Category: Synagogue Finances

“Include mailing labels” option is back—and it works in a much more practical way.

If you print financial statements, mailing labels can be the difference between a smooth monthly run and a frustrating, error-prone process.

The good news: the “Include mailing labels” option is back—and it works in a much more practical way.

What changed (and why it matters)

Previously, even when mailing labels were available, the workflow was clumsy:

  • Statements and labels were combined into one single PDF.
  • You had to print part of the file on plain paper.
  • Then swap paper types mid-job (remove plain paper, load label sheets).
  • Then print the remaining pages for labels.

That approach increased the chance of misprints and wasted label sheets.

Now, when you run statements with Include mailing labels selected, the system generates two separate files:

  • One link for the statements PDF
  • One link for the mailing labels PDF

When the statement run finishes, the notification email includes a dedicated link specifically for the labels, so you can download and print them independently.

include mailing labels

How to run statements with mailing labels

  1. In your statement run options, check Include mailing labels.
  2. Complete the statement run as usual.
  3. Wait for the completion email.
  4. Use the email links to open:
  • the statements file
  • the separate labels file

Critical printing settings (avoid misaligned labels)

Label alignment is almost always ruined by printer scaling.

The label PDF is already formatted with the correct spacing, padding, and margins, so you need to ensure your printer does not “help” by resizing it.

When printing labels, make sure:

  • You print one-sided
  • You select Actual size (or equivalent)

Avoid settings like:

  • Shrink to fit
  • Fit to page
  • Fit to printable area

Those options will scale the document, and even a small change can cause every label to drift out of position.

Recommended first-time test (saves label sheets)

Before using real labels:

  1. Print one label page on plain paper using Actual size.
  2. Hold it up against your label sheet/template.
  3. Confirm the text lines up with the label boundaries.

Once it matches, load your label sheets and print the labels PDF.

A simpler, safer labels workflow

With labels delivered as a separate PDF, you can print statements and labels independently—no mid-print paper swapping, no guessing page ranges, and far fewer wasted label sheets.

If you’ve avoided statement labels in the past because the process felt risky, this update makes it worth trying again—just remember: print at Actual size.

For previous articles about running statements, visit this link.

See the full video on this topic, visit this link.

More Flexibility with Donation Acknowledgements

Managing donation acknowledgements just got more flexible—especially when a donor wants someone else notified about their gift.

When a contribution is made to a fund (for example, a gift to the Cantors Music Fund in honor of a Bat Mitzvah), donors often request that a parent or honoree be informed. Until now, ShalomCloud treated the “donor” message and the “notifee” message as the same description.

This update introduces a simple but powerful improvement: you can now customize the description that appears in the acknowledgement sent to the notifee recipient—without changing what the contributor sees.

The scenario: donor + notify recipient

Here’s a common real-world use case:

  • A donor makes a contribution in honor of a Bat Mitzvah.
  • The donor asks that a parent (or another person) be notified.
  • The system already stores the notifee’s email address with the transaction.

That foundation remains the same. What’s new is the ability to tailor the notification wording for the person being informed.

Bulk acknowledgements still work the same

If you’re processing multiple donations at once, you can continue to send acknowledgements in bulk:

  1. Go to Queries → Financial Transactions.
  2. Filter to the set of contributions you want to process (for example, the ones entered today).
  3. Select the appropriate transactions.
  4. Click Bulk Acknowledge Payments.

This flow supports handling half a dozen—or a dozen—contributions quickly and consistently.

What’s new: an override description for the notifee recipient

You’ll now see an additional description field that’s automatically populated with the description entered when the transaction was created.

  • Default behavior: If you do nothing, the notifee recipient description matches the contributor description.
  • New option: You can override the notify description to better fit the audience receiving the notification.

For example, instead of sending the honoree’s parent a generic description like “Bat mitzvah of Heather Boyle,” you can personalize it into something warmer and clearer—such as “Bat mitzvah of your daughter Heather.”

