[GNC] Club membership fees and charitable contributions - Business Features or Assets?

[Michael Hendry]

I have just become Treasurer for my Rotary Club, and my predecessor used spreadsheets to record the club’s finances.

Everyone is required to pay an annual subscription, but there are a number of ways in which members may opt in to regular or occasional charitable payments (e.g. an annual subscription to a monthly Bottle Draw or “Foundation Meals”, where a member hosts a dinner party and the club receives donations from the guests, destined for the Rotary Foundation charity).

We can reclaim tax at 25% of the value of the charitable donations in the form of Gift Aid, but it is necessary to keep track of who paid what in order to make the necessary annual claim. Separate spreadsheets are currently used to keep track of these payments, but they’re not linked to the other spreadsheets - with the attendant risks of missed or duplicate entries.

I think that the Business Features of GC are probably overkill, and am looking at having an Assets:