For churches and faith charities
For congregations that keep their own books
Restricted funds kept apart from the general fund, safeguarding records kept privately and in date, minutes that stay as they were approved, and accounts the whole council or committee can see.
Free for 30 days, no card needed. Then £5 a month or £50 a year, everything included.
What makes a congregation's paperwork different
More named funds than most small charities, more safeguarding, and minutes that carry real weight.
- Money given for one purpose sits in the same account. The roof appeal, the organ fund, a legacy for the children's work, the mission collection. Each must be spent on what it was given for, and one bank balance hides which is which.
- Safeguarding has to be done properly, and privately. Every leader working with children or adults at risk needs a check, and concerns have to be written down, kept from people who should not see them, and sometimes reported on.
- The minutes are a formal record. Once the meeting has approved them they should not change. In a word processor document, nothing stops them changing.
- Treasurers serve for years, then nobody wants the job. The accounts are in a ledger or a spreadsheet only one person understands, and finding the next treasurer is harder because of it.
What The Charity Office does for a church or faith charity
Restricted funds kept apart
Record each gift or legacy against the fund it was given for. The cashflow shows how much of the balance is restricted, and a long-running appeal can be a project that counts across as many years as it takes.
DBS checks for every leader
Checks for leaders and helpers as well as trustees, with the level, whether the role is regulated activity, and the date your safeguarding policy says to look again. An email goes out before each one falls due.
Safeguarding concerns, kept to the right people
Each concern recorded with what happened, what was done, whether it was referred on and whether the Charity Commission was told. Stored encrypted, and hidden altogether from anybody without permission - a volunteer cannot tell the section exists.
Minutes sealed once approved
Minutes go from draft to circulated to approved, and once approved they cannot quietly be edited. If the meeting agrees a correction, it is reopened, changed and approved again, in the open.
Policies with review dates
The safeguarding policy, the governing document and the insurance certificate kept in one place, each with a date for the trustees to look at it again.
Accounts the whole council can see
Every trustee can read the money and change none of it. The treasurer prepares the management accounts and the year's summary of income and spending without retyping anything.
What it costs
£5 a month, or £50 a year
One price with everything in it: the money, the forecast, the trustees, the meetings, the compliance records, the grants and the GDPR records. No charge per trustee, and the charity is billed rather than whoever signed up, so the subscription stays put when the committee changes.
Questions people ask
Does it claim Gift Aid?
No. It does not make Gift Aid claims to HMRC or keep Gift Aid declarations. When a repayment arrives it can be recorded as income in the ordinary way.
We are an excepted charity with no charity number. Can we use it?
Yes. The charity number can be left blank, and everything else works the same.
Does it replace our diocesan or denominational safeguarding procedures?
No. It keeps the records those procedures ask for - checks, their renewal dates, concerns and what was done about them - in one private place. Follow your own procedures for what to do and whom to tell.
Can we keep separate funds for the roof and the organ?
Yes. Name the fund on each gift and each payment, and set up a long-running appeal as a project to see what has been raised, spent and is left.
Does it keep a membership roll or a giving record for each person?
No. It is not a donor or membership database. It keeps the charity's accounts, trustees, meetings and paperwork.
Start with the funds you hold now
Start free, put in what is in the bank and the funds it belongs to, and see the restricted money set apart.