Start from the kind of charity you are. Switch on only what you use.

Food by weight and expiry date, hampers, household visits, and a list of what to move first.

Why this template: Food banks answer to funders in pounds, visits and households. This is built around those counts.

What it switches on

• Food distribution. Client intake, visits and hampers, food donations by weight and expiry date, inventory by lot and a list of what is about to expire.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Orders with allergen conflicts flagged, route sheets for drivers and volunteers, and meals-served counts for funders.

Why this template: Delivered meals go to people who may be frail. A wrong meal is a safety issue, so conflicts show before delivery.

What it switches on

• Meal service. Menus, daily counts, delivery routes and sheets, dietary flags and allergen conflicts on each order, and meals-served counts.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Visits recorded without a name if needed, referrals, case history for those who agree to it, and counts for funders.

Why this template: People should not have to identify themselves to be helped. Access is the tightest of any template, because the information is the most sensitive.

What it switches on

• Homeless services. Outreach and drop-in visits that can be anonymous or by alias, referrals, and service counts, under the strictest access settings.
• Beneficiaries and cases. Households, the people you serve, cases and the services delivered, with the sensitive parts held separately and left out of general screens.
• Meal service. Menus, daily counts, delivery routes and sheets, dietary flags and allergen conflicts on each order, and meals-served counts.

Households and cases, groceries and hampers, delivered meals, a membership for the club, and online giving.

Why this template: Seniors' services are often several small services to the same people. One record of the person, with each service on it, avoids asking the same questions twice.

What it switches on

• Beneficiaries and cases. Households, the people you serve, cases and the services delivered, with the sensitive parts held separately and left out of general screens.
• Food distribution. Client intake, visits and hampers, food donations by weight and expiry date, inventory by lot and a list of what is about to expire.
• Meal service. Menus, daily counts, delivery routes and sheets, dietary flags and allergen conflicts on each order, and meals-served counts.
• Memberships. Plans, members, renewals and billing through Stripe, sponsored (free) memberships paid by someone else, monthly entitlements such as a number of free items, and an eligibility flag.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Households and cases, program enrolment with attendance, and online giving.

Why this template: Service organizations serve people through cases and groups. Both are needed to report on who was helped and how.

What it switches on

• Beneficiaries and cases. Households, the people you serve, cases and the services delivered, with the sensitive parts held separately and left out of general screens.
• Program enrolment. Classes and programs with enrolment, a waitlist, attendance for each session and a fee, so one person is never enrolled twice at once.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Goods intake, a pipeline of what is where, resale prices, and the shop's daily close and profit for the programs.

Why this template: Donated goods are not cash gifts, and many charities do not issue receipts for them. The store can be run as a business without confusing the books.

What it switches on

• Donated goods. Goods intake, sorting, pricing, resale and disposal, with a pipeline view of what is in each stage.
• Shop and POS. Products with public, member and free prices, stock on hand, sales imported from your till (Square, Shopify or a CSV file) and a daily close that works out cost of goods and the profit applied to your programs.

Sales, memberships and gifts are kept apart but reported together, so you can see how much the shop earns for the meals. Sponsored memberships let a donor pay for someone else.

Why this template: This is the shape of many local charities: retail pays the rent, members keep the lights on and the meals are the mission.

What it switches on

• Shop and POS. Products with public, member and free prices, stock on hand, sales imported from your till (Square, Shopify or a CSV file) and a daily close that works out cost of goods and the profit applied to your programs.
• Memberships. Plans, members, renewals and billing through Stripe, sponsored (free) memberships paid by someone else, monthly entitlements such as a number of free items, and an eligibility flag.
• Meal service. Menus, daily counts, delivery routes and sheets, dietary flags and allergen conflicts on each order, and meals-served counts.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Bookings that cannot overlap, class enrolment and attendance, member fees and a canteen or shop.

Why this template: A hall earns from rentals, classes and the canteen. Seeing them together shows what keeps the doors open.