That small change can make a big difference in how thoughtful and personal the notification feels.

Templates and subject lines: unchanged (and still flexible)

Everything else about the acknowledgement process remains familiar:

  • Choose an email template for the contributor.
  • Choose an email template for the notify recipient.
  • Enter a subject line if desired (if left blank, it defaults to “Donation”).
  • Click the Send Acknowledgements button to deliver messages for the transactions you selected.

Why this matters

This enhancement helps organizations:

  • Deliver more personal, context-appropriate donor notifications
  • Reduce awkward or overly generic wording in honoree/parent emails
  • Keep bulk processing fast while improving message quality

If your donors frequently give in honor of life events—and request that family members be informed—this new notifee description override is a practical upgrade that adds polish without adding extra steps.

See the full video:

Now available — per transaction override for QB account to debit

For those who regularly post transactions to QuickBooks Online using ShalomCloud, a new feature might significantly streamline your workflow. Until now, the financial category mapping determined where the debit and the credit would post, for each payment to that category. With this change users now have the flexibility to redirect these debits to a different account.

Understanding the Default Posting Method

In ShalomCloud, each financial category is mapped to a corresponding pair of accounts in QuickBooks. For instance, when a payment posts to the Camp Scholarships Fund, it would debit Undeposited Funds and credit Scholarships. This method has been the standard practice, ensuring consistency across transactions.

Introducing Flexible Debit Posting

The latest update allows users to choose a different account to debit for a specific payment. Suppose you prefer the debit to go to a Money Market Account instead of Undeposited Funds. Now, you are able to make this entry directly during the posting process.

How It Works

  1. Select a family/household.
  2. Choose the category and fill out most of the screen as usual.
  3. Just above the save button, you’ll see a new field, “GL to Debit.”
  4. If you leave that field alone, the journal entry will post to the category default.
  5. Instead of using the default debit account, you may select something different.

This enhancement, while modest in scope, offers more control over your financial postings. It’s particularly beneficial for users seeking to customize their accounting processes without additional manual entries QuickBooks.

To see a short (4m 29s) video of this feature in action, access this link.

Financial Queries — now by household attribute

Exploring the Enhanced Capabilities of Querying Financial Transactions

Navigating financial transactions can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task, but with recent enhancements, this process is becoming more intuitive and user-friendly. Let’s explore how you can leverage these capabilities to streamline your financial queries and get the most out of your transaction data.

One of the standout features in the latest update is the ability to filter transactions with precision. If you haven’t experimented with this screen, you’re in for a treat. Let’s dive into some practical examples to illustrate these capabilities.

Imagine you want to identify everyone who owes $100 or more. Simply enter “100” into the balance field, hit search, and you’ll have a list at your fingertips. This straightforward query can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on strategic financial decisions.

Another powerful feature is querying payments received since a specific date. By setting the transaction date from a particular point and leaving the ‘to’ field blank, the system will generate results up to the current moment. For instance, if you want to see all payments made since October 1st, this function will display all relevant transactions, providing you with real-time insights.

If you’re specifically interested in dues, you can refine your search further. Adjust the transaction date to start from July 1st and use the category filter to focus on “dues.” Whether pointing and clicking through categories or utilizing the wildcard option by typing “dues,” this feature ensures you access all dues paid since your specified date.

The most notable enhancement, however, is the introduction of household attributes. This slight yet impactful change allows you to filter financial transactions based on family attributes, such as “senior couple” or “senior single.” By selecting these attributes, you can isolate dues paid by households fitting these criteria, providing a deeper level of analysis and understanding.

In conclusion, while these updates may seem modest, they offer a powerful toolkit for filtering and analyzing financial transactions. By incorporating these methods into your workflow, you can enhance your financial oversight and make more informed decisions. Dive in, experiment, and see how these features can transform your approach to financial management.

See these features in action: short video of 2 minutes, 38 seconds.

