Most small charities start with a spreadsheet, and it works for years. Then the treasurer changes, or the committee asks why the cash total does not match the bank, and nobody can say how the running figure was built. The spreadsheet has three tabs. One is the cash book, one is the summary, and one is a tab called "old" that nobody opens. The Gift Aid donor list sits in a separate file, and the signed forms are in a box somewhere under the hall stage.
Moving off that spreadsheet is less frightening than it looks if you do it in a fixed order. This is the order that works for a community food project we will call Riverside Larder, a small charity run by volunteers from a church hall. The same steps apply to a PTA, a Scout group or a sports club. Only the names change.
Pick a cut-off date before you move anything
Choose one date from which the new books start. For most organisations this is the last day of a month, or the date of the last bank statement you have reconciled. Write it down in the committee minutes so that everyone agrees on it.
Everything before the cut-off stays in the old file. Everything after it goes into the new system. Do not try to move a few months at a time. Mixed periods are where trails get lost.
Take opening balances from the bank statement
When you start the new cash book, the opening balance for each bank account should come from the bank statement on the cut-off date. Do not copy the total from the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet total may include a cheque that cleared late, a transfer typed in twice, or a figure someone overwrote in 2019.
If the bank figure and the spreadsheet figure differ, write the difference down. Note the amount, the date and what you think caused it. Put that note in your handover to the committee. A small unexplained difference that is written down is far easier to explain than one that quietly disappears.
At Riverside Larder the difference was a little under £40, from a bank charge taken twice in one month. It was explained, minuted and closed. Nobody needed to see the spreadsheet again.
Keep restricted funds apart from day one
If your charity holds money for a particular purpose, such as a grant for the winter meals or a donation for a new fridge, list each fund separately on the cut-off date. Write down the fund name, what it held, and where that money sits in the bank.
Do not net restricted money against general funds to make the summary look tidy. The committee and any independent examiner will expect each restricted fund to be visible from the first day. A fund that is set up cleanly at the start is much simpler to report on at year end.
Bring the donor list across
Your Gift Aid donor list is the part most likely to be incomplete. For each donor, record:
- full name
- address
- the date of the declaration
- the declaration type (for example, a written form, an online form, or a verbal declaration that was noted at the time)
- where the signed form or email is filed
The last point matters most. If the form is in a shoebox, say so. If it is an email in a volunteer's inbox, say so and make a copy. A list that says "form held" with no location will not help you answer a question from HMRC in three years' time.
Check each declaration covers the gifts you plan to claim
A declaration is not a blanket permission for every gift a donor ever makes. Before you build a claim, check that each declaration covers the gifts you intend to include. Look at the dates, the donor's name and address, and whether the declaration is still valid under current HMRC guidance.
Set aside any donor with no usable record. Do not claim on them. Keep them on a separate list so that you can ask them for a fresh declaration at the next renewal, if they are willing. Set-aside donors are not a failure. They are the honest starting point for the next year's work.
Keep the old spreadsheet read-only, dated and filed
Once the new books are running, do not delete the old spreadsheet. Save a copy, mark it as read-only, add the cut-off date to the file name, and file it with the Gift Aid records. HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years, so the old file should sit alongside them for that long.
This is also where the trail lives. If a question arises about a figure from before the cut-off, the spreadsheet is the record of how it was built.
What Vasker does at this point
Vasker holds opening balances for each fund, so the cash book starts from the figures you have checked rather than a single lump total. Each donor on your list can have their declarations recorded against them, with the date, type and filing location visible in one place. When you are ready to build a Gift Aid claim, the Plus plan (£119 a year) includes claim tooling that checks the declarations against the gifts before anything is sent.
Vasker is bookkeeping and Gift Aid software for unpaid treasurers. It does not replace your judgement about whether a declaration is valid, and it does not check your figures for HMRC. The claim itself is sent to HMRC by a person with the organisation's own Charities Online login. Vasker does not store Government Gateway passwords. The sender ID and password are typed only at claim submission and then discarded.
If you want to see the cash book working before you decide anything, start free. Create the organisation, enter the opening balance for one fund, and check that the figures match the bank statement you chose as your cut-off. You can do that in an evening. There is no sales call and no setup fee.
If your question is mainly about how much Gift Aid you might be missing, the free Gift Aid gap calculator at https://vasker.co.uk/gift-aid-gap-calculator/ gives a rough planning estimate without an account. It is an estimate, not a claim.
A short list for the committee
When the move is done, give the committee a single page that answers three questions:
- What moved: the cut-off date, the opening balance for each fund, and the donor list with declaration details.
- What did not move: any donors set aside, any unexplained difference, and any restricted fund still being reconciled.
- Who holds the old file: the name of the person keeping the read-only spreadsheet, and where it is filed.
Keep the page with the minutes. Your successor will thank you for it.
General information, not tax advice
This is general information for UK volunteer treasurers, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Check current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid declarations and record keeping before you rely on any of these steps. For your own organisation, also check the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI guidance that applies to you.