How to design a simple database for charitable donations in MS-Access?

Question

I have been asked to build a simple database for my church. Those using the database will need to use the form view only, so I am trying to make it very user friendly. The church has 3 bank account (checking, savings, and allocated). The allocated account is my problem. This account holds money for 4 separate missions, fundraisers, youth, tithes, food, and music.

I need the depositor to be able to go to a form choose an account from a drop down list and if they choose Allocated I need another drop list to be available to show where the funds are going. I can make the list but it will not update my table. No matter which account I choose it sends everything to the Checking account.

It has been years since I first learned Access and now even with a couple of how to books I seem lost...any help is welcome.

Answer 1

Is the second drop-down/where the funds are going have a control source? This should be the field in the table where you want to store this second value.

Answer 2

Hi Teri,
There can't be a simple answer to your question, because you didn't ask a "Answerable" question. (Example: How do I create a table, etc.) It seems you are very new to this, so don't be discouraged by the curve. Access can be very non-intuitive, but it's actually quite easy with a little guidance.
I would suggest to you that you isolate one thing you need to do to get to the solution and ask the question. Post a new thread for each question. It is not unexpected to ask many many question on your first project. But that is how you learn.
Something else to ponder is that as a non-profit you might be able to find someone willing to donate their time, just be careful when soliciting help on a financial database. It's very important that you don't accidentally reveal real data. If someone asks you for a populated example, make sure you only provide "test" data. I'm sure your contributors and members will appreciate your discretion.
If you do want more in depth help you can reach me via the information in my profile, I try to help non-profits out when and where I can. Best of Luck!

Edit: Another thing to consider is that Microsoft has generously made a lot of "template" databases available that you might would give you an idea or too. Here is a link to the "Charitable Contributions" one.