Doing the Books for A Not For Profit Org

hermum

I'm after some advice please from anyone who does books for a charity or not for profit please.
I've been asked to help a friend do her books, for an animal rescue she's running.
Can I do a month total for donations, fundraising, merchandise etc or would I need to list where or who each donation has come from.
Hopefully I can add them all together as there seems to be hundreds of donations.
Any simple advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

heretolearn_2

Is it a registered charity? If it is then she should be claiming gift aid to maximise everyone's donations, and it's important to keep records by donor.
If not, you can just keep an overall figure.

hermum

heretolearn wrote: »

Is it a registered charity? If it is then she should be claiming gift aid to maximise everyone's donations, and it's important to keep records by donor.
If not, you can just keep an overall figure.

It doesn't have charitable status yet, hopefully next year.
Thanks for that., I've been trying to find out online but I;ve ended up more confused then I started.
I can crack on now.

oldtoolie

If the organisation intends to register as a charity, it will need to know the requirements, especially for accounts. Here's advice from the Charity Commission: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requirements_guidance/ccpubs3.aspx

and from the HMRC here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/tax/index.htm

hermum

oldtoolie wrote: »

If the organisation intends to register as a charity, it will need to know the requirements, especially for accounts. Here's advice from the Charity Commission: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requirements_guidance/ccpubs3.aspx

and from the HMRC here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/tax/index.htm

Thanks, I did try ploughing through all that. It wasn't a decision to start something up, it just evolved. Hopefully this year she can do what came in & how & what was paid out.
Then if she registers next year, whoever is going to do the books on a permanent basis will be able to go on a course to find out exactly what needs to be done.
My brain doesn't work well enough anymore to understand all that's required. (I'm not sure if it ever would have done).

oldtoolie

If you only need to keep the accounts in order, here's what I would do.
1. Do you know anyone who has a small business or is treasurer for a club who could show you the basics?

2. Try the library for a basic bookkeeping book.

3. Here's an organisation with advice: https://www.cash-online.org.uk

4. If you want to do it with Microsoft Excel, here's a guide and worksheets from Mango which specialises in helping charities and NGO's overseas. http://www.mango.org.uk/Guide/MangoAccountingPack

Savvy_Sue

You may find that your local voluntary services council has some help available, eg ours has had a 'treasurers forum' which meets occasionally.

Google 'volunteer' plus your area / town / county.