New Simplified Aged A/R Report

In the ever-evolving landscape of financial management, staying ahead with efficient reporting tools is crucial. Today, we delve into a new option on aged financial reporting. If you’re involved in managing finances, this change is designed with you in mind.

For those unfamiliar, accounts receivable aged reports are essential for understanding who owes what, and how long those amounts have been outstanding. Traditionally, these reports could be generated by family or by category, allowing for an in-depth exploration into specific areas such as tuition fees or donations.

Introducing the New Simplified Aged A/R Report by Family

Until now, aged reports by family included both a summary and a detailed view. These options provided insights into each category for which a family owed funds. However, the latest update introduces a streamlined approach: a one-line-per-household report. This compact version offers a quicker, more efficient way to grasp the financial landscape without getting lost in the minutiae.

Understanding the Reports

  1. Summary Report: The summary report breaks down financial obligations by family, displaying each category’s owed amounts. It’s a straightforward way to identify outstanding debts at a glance.
  2. Detail Report: While more time-consuming, this report provides a comprehensive view, detailing each transaction, including pledges and payments. It’s invaluable for those needing a deep dive into financial interactions.
  3. New Simplified Aged A/R Report: The latest addition is the one-line-per-household report. This format eschews detailed breakdowns in favor of a simpler overview, highlighting ages and grand totals for each family. It’s perfect for quickly assessing who owes what over various time frames.

The Importance of the ‘As Of’ Date

A pivotal aspect of these reports is the ‘as of’ date, which allows you to tailor your view to specific time frames—be it future projections or retrospective analyses. Adjusting this date ensures you capture the most relevant financial data, whether you’re looking at past transactions or future projections.

New Simplified Aged A/R Report

Enhancing Financial Oversight

This update not only simplifies financial tracking but also enhances your ability to manage and strategize around outstanding debts. By providing a concise, clear view of financial obligations, it empowers you to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.

We hope this new feature proves invaluable to your financial operations, offering a streamlined path to understanding and managing accounts receivable. Whether you’re a seasoned finance professional or new to the field, this update is designed to make your task easier and more efficient.

See the full video: Aged Accounts Receivable

Explore the New Annual Installment Billing Feature

Discover the New Annual Installment Billing Feature

With this announcement, we introduce the capability of annual installment billing. While many are familiar with the monthly and quarterly billing cycles, the new annual option offers a strategic advantage for long-term financial planning, especially for significant contributions such as a building fund, or a capital campaign.

What is Installment Billing?

In general, it’s more straightforward to bill once for an entire amount, and then to draw down the amount owed as payments are made. However, some congregations prefer to charge the membership incrementally. Depending on an organization’s policies, installment billing can occur monthly, quarterly, or now, annually.

The New Annual Billing Capability

Previously, many organizations relied on monthly or quarterly billing cycles. The introduction of annual billing offers a fresh perspective for managing long-term financial commitments. For example, if your organization is running a building fund campaign, you can now set a total amount to be billed. By selecting the annual installment billing option, the total amount is divided into yearly installments, facilitating easier tracking and management.

How It Works

Let’s consider an example involving the Goldsmith family, a part of your organization’s financial contributors. Suppose they commit to a total contribution of $5,000 over five years for a campaign like the mikvah campaign. With the annual billing feature, you input the total amount, select the installment billing option, and set the first and last bill date—say, from September 2025 to September 2029. The system automatically divides the total into yearly amounts, aligning each installment with the appropriate fiscal year.

Benefits of Annual Installment Billing

  • Long-Term Planning: Organizations can plan more effectively for future projects with clear, predictable cash flows.
  • Simplified Management: With annual billing, there’s less frequent need to manage and adjust billing cycles, saving time and reducing errors.
  • Enhanced Reporting: Financial reports can now reflect long-term commitments more accurately, assisting in strategic decision-making.

By leveraging the new annual installment billing feature, organizations can enhance their financial management capabilities, ensuring they remain agile and efficient in today’s ever-evolving financial landscape. Embrace this new capability to optimize your organization’s financial strategies and achieve your long-term goals with confidence.

