A monthly donation reconciliation checklist

Reconciliation is how you confirm that the gifts in your CRM match the money that actually arrived — in your payment processor, your bank account and your accounting system. It's essential for accurate reporting and audits, and it's one of the most time-consuming manual tasks many finance teams face.

Use this checklist to make the monthly process more predictable.

Before you start

• Agree the period you're reconciling (for example, gifts dated in the calendar month).
• Decide which system is the source of truth for each figure: the CRM for gifts, the processor for payouts and fees, the bank for deposits, and the accounting system for the ledger.
• Make sure fund, campaign and payment-method codes are used consistently across systems.

1. Gather your reports

• A CRM report of gifts for the period, with gift date, amount, payment method and any processor transaction ID
• Payment processor reports: transactions, fees, refunds, disputes and payouts
• Bank statements showing deposits
• Your check and cash deposit batches
• The accounting system's donation and fee entries

2. Match the totals

• Compare the CRM gift total with the processor's gross total for online gifts.
• Compare processor payouts with bank deposits.
• Compare check and cash batches with the related deposits.
• Compare the combined totals with the accounting entries.

3. Investigate differences

Most mismatches come from a familiar list:

• Fees: the CRM records the gross gift while the bank receives the net amount after processing fees.
• Timing: a payout that includes gifts from the last days of the previous month.
• Refunds and disputes: recorded in the processor but not yet reflected in the CRM.
• Failed recurring payments: scheduled gifts that were recorded but weren't collected.
• Duplicates: the same gift entered twice, or a second record created for an existing donor.
• Entry errors: typos in amounts or dates on manually entered gifts.

4. Record and correct

• Correct the source record rather than adjusting only the report.
• Note the reason for each adjustment, so the next person can follow it.
• Send corrected receipts where a gift amount changed.

5. Review and sign off

• Have a second person review the reconciliation summary.
• Save the reports and notes together for your auditors.
• Record how long the reconciliation took this month.

Making next month lighter

If reconciliation takes days, a few changes usually help: bring processor transaction IDs into the CRM, import gifts automatically instead of entering them, record fees consistently, and set up duplicate checks at the point of entry. With connected systems, much of the matching can run automatically, leaving your team to review exceptions.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.