Skip to main content

Making Voluntary RIDT Donations with Indigo Payroll

Marie Claire Saliba avatar
Written by Marie Claire Saliba
Updated over a week ago

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Research Innovation & Development Trust (RIDT) at the University of Malta finances high-end research such as PHDs in all areas, ranging from serious diseases like cancer, dementia, and ALS, to more practical topics such as traffic management, energy saving, and cultural heritage.

The University of Malta gets funds from Xjenza Malta, as well as from the European Union.

RIDT was established in order to attract finance from other sources, mainly the private sector, individuals and NGOs. One idea that's been hit upon is for companies to encourage employees to make a small monthly donation (which can be as little as €5 or €10). This amount is:

  • On a voluntary basis, i.e. not all employees of every company have to donate;

  • Deducted from the employee's salary via the payroll system.

Once the payroll is run, the company can then run a report to know the exact amount to be donated to RIDT. Companies may decide to top the amount up. For example, some double it or just add to it. This benefits the company as it can be declared as CSR/ESG. The company will then make a manual payment to RIDT with the payroll's donation.

Key Notes 📝

  • Employees can opt in or out at any time.

  • Employees can choose the amount to be deducted from every salary on an individual basis.

Using Pay Items for RIDT Donations

With Indigo Payroll & leave, you can use Pay Items to set up adjustments specifically for RIDT donations. The donations can be of two types: regular, or on a one-off basis.

There are three main steps involved in using Pay Items for RIDT donations:

  1. Set up a Pay Item specifically for RIDT donations: follow this article to create a new pay item. We recommend including 'RIDT Donation' in the name for easy reference. Make sure to leave the Amount field empty.

    • To add more than one research cause to donate towards, create a pay item for each option you'd like to make available to your employees.
      ​

  2. Enable RIDT donations for your employees.

    1. Individually, or;

    2. In Bulk.

    Click the required link, or see the next section below for full instructions.

  3. Run an Adjustments Report to find out the total donation amount to be sent to RIDT. Click the hyperlink or scroll down to find this section and its details.
    ​

⚠️ Note!

  • The amount of the Pay Item is NOT preset, purposely so that each employee can choose how much they want to donate.

  • Remember, the amount needs to be in the negative.

Enabling RIDT Donations for Employees

You can switch on donations for your employees either one at a time or multiple at once, as needed.

In both cases, after the pay item has been enabled, it will automatically be added to the payroll calculation every payroll.

Individually

This is best used when there are very few employees who need donations enabled, such as newly recruited employees and staff who request it after the majority have already had it enabled.

  1. Go to HR > Employees.
    ​

  2. Select the required employee, go to the Pay Items tab.
    ​

  3. Click Insert ➕, then click on the magnifier icon and choose the required pay item (our example shows 'RIDT Donation'). Enter the employee's requested amount for the donation in the Amount column, in the negative.
    ​

  4. Finally, click Save.

Top Tip 💡

If you want to make the donation applicable for a set date range, you can do so using the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' fields.
​

This is helpful if an employee would like to donate only for a specific time of the year.

In Bulk

Use this method when you need to enable donations for multiple employees at one go, like when implementing RIDT donations for your company for the first time or if you have a large number of new recruits who wish to donate regularly.

  1. Go to HR > Employees > Pay Items tab, then press the Export button.
    ​

  2. In the Export Employee Pay Items modal, make sure Employee Code and Code are selected in the Column Selector section, then click Download Blank Import Template on the bottom left.
    ​

  3. The spreadsheet will download, open it and populate these columns for all the employees you need to add:

    1. Employee Code

    2. Code: enter *AUTO* for each entry.

    3. PayItemCode

    4. Amount

    5. StartDate (if applicable)

    6. EndDate (if applicable)

      Leave all other columns blank.

  4. Next, import the spreadsheet back into the Pay Items tab:

    1. Click on the Import File tool.

    2. Upload the file to the Import Employee Pay Items modal.

    3. Finally, click the Import button on the bottom right of the box.
      ​

​

Making One-off Donations

Let's say one of your employees doesn't normally donate and wishes to make a one-time donation. There are two places you can do this from: the Payrolls screen, and the Payroll Calculations screen.

  1. Go to Payroll & Leave > Payrolls.
    ​

  2. Click on the next open payroll and go to the Pay Items tab;
    ​OR
    Click on the next open payroll, press Select roll to enter the Payroll Calculations screen, and go to the Pay Items tab.
    ​

  3. Click Insert ➕ to open the Insert Pay Item modal, and fill in the details for the individual employee and click Save.
    ​

An entry will now show in the Pay Items tab's grid for that payroll.

Note: if you need to make a one-off donation for multiple employees, follow the same steps covered in the In Bulk section of this page, but instead of starting from the Employees screen, start from the Payrolls or Payrolls Calculation screens.

Editing the Amount for Existing Donations

This won't generate a blank template this time, instead it will generate the template with the current data applicable.

  1. Go to HR > Employees, click Pay Items, then click Export.
    ​

  2. Untick the option 'Export with Current View Filter Selection', select all fields that need to be included, then click Export Selection on the bottom right of the modal.
    ​

  3. When the spreadsheet downloads, open it. You'll find all the information will be shown, however this time, the 'Code' column will not show *AUTO*, it will show the code for that specific thing.

  4. Apply filters to the column headers, then filter the 'Code' column for your RIDT donation pay item or items.

  5. In the 'Amount' column, go ahead and edit each entry that needs updating. Remember these amounts must be in the negative.

  6. Finally, import the spreadsheet back into Indigo.

How to Switch off a Donation for an Employee

  1. Go to HR > Employees.

  2. Find the required employee in the grid, then go to their Pay Items tab.

  3. Select the relevant pay item and click Edit 🖋️.

  4. Enter a date in the 'End Date' column.

  5. Click Save.

Checking the Total Amount to be Donated to RIDT

To find out how much money is to be donated to RIDT after running a payroll, use the Adjustments report:

  1. Go to Payroll & Leave > Reporting > Adjustments.

  2. Select the required payroll from the grid.

  3. Go to the Pay Items tab and tick the entry to be shown in the report.

  4. Enter your preferred settings in the Options, Grouping, Template and Actions section.

  5. Click Generate.

Did this answer your question?