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Record donations

Checked 2026-08-06 · A couple of minutes to read

Go to Giving, then Donations, and select Record a gift. Choose the supporter, enter the amount and date, and pick which fund the money belongs to. From the same list you can thank the donor and open a printable receipt.

Record a gift

  1. Go to Giving, then Donations.
  2. Select Record a gift.
  3. Choose the supporter, or leave it as Anonymous / not recorded for cash in a bucket. You can add a supporter first if they're new.
  4. Enter the Amount and the date it was Received on.
  5. Pick the Method: bank transfer, card, cash, cheque, standing order or other.
  6. Pick the Fund. If the money was given for a stated purpose, choose restricted and say what the purpose is.
  7. Leave Eligible for Gift Aid ticked if the gift is a UK taxpayer's own money. Untick it for things like company gifts or raffle tickets.
  8. Select Record donation.

You can link a gift to a campaign or a project too. That's how the supporter portal later shows a donor the difference their gift made.

Restricted or unrestricted, in plain words

Unrestricted money can be spent on any of your charity's purposes. Restricted money was given for a stated purpose, for example a building appeal, and must be spent on that purpose. If your charity keeps a fund register, you can also name the exact fund the gift belongs to. Endowment and agency are rarer: endowment money is held rather than spent, and agency money is money you hold for someone else.

Thank the donor

Each gift in the list has a Thank button. If the supporter has agreed to email, a short thank-you is sent and the gift is marked "thanked". If they haven't agreed, nothing is sent and the gift is simply marked as thanked, so you can record a thank-you made by phone or in person.

Receipts

Select Receipt next to any gift to open a printable receipt with your charity's details. If the gift can be Gift Aided, the receipt says so, including the 25% you can reclaim.

Refunds

If you return a gift, use Refund next to it. The gift stays on record but comes out of your totals and can no longer be Gift Aided. A gift that's already in a claim sent to HMRC can't be refunded here first; you'd need to adjust the claim with HMRC.

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