Kestrel

Part 3. Modules

3.14 Foundation

Version 1.0 ·Updated 2026-10-07

Next reviewed by 2027-04-07.

Written for a school's staff learning how Kestrel works, the trainers who teach them, and the families using the portal.

The school's fundraising: gifts and their tax receipts, pledges and recurring gifts, campaigns and appeals, major gifts, bequests, grants and the board's totals.

Written forAdvancementDevelopment managerAdvancement financeFoundation boardBusiness manager

What it is for

The Foundation is where the development office records what the school is given and thanks the donors who give it. A gift goes into one fund, may answer an appeal, and gets a tax receipt when its fund is deductible. Around the gifts, the office keeps the promises of gifts to come, the campaigns it runs, the larger gifts it is working towards, the bequests donors have told it of, and its applications to trusts and government programs.

Kestrel records the gift and its receipt. The card is typed at the payment gateway, and the ledger stays in the school's finance system, which Kestrel posts the totals to.

Who uses it

RoleWhat they can do
AdvancementRead and record gifts, pledges, recurring gifts, campaigns, major gifts and grants, issue and correct receipts, send appeals, and keep the Development office settings.
Development managerEverything the Advancement role can do, and read and record bequests.
Advancement financeRead the gifts with their voids and receipts, and correct a receipt. It records no gift.
Foundation boardRead the board pack: giving by fund, campaign and appeal, with no donor's name or gift.
Business managerRead the gifts.

In plain words, the capabilities are: reading gifts (advancement.gift.read), recording them (advancement.gift.write), correcting a receipt (advancement.receipt.correct), sending appeals (advancement.appeal.send), reading and recording bequests (advancement.bequest.read and advancement.bequest.write), reading and recording grants (advancement.grant.read and advancement.grant.write) and reading the giving totals (advancement.report.aggregate). The Foundation entry appears in the console only for a person who has at least one of them.

Key ideas

Receiving entity
The legal body a receipt names: the school or its foundation, with its ABN and the prefix its receipt numbers start with.
Fund
Where a gift goes. A fund may be deductible as a school building fund, a scholarship fund or a library fund, and it names the ledger account the finance system posts its gifts to.
Gift
Money, a contribution such as a gala ticket, a gift in kind or a bequest, received on a day into one fund. A gift is never changed: a mistake is voided with a reason and recorded again.
Receipt
The tax receipt for a gift to a deductible fund, numbered in its entity's sequence. A receipt is never edited: one issued in error is cancelled with a reason and replaced under the next number, and both stay on the record.
Contribution
A payment that bought something, such as a dinner. Its receipt states what the donor received, and the donor claims the rest.
Pledge
A promise of a gift over time, with dated instalments. Kestrel works out what is still to come and raises a late instalment overnight.
Campaign and appeal
A campaign is a drive with a goal and dates. An appeal is one ask, by mail, email, a giving day, a function or in person, and may belong to a campaign.
Recognition society
A group a donor is thanked under, joined by lifetime giving, a year's giving or a bequest intention. Kestrel works out who is in each from their giving today.
Major gift
A larger gift the office is working towards, with its stage and its next step.

Screens

  • Gifts

    /app/advancement

    Each gift the school has received, with its fund, its appeal and its receipt. "Record a gift" is here.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Gift

    /app/advancement/gifts/[id]

    One gift, the receipts it has been on, "Issue the receipt" when a deductible gift has none, and "Void this gift".

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Receipts

    /app/advancement/receipts

    Each tax receipt issued, by number, with whether it is issued or cancelled.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Receipt

    /app/advancement/receipts/[id]

    The receipt as the donor reads it, with "Print", "Email to donor" and "Cancel this receipt".

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Pledges

    /app/advancement/pledges

    Each promise of a gift over time, what has been paid and the next instalment.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Recurring

    /app/advancement/recurring

    Each gift the payment gateway collects on a schedule, and its fund.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Campaigns

    /app/advancement/campaigns

    The campaigns, each with its phase, goal and what it has raised. "Write an appeal" opens the message composer.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Letters

    /app/advancement/letters

    Each appeal that went by post, how many letters wait for the mailing file, and how many came back.