To see this feature in action, please view this video.

Streamline Your Accounting with Shalom Cloud’s New QuickBooks Integration Feature

Are you using our automated interface to QuickBooks Online? Or perhaps you’re considering it? If so, we have some news that could simplify your accounting processes. Introducing our latest feature: the ability to auto-generate Document Numbers directly from Shalom Cloud.

Let’s delve into what this feature entails and how it can benefit you.

Understanding the Document Number Field

In QuickBooks Online, the Document Number field may serve for tracking and referencing transactions. If you’re already satisfied with how this field is populated, you may not need to change a thing. However, if you seek a more streamlined approach, our new feature can help.

How to Activate Auto-Generate Doc Number

Getting started with this feature is simple. Navigate to the Home screen in Shalom Cloud, select Declare Synagogue Options, and scroll to the bottom. Here, you’ll find the new option labeled “Auto-Generate Doc Number.” Initially, this setting is set to ‘no.’ By switching it to ‘yes’ and hitting the submit button, you activate the auto-generation feature.

What Happens Next?

Once activated, any new financial transactions processed in Shalom Cloud will automatically generate a Document Number in your QuickBooks Online journal entries. This number corresponds directly to a transaction in Shalom Cloud, making it easier than ever to trace journal entries back to their origin.

Demonstrating the Feature

Let’s walk through a practical example. Suppose you have a fictitious family, Littell01, in our sandbox environment, with outstanding dues of $245. When you pay this amount using a check, and refresh your journal entry report, you’ll notice a new entry with a unique number. This number ends with 593, which matches the transaction ID in Shalom Cloud.

Video demonstration

Tracking Transactions Made Easy

By enabling this feature, you can effortlessly track journal entries in QuickBooks back to their originating transactions in Shalom Cloud. This integration saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors, providing a seamless accounting experience.

A Word of Caution for Manual Entries

If you also generate manual journal entries, it’s advisable to differentiate them from those auto-generated by Shalom Cloud. Consider using a unique identifier, such as “JE-” followed by a number, to ensure clarity and prevent duplicate entries.

Conclusion

Our new feature for auto-generating Document Numbers from Shalom Cloud to QuickBooks Online represents a significant step toward enhancing your financial management capabilities. Activate this feature today to experience a more efficient and accurate accounting process. Whether you’re a current user or considering our interface, this enhancement is designed with your convenience in mind.

See the full video:

One new wrinkle for the ShalomCloud form builder

The subject is the ShalomCloud form builder. Within the form builder, you’ve been able to automatically bill a household, depending on their choice from a list of options. For example, suppose your form contained something like this (amounts are arbitrary):

In such a case, you could choose for the system to automatically create an amount owed, to the appropriate category and fiscal year, depending on the user’s choice.

All well and good. But, suppose you want to supply the ability to write-in an amount, and have that, also, be automatically billed. That is now a reality.

Here’s a video running through this new idea.

Instantly See Credits to an Amount Owed

The video accompanying this post shows a before-and-after look at a financial transaction query.

In the “before” look, you could

  • Edit any item in the list, to see all the fields for that item, and to change some of them.
  • For any credit — that is, a payment, an adjustment, or financial assistance — you could select the “DR” link to see the charge to which that payment was applied.

With this change, you can traverse in the opposite direction. For any given charge, you can see the credits applied to it.

And, once you select the “CR” link, the credits appear immediately below the one you selected.

Here’s a video demonstrating both the before and the after.

Customize Subject Line for Donation Acknowledgements

Background: this article on bulk acknowledgement of contributions.

And this one: bulk acknowledgement of commitments.

The announcement highlights an update regarding the subject lines of email acknowledgements. You now have the flexibility to enter a custom, fit-for-purpose subject line!

It’s not a required field, by the way. If you leave it blank, the emails will have the subject line as “Donation”.

Here’s a brief (3 minutes, 14 seconds) video showing the new subject line field in action.