For community groups
For the group that one or two people keep going
Simple accounts for a small group, registered or not. The constitution, the insurance and the last accounts where the whole committee can find them. And a record that carries on when the person who does everything takes a well-earned rest.
Free for 30 days, no card needed. Then £5 a month or £50 a year, everything included.
What tends to happen in a small group
Nothing goes badly wrong. It just all depends on one person, and the paperwork lives wherever they happen to keep it.
- One person does everything. Treasurer, secretary and the one who remembers the insurance. If they are away for a month, nothing happens; if they stop, nobody knows where anything is.
- The constitution is somewhere. Somebody wants to open a bank account, apply for a small grant or change the rules, and nobody can find the constitution, the last set of accounts or the insurance certificate.
- The accounts are a notebook and a bank statement. Which is fine until the AGM, when the members want to see what came in and went out, and the treasurer needs a weekend to add it up.
- Small grants still want reports. The council's community chest gave £500. It wants to know what it was spent on, by a date nobody wrote down.
What The Charity Office does for a small group
Accounts as simple as you want them
Payments out and money in, under a handful of headings you choose. That is enough for a summary of the year for the AGM. The budget and forecast are there when you want them, and nothing forces you to use them.
The papers that prove who you are
The constitution, the last accounts, the insurance certificate and your policies, kept online where any committee member can find them, each with a date to look at it again.
A summary for the AGM
What came in and what went out over the year, by heading, printed for the members.
The small grant and its report
Record what you asked for and what you promised, and the date the report is due. An email arrives before it does.
More than one pair of hands
Give the chair and the secretary their own logins. Everybody on the committee can see the money; only the people you choose can change it.
Reminders, but only for what applies
Insurance renewal and policy reviews on one list with a reminder. Nothing is on the list until you add it, so employment law and the rest of what does not apply to a group your size never nags you, and reminders you do not need can be switched off.
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
We are not a registered charity. Is this for us?
Yes. Most of the same paperwork applies to an unregistered group, and the charity number can be left blank. It is written for registered charities, so a few words on the screens may not quite be yours.
Is it too much for a group our size?
Possibly, if all you have is a few payments a year. It earns its keep once more than one person needs to see the money, or once you hold a grant with a report attached. The free trial is the way to find out.
Do we have to set up a budget?
No. You can record payments in and out and print the summary for the AGM without ever making one. The cashflow forecast needs a budget, so add one if you would like to see the year ahead.
What happens to our records if we stop paying?
They are still yours and you can export them. Nothing is deleted because a subscription lapsed.
Can members see the accounts?
Committee members can be given a login that sees everything and changes nothing. For ordinary members, print the year's summary for the AGM as you do now.
Try it with this year's notebook
Start free, put in the year's payments and your constitution, and print a summary for the AGM.