    Needs advancement.appeal.send

  • Major gifts

    /app/advancement/opportunities

    The larger gifts the office is working towards, with their stage and next step.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Bequests

    /app/advancement/bequests

    The gifts donors have told the school they mean to leave it in their wills.

    Needs advancement.bequest.read

  • Societies

    /app/advancement/societies

    Each donor in each recognition society, as their giving stands today.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Naming rights

    /app/advancement/naming

    The spaces, scholarships and awards named for a giver, who approved each, and when each runs.

    Needs advancement.gift.read

  • Grants

    /app/advancement/grants

    The school's applications to trusts and government programs, and the reports each award asks for.

    Needs advancement.grant.read

  • Organisations

    /app/advancement/organisations

    The companies, trusts and foundations that give, and who the office deals with at each.

    Needs advancement.constituent.read

  • Board pack

    /app/advancement/board-pack

    This financial year's giving beside last year's, by fund, campaign and appeal. It names no donor.

    Needs advancement.report.aggregate

  • Development office

    /app/settings/advancement

    The receiving entities, fundraising states, funds, campaigns, appeals and recognition societies.

    Needs advancement.gift.write

Set up the development office

  1. Open Settings, then Development office. Under "Receiving entities", choose "Add a receiving entity" and give its Legal name, ABN and Receipt prefix, such as HSF.
  2. Under "Fundraising states", choose "Add a fundraising state" for each state or territory the school fundraises in, with the day the regulator was notified, the authority granted, or both.
  3. Under "Funds", choose "Add a fund". Give its Name, its Receiving entity, what it is Deductible as, its Ledger account, and whether Receipts are One for each gift or One for the year.
  4. Under "Campaigns", choose "Start a campaign" with its Goal, Starts and Ends.
  5. Under "Appeals", choose "Add an appeal", with the Campaign it belongs to and how it is Asked by.
  6. Under "Recognition societies", choose "Add a recognition society" with what it is Joined by and the amount it starts From.

Record a gift and issue its receipt

  1. Open Foundation from the console. On Gifts, choose "Record a gift".
  2. Under Who gave, choose A person or An organisation and find them.
  3. Under What they gave, give the day it was Received, the Fund, the Appeal if there was one, its Kind, the Amount and how it was Received by. For a contribution, give What it bought.
  4. Under How they are thanked, give the name it is Thanked as, or tick "The donor asked not to be named in public".
  5. Save the gift. On the gift's page, choose "Issue the receipt", then "Print" or "Email to donor".

Send an appeal

  1. On Campaigns, choose "Write an appeal".
  2. Address it to former students by leaving year, past parents, donors to a fund or campaign, or an association.
  3. Write it and send it. Tick Post to send it by letter as well.
  4. Read who it went to. Each person it did not go to is listed with the reason: died, under 18, protected or no consent.
  5. For a posted appeal, open it on Letters, choose "Download the mailing file", and choose "Mark returned" for each letter that comes back. A returned letter closes that address to post.

Tasks

  • Set up a receiving entity, its funds and its appeals.
  • Record a gift and issue its receipt.
  • Void a gift, or cancel and replace a receipt.
  • Record a pledge or a recurring gift.
  • Send an appeal and follow up its returned letters.
  • Record a major gift opportunity, a bequest intention or a grant application.
  • Give the Foundation board its board pack.

On a person's record

A donor is the same person Kestrel already knows, whether a parent, a former student or a member of the community. Their record has a Giving section with their gifts, what they have given in all and the societies they are in, read by a holder of advancement.gift.read. A student's record has no Giving section.

A donor who signs in to the portal sees "Your giving": their gifts and the receipts they can open and print.

Settings

The Development office settings page keeps the receiving entities, the states the school fundraises in, the funds, the campaigns and appeals, and the recognition societies. A fund can be closed so it takes no gift after today, and opened again.

Training notes

  • Who needs it: the development office. Advancement finance needs the gifts and receipts. The Foundation board needs only the board pack.
  • Suggested length: forty-five minutes.
  • Practise on the test school: add an entity and a deductible fund, record a gift, issue its receipt, then cancel and replace the receipt.