What it switches on

• Facility booking. Rooms, halls and fields, with bookings that cannot overlap when confirmed, a fee worked out from the hourly rate, and requests held until you confirm.
• Program enrolment. Classes and programs with enrolment, a waitlist, attendance for each session and a fee, so one person is never enrolled twice at once.
• Memberships. Plans, members, renewals and billing through Stripe, sponsored (free) memberships paid by someone else, monthly entitlements such as a number of free items, and an eligibility flag.
• Shop and POS. Products with public, member and free prices, stock on hand, sales imported from your till (Square, Shopify or a CSV file) and a daily close that works out cost of goods and the profit applied to your programs.

Applications and awards, enrolment and attendance in programs, and online giving.

Why this template: Education charities both give awards and run programs. Both are tracked the same way, from the first application to the last attendance.

What it switches on

• Grantmaking. Applications received, in review, awarded or declined, with the award creating the grant given and linking it back to the application.
• Program enrolment. Classes and programs with enrolment, a waitlist, attendance for each session and a fee, so one person is never enrolled twice at once.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Applications with their status, an award that creates the grant given and links to the application, and the foundation's own gifts.

Why this template: A foundation's record is a decision trail. Who applied, who was funded and how much should be one list.

What it switches on

• Grantmaking. Applications received, in review, awarded or declined, with the award creating the grant given and linking it back to the application.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Each project has a fund, a fee percentage and a live balance of received, the fee and what is available. Bank import and online giving feed it.

Why this template: A fiscal sponsor holds other people's money. Each project's balance has to be exact.

What it switches on

• Fiscal sponsorship. Sponsored projects hosted under your charity, each with its own fund and fee percentage, and a balance of what was received, the fee and what is left.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.
• Bank feed. Bank transactions imported, matched by rules, and posted to the books.

Giving envelope numbers for each household, a booking calendar for the hall and rooms with fees, and online donations.

Why this template: A congregation gives by envelope and rents rooms. Year-end statements and room rentals are the two jobs that take the most volunteer time.

What it switches on

• Congregation giving. Giving envelope numbers, one for each household, unique to the congregation, with the number kept out of the audit history.
• Facility booking. Rooms, halls and fields, with bookings that cannot overlap when confirmed, a fee worked out from the hourly rate, and requests held until you confirm.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Animals from intake to outcome with time in care, adoption fees, supporter memberships and online giving.

Why this template: Rescues are judged on outcomes. Counting adoptions and days in care takes the place of a shared spreadsheet.

What it switches on

• Animal care. Animals from intake to outcome (adopted, transferred, released), with time in care and an adopter and fee on each adoption.
• Memberships. Plans, members, renewals and billing through Stripe, sponsored (free) memberships paid by someone else, monthly entitlements such as a number of free items, and an eligibility flag.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

Projects and money sent, in the currencies involved, with field reports and the households served.

Why this template: Funders and regulators ask where the money went. Evidence of direction and control sits beside the gift that paid for the work.

What it switches on

• International programs. Overseas projects, disbursements, field reports and project totals, in more than one currency.
• Beneficiaries and cases. Households, the people you serve, cases and the services delivered, with the sensitive parts held separately and left out of general screens.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.
• Bank feed. Bank transactions imported, matched by rules, and posted to the books.

Enrolment and attendance for classes, bookings for the stage or studio, memberships, a shop for tickets or merchandise, and online giving.

Why this template: Arts groups earn from many small sources. Keeping them apart shows which ones support the work.

What it switches on

• Program enrolment. Classes and programs with enrolment, a waitlist, attendance for each session and a fee, so one person is never enrolled twice at once.
• Facility booking. Rooms, halls and fields, with bookings that cannot overlap when confirmed, a fee worked out from the hourly rate, and requests held until you confirm.
• Memberships. Plans, members, renewals and billing through Stripe, sponsored (free) memberships paid by someone else, monthly entitlements such as a number of free items, and an eligibility flag.
• Shop and POS. Products with public, member and free prices, stock on hand, sales imported from your till (Square, Shopify or a CSV file) and a daily close that works out cost of goods and the profit applied to your programs.
• Stripe payments. Online donations and membership billing arrive as gifts and memberships on their own, once each, with fees, refunds (whole and part) and billing status kept straight.

A clean base: donors and gifts, thank-yous and receipts, funds, programs, grants and funders, volunteers and board, and your legal entities. You can add any feature later without moving your data.

Why this template: Not every group needs a shop or a food program. Starting small keeps the screens short and the training short. Nothing is lost when you add more later.

Nothing extra is switched on.