Caging & Data Entry
Caging is the process of picking up mailed-in donations from the U.S. Post Office, processing the payments, updating the mailing list and providing any needed FEC compliance services. Quickly processing your contributions and gifts in compliance with FEC regulations is a strategic advantage for state-wide and national political organizations. CMDI empowers your campaign to use this advantage.
Are you prepared for your mail?
A highly-efficient, inbound caging process means that your team will have access to your funds faster. However, internally processing mail contributions isn’t as easy as it looks. Your finance team must anticipate:
- Unpredictable mail volume spikes
- Managing exception or non-compliant contributions
- Securely processing credit card donations
- Donation returns
- Other unexpected situations
CMDI is the answer.
Let CMDI manage your compliance caging. We have a unique, purpose-built caging facility and staff specifically assembled to serve political campaigns, committees, PACs, and nonprofits committees that need a competitive, operational edge.
Our caging staff has extensive knowledge of FEC rules and regulations that can not be found anywhere. Benefits include:
- Speed: During the height of the political season, our caging department can process almost 100,000 pieces of mail every 24 hours, so your donations are deposited within hours of their receipt.
- Assured Compliance: Our caging staff has extensive knowledge of the FEC rules that regulate campaign contributions. All donations are screened for exceptions, such as over-limit contributions or improperly written checks.
- Security: CMDI provides total chain-of-custody tracking and archival of every contribution received in our on-site, secure facility using biometric access, video surveillance, and 24-hour manned security. Learn more about our physical & data security.
What data enhancement services does CMDI offer?
1. Receiving
- • Mail is retrieved from a local post office box, on an agreed upon schedule, or packages can be forwarded to our facility directly. Once mail is picked up, the “chain of custody” begins.
2. Processing
- Mail is opened and sorted according to your specifications.
- “Exception” contributions, donations that cannot be deposited due
to check or compliance problems, are identified and forwarded to our
compliance team. - Contributions over the amount designated by client are pulled for review.
- Bank deposits and batches are prepared for data entry.
- Funds are electronically deposited.
3. Scanning
- Checks are scanned and digitally archived.
4. Data Entry
- New donation records are created or existing records are updated in Crimson.
- As each record is keyed, it is checked against possible duplicate records already on
- Credit card donations are manually processed in a PCI-compliant manner.
5. Archival
- All physical documents submitted by donors are archived for three years.
- All data is backed up to tape on a rotating schedule of backups and stored off-site in vaults for certain period of time.
- All data entered into Crimson is also archived to a secure cloud.
