specific fund categories.
2. A Pure Charity managed lockbox would be sufficient for any organizations that process less than 50 checks per month.

Question 5: How long does it take to set up a Nonprofit managed lockbox? 

After the Nonprofit & Pure Charity sign the Development Agreement, the process takes approximately 5 – 6 weeks.

Question 6:  What is the cost of a lockbox?

Please contact help@purecharity.com for more information.

Question 7:  How long does it take to see a check donation reflect in the fundraiser?

This will vary depending on mail time, accuracy of information on donation card or check, etc., we estimate five business days.

Questions to consider as the Nonprofit: 

1. Please describe the current process for receiving and applying donor checks to designated fundraisers. 

2. Where are checks currently received (please list all locations)?

3. Who is currently responsible for receiving, processing, and depositing checks received (please list all people involved and their role)?

4. What is the current timeline for processing of checks from receiving in the mail to being credited to the appropriate accounting fund?  

5. What percentages of check donors are recurring or one-time donors?

6. Where do you see the most significant opportunity for improving your physical check processing? Please describe.

FAQs  

1. Can we continue to receive checks and our location and send a bundle to lockbox weekly?

         Although this is an option – it is not recommended. The advantage of a lockbox is to have timely access to the donated funds.

     2. How are exceptions managed; i.e., checks with no fundraiser IDs or no donor history?

         Pure Charity will communicate with a ‘point person’ within the organization.

Still need help, reach out here help@purecharity.com.