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Author: Kristenson, Joel
Last Updated: 2017-05-17
Overview
This article will teach you how to create a new payee record that you can record invoices and payments for. This article requires you have security access to the Financial lists.
Tip: Watch this 2 minute video to quickly learn how to create an invoice and make an immediate payment. If you haven’t already, you can have your campaign treasurer sign-up for our free political financial training classes which will teach you about this topic along with all the others you’ll need to learn to accurately track the finances for your campaign.
Steps
Navigate to the Payees (Invoicing) list.
Your current list of payees will populate (if any exist). In my example there were 197.
Click [+ New] on the search tool strip.
Fill out all of the information you have for the payee (name, address, contact info, etc.).
Under the FEC Filing Information/Other section in the top-right make sure you select the appropriate options from the drop-downs, and enter the data into the input fields (if applicable).
Feel free to contact our support team if you have questions on what information is required or contact your FEC analyst. My finished example is below for a Incorporated Commercial Vendor company called Bastian & Skoog Florist.
The descriptions below layout the different options you have and what they mean when entering the FEC Filing Information for a Payee (Political/PAC only).
FEC Filing Information
HINT: Contact the FEC for all of your filing related questions for the most accurate and up-to-date information: Toll Free (800) 424-9530 or info@fec.gov
Entity Type
Entities are defined in 3 main categories (individual, organization and business). The definitions below describe the different entity types available in Trail Blazer when entering a new payee.
Candidate: A person who seeks or is nominated for an office. This type is to be used ONLY for the candidate of your database. There will be ONLY one payee in your list with this designation.
Candidate Committee: aka (Personal campaign committee) is a committee designated by a single candidate to raise money for his or her campaign for public office.
Committee: Such a body appointed by legislature to consider the details of proposed legislation (a.k.a Commission – Board – Trust – Panel - Council).
Individual: A single human being as distinct from a group, class or family.
Organization (not a committee and not a person): A political organization is any organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups, and special interest groups.
Political Action Committee: A type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those fund to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives or legislation. At the federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election.
Party Organization: A party organization is a political organization that typically seeks to influence, or entirely control, government policy, usually nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office.
Ballot Initiative: A public question decided by a vote of the people. The placement of the question on the ballot is initiated by the people.
Creditor Type
A creditor is an entity (person or institution) that extends credit by giving another entity permission to borrow money if it is paid back at a later date.
Incorporated Commercial Vendor: Corporation providing goods or services to a candidate or political committee whose usual and normal business involves the sale, rental, lease or provision of those goods or services.
Unincorporated Commercial Vendor: Unincorporated commercial vendor providing goods or services to a candidate or political committee whose usual and normal business involves the sale, rental, lease or provision of those goods or services.
Note: This distinction is only necessary at the end of the campaign and if you have outstanding debt to them. If you are unsure if an organization is incorporated or unincorporated, make your best guess.
Candidate: A person who seeks or is nominated for an office. This type is to be used ONLY for the candidate of your database. There will be ONLY one payee in your list with this designation.
Committee Employee: Employee of YOUR committee. See description above for committee.
Other Individual: This option is used to select an individual who isn’t affiliated with any of the above options.
Payee Filer ID
This is the text box you will enter the Filer ID number of a payee. Usually used for FEC filing purposes and will typically be the H (house) or S (senate) filer number.
Filer Entity
The Filer Entity is a drop down where you can select a candidate from your database or add a new one to the list. These come from your Candidate list in System Manager -> Lists.
Set Voter ID
To set the voter ID you can click the [Set Voter ID] button and select the voter by searching or enter a new one if they don’t yet exist in your database. Three images below describe this process.
The Voter ID is needed if you are reimbursing your employees for expenses they are paying on behalf of the committee.
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Click [Save and Close] to finish adding the new payee to your database.
You can now search for the payee in the list. My example is below.
The related resources below will teach many other things related to this topic such as how to enter invoice, and make payments against invoices.
Related Resources
Article: Unlocking Voters/Donors
Article: Delete an Invoice/Payment
Article: How to Enter an Invoice for a Payee
Article: How to Enter a Payment for an Invoice
Article: Adding a New Database User and Setting their Security Settings
Article: How to Print Checks through Trail Blazer for Recorded Payments
3rd Party Article: FEC - Best Practices to Avoid Pitfalls
Trail Blazer Curriculums: Financial Training – Political Part I and II
Video: Add Invoice and Make Immediate Payment
Video: Invoices – enter payment on an unpaid invoice
Video: Credit Card Memo Entry
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