For youth clubs, Scout and Guide groups
Every leader checked, every camp accounted for
DBS checks for every adult with a reminder before each one is due, safeguarding concerns recorded properly and kept private, camp money that can be seen to pay for itself, and accounts the executive committee can follow.
Free for 30 days, no card needed. Then £5 a month or £50 a year, everything included.
What makes a youth group's paperwork different
Safeguarding is the whole of it, and the money comes in short, sharp bursts around camps and fundraising.
- Every adult needs a check, and every check needs renewing. Leaders, helpers, the executive committee, the parent who drives to camp. The national organisation may hold some of the records, but the group still needs to know whose is due before the next term starts.
- Camp money comes in and goes out within weeks. Parents pay deposits and balances, the campsite and the coach are paid, and any surplus or shortfall has to be explained. Mixed in with the subs, nobody can tell whether camp paid for itself.
- The executive committee changes; the leaders do not. Parents join the committee while their children are in the group and leave when they move on, so the treasurer and secretary are often new to the job and to the group's history.
- The hut and the kit cost real money. Insurance, repairs, tents, a minibus fund - all raised a little at a time over years, and all needing to be accounted for to the parents who gave.
What The Charity Office does for a youth group
DBS checks for every adult
Leaders, helpers and committee members, each with the level of check, whether their role is regulated activity, and the date to look again. An email goes out before a check falls due, and the list shows who is out of date before the term starts.
Safeguarding concerns, kept to the right people
A concern recorded properly - what happened, what was done, whether it was referred on - stored encrypted and hidden from anybody without permission. A volunteer login cannot even tell the section exists.
Camp as a project
Set each camp up as a project with its budget. Money in and out is marked against it, so the committee sees what parents paid beside what camp cost and what is still to pay.
Subs, fundraising and grants kept apart
Termly subs as membership income, the jumble sale as fundraising, the council grant as a restricted grant - each where it belongs in the year's summary.
A record for the next committee
Minutes, actions, policies and the accounts in one place, so a new treasurer or secretary can see what was decided last year and why.
Insurance and policies with review dates
The group's insurance, the safeguarding policy and the risk assessments, each with a date to look again and a reminder before it is due.
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 keep records of our young people, or their badges?
No. It does not hold young people's details, attendance, badges or awards. Keep using your movement's own system for those. This is the group's back office: money, committee, checks and paperwork.
Our national organisation already records DBS checks. Why keep them here too?
You may not need to. Many groups keep a local list anyway so the executive can see at a glance whose check is due. If your organisation's system already does that for you, use it and leave this part empty.
Who can see safeguarding concerns?
Owners, administrators, the secretary and committee members with a trustee login can read them, and only an owner or administrator can record one. Treasurer and volunteer logins do not show the section at all.
Can parents pay for camp through it?
No. It does not take payments. Record what parents paid once it has reached the bank, against the camp project, and the project shows it beside what camp has cost.
We are an excepted charity with no charity number. Does that matter?
No. The charity number can be left blank, and everything else works the same.
Put your leaders' checks in before next term
Start free, add every adult's DBS check, and see whose is due before the term starts.