How to record charity income, grants and donations
Grants, donations, subscriptions and takings - dated by the day they reached the bank.
In The Charity Office: Money → Income → New payment in
Date it by the bank, not by the promise
Date it reached the bank means exactly that: the day it showed on the statement. Not the day the offer letter arrived, and not the day of the event.
A grant awarded in August and paid in October is October's money. A cashflow that says otherwise is the first thing a treasurer catches when they reconcile, and the last time they trust the page.
What sort of money is it
This is a fixed list - Grant, Donation or legacy, Membership or subscription, Trading or fundraising, Investment or interest, Something else - because the Commission's annual return asks for the same split and your budget is compared against it.
Your own finer heading goes in Your own heading, under More detail. Nothing is matched on that field, so you can call things whatever you like without breaking a forecast.
Money with strings attached
Under "Can you spend it on anything?", set the Fund to Restricted if the money can only be spent on one thing, and name the fund the way the funder does.
Restricted money is in the bank and it is counted, but it is not money the trustees may spend on whatever they like. The cashflow shows the restricted total beside the closing balance so nobody reads a healthy bank account as a free one.
Cash from an event
Money taken in a tin went into the tin, not into the bank. If you have added a cash account under Money → Bank, cash and savings, record it against that account.
When you later pay it into the bank, that is a move between your own accounts - use Move money on Bank, cash and savings. Recording it as a second lot of income would show the year raising twice what it actually did.
Worth knowing. There is no "we have the paperwork" tick on the income side. Attach the paying-in slip or the remittance advice if you have it, and do not worry if you do not.
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See your own year, in full, in an afternoon
Start free, put in what is in the bank and this year's figures, and look at the forecast before you decide anything.