A cheque, a standing order and a form
An alumnus sends a cheque for the bursary fund with a handwritten note. A former parent sets up a monthly standing order for the new sports hall. A current parent gives online after the summer concert. Each might be eligible for Gift Aid, and the development office has a paper declaration form for some of them, an online tick box for others, and nothing for the rest.
At claim time, the development officer works through a spreadsheet, checking each gift against a declaration and against the bank statement, and then prepares the claim.
Gifts and declarations are recorded separately
Gifts arrive through several routes and are recorded by finance for accounting and by the development office for relationships. Declarations are kept separately again. Bringing all three together for each donor is a manual job, done under pressure at claim time.
- Gifts arrive by card, transfer, standing order and cheque.
- Declarations are on paper forms or online tick boxes.
- The development office and finance keep separate records.
- Funds and restrictions are noted inconsistently.
- Donor thank-yous depend on someone noticing the gift.
What separate records cost
Days of work at claim time. Gift Aid that could have been claimed on eligible gifts, and was not, because the declaration could not be found. Gifts allocated to the wrong fund. Donors who are thanked late or not at all, which matters more than almost anything else in fundraising.
Restricted gifts carry an extra risk. A donor who gives specifically to the bursary fund expects that money to support bursaries, and the school's annual report and its trustees will want to show that it did. If the restriction was noted only in the covering letter, and the gift was entered as unrestricted income, putting that right later is awkward for everyone.
Whether a gift is eligible for Gift Aid and how claims are made follows HMRC's rules. Your finance team and advisers decide; the system keeps the records they need.
Donation records we build
- Every gift is recorded against the donor's record, with the date, amount, route, fund and any restriction.
- Online gifts are recorded automatically from your donation page or payment provider; bank and standing order gifts are matched from the bank feed; cheques are entered by the office.
- Gift Aid declarations are captured online in the donation flow, or scanned and recorded from paper, with the date and scope of the declaration.
- Each gift shows whether a declaration covers it, and gifts without one are listed so donors can be invited to make one.
- Totals by fund reconcile with the finance ledger, and differences are listed.
- Records are prepared in the format your finance team needs for Gift Aid claims, for them to check and submit.
- New gifts prompt a thank-you in wording you approve, with the development director alerted to gifts over a level you choose.
| Gift route | How it is recorded | Declaration |
|---|---|---|
| Online donation | Automatically from the payment | Captured in the same flow |
| Standing order | Matched from the bank feed | Linked from donor record |
| Bank transfer | Matched from the bank feed | Linked or requested |
| Cheque | Entered by the office | Paper form scanned and recorded |
Records that are ready when you need them
Claim time becomes a check of prepared records rather than a week with a spreadsheet. Every gift is in the right fund and reconciles with finance. Donors are thanked promptly and personally. And the development office knows each donor's giving history when they next meet.
On a normal day after a concert appeal, twelve online gifts arrive with declarations, two standing orders are matched from the bank, and one cheque is entered. Thank-yous for all fifteen are ready for the development director to review by the afternoon.
Signs your gift records need this
- Gift Aid declarations are on paper forms.
- Gifts are tracked in a spreadsheet alongside finance.
- Gift Aid claims take days to prepare.
- Some eligible gifts are not claimed.
- Donors are thanked late or inconsistently.