opening FR bank acct for friend w/cancer

cactus_flower

I would like to do an online FR for a friend who has no medical ins. and has just been through surgery for cancer. Do any of you have any suggestions, or can you answer any of the following questions:

1. Should I open the acct at her bank, my bank, or a separate bank?

2. Can monetary donations be sent directly to the bank?

3. Will she be able to access the acct?

4. Should we open a joint acct, so a family member can go to the bank if she is not able?

5. Can the acct remain open when the PC FR is over?

6. Does my friend need to go with me to open the acct?

7. Should checks be made out to me, to the acct, or do we not deal with checks on an online FR?

This is my very first FR and also my first online show, any tips are greatly appreciated. Thx.

Dianne

AJPratt

1. Should I open the acct at her bank, my bank, or a separate bank? Choose the bank with the least amount of fees. Unless you are really friendly with your bank.

2. Can monetary donations be sent directly to the bank? It depends on the bank.

3. Will she be able to access the acct? She'll have to be listed on the account.

4. Should we open a joint acct, so a family member can go to the bank if she is not able?
You can open a joint account, but I would reccommend having 2 signatures for any withdrawal (checks written) to remain above board.

5. Can the acct remain open when the PC FR is over? I suppose it can be open as long as you'd like. The bank acct is seperate from the PC FR.

6. Does my friend need to go with me to open the acct? Yes, she will need to provide her signature and ID.

7. Should checks be made out to me, to the acct, or do we not deal with checks on an online FR? I think the FR is just like a regular show as far as payment goes. If its a FR show than it would be made out to you like usual and PC would send the check for the "organization".

I hope I helped. Someone in banking or with experience with this may be better able to assist.

cactus_flower

Anne,
You were a BIG HELP! I'm so glad you were online. Thx.

ChefBeckyD

I did a fundraiser for a friend with breast cancer...see my biggest show stats, because that was the fundraiser!

I opened an account at my bank with the name "Michelle's Fund" attached to it, and had everyone make out checks to Michelle's Fund. Many, Many people added on to their amount, or just gave outright donations to Michelle's Fund. When we closed the fundraiser, I transferred the amount of the show to my PC account, and when the check came, it was deposited into the Michelle's Fund account.

I then closed out that account, and had a cashier's check made out to Michelle in the amount that was in the account.

Lisa/ChefBear

We have a little girl locally who's got cancer and there's been many many fundraisers done on her families behalf.

Just a word of warning......be very very careful who you give access to the account. We had an unfortunate case of dad coming and taking money "for child" while mom was in hospital with child 3-4 hours away from home and never knew money was taken out. It was a huge mess and now they've got like 5 people listed on account, mom is one and 4 others and it has to be mom's signature and someone else's. Dad is totally off the account. He stormed the bank, raised a rucus and was shown the door.

Sad, mess, but these things unfortunately happen.

For checks, I would probably have them made out as you normally would for any show, but tell people if they want to donate directly to the fund, make out to: ???

HTH,

Lisa

ChefBeckyD

Yes - when I had an account set up, the only people with access to the account were myself, and Michelle. (who the FR was for...)

kcmckay

I work in banking so maybe I can help you with this.

1. Should I open the acct at her bank, my bank, or a separate bank? The bank with least fees is good advice. If you like your bank they should point you in best direction for what the account is for. I know where I work typically it's opened as a "business account" and usually will be listed as "Susie's Fund" or Friends Of Susie Smith fund. Dependent on how the account is worded that's how checks should be made out to allow easy deposits. Also some banks may require you to have and EIN number which is an employer identification number, some may let you use yours or her social security number as well. Again it's best to check with the actual banks policy which any customer service rep should be able to assist you with.

2. Can monetary donations be sent directly to the bank? Depends but if you mean mailed or deposited at a teller window yes they should just make checks payable to account name. The tellers should not supply any account information to those people. They can just give a check or cash and say they want to contribute to fund.

3. Will she be able to access the acct? That is correct she would have to be a signer to access the account.

4. Should we open a joint acct, so a family member can go to the bank if she is not able? You can do that. I agree that having 2 or 3 point people on account and setting it up for multiple signatures will be best to avoid any issues.

5. Can the acct remain open when the PC FR is over? Yes it's not connected to Fundraiser. You could even have some sort of other flyer soliciting donations outside of PC FR. As far as closing out account you should check with bank. Where I work if an account is closed within 6 months of account opening there is a $25 fee.

6. Does my friend need to go with me to open the acct? Yes if you want her to be one of the signers

7. Should checks be made out to me, to the acct, or do we not deal with checks on an online FR? If you open account under account name.

Good luck and feel free to pm me with other questions. Also I see you are in Western PA. I don't know PA very well but my bank I'm talking about recently expanded into the Pittsburgh area. If that is convenient to you feel free to pm me for the bank name itself and any other questions if it helps. And no I will not personally get anything out of you going to this bank since I'm in NY but I can equip you with information you would need to make process smoother.