A bill, a card on file, and the charge that pays it.
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A donor calls, and wants to give by card, right now. Here's how to charge the card on the spot, and have the payment and receipt on their record in seconds. Open the family, and go to Credit Cards. Their card is already on file. If they give you a new one, click Add Payment Method, and type the number, the expiration, and the billing details while they're on the phone. In CMS, a card is always charged for a bill. Go to Transactions, and click Plus Bill. The date is today. Choose what the gift is for. Start typing, and pick Donation, Chanukah. Then enter the amount, one hundred eighty dollars. Under Card, choose the card to charge. Plus New Card, right next to it, adds a card without leaving the bill. Leave the schedule closed, so it's a one-time charge, and click Save. The bill is on their record, with the whole amount due today. Now open Credit Card Charges. Every card payment that's due today is listed here. Search for the family. To charge just this one, open the check box menu, and choose Uncheck All. Then open it again, and choose Check Visible. Only the Mandelbaum bill is checked. Anything left unchecked is set aside, and waits for another day. Click Charge Cards. CMS asks you to confirm how many cards it's about to charge: just one. Click Charge Cards. The green check means the card went through. If a card is declined, the reason shows in the Message column, and the bill stays on the list, so you can try again once the donor gives you another card. Back on the family's page, Payments shows the gift: one hundred eighty dollars, paid by Visa, with its receipt number. Open it. It's applied to the bill, it has its receipt number, the thank-you letter is already chosen, and under the card is the authorization number. The amount and the card are locked, because the card was really charged. From here, it's a payment like any other. The envelope sends the thank-you email right away, or it can go out with your next batch of letters. And if your organization charges cards automatically, bills that come due are charged once a day without anyone clicking. That's under Settings, Automation. One more tip. Make a Payment, in your user menu, is for paying your own CMS subscription. To charge a donor, always start with a bill, just like this. When a donor wants to give by card, put the gift on a bill and charge it from Credit Card Charges: the card is charged in seconds, and the payment and receipt land on their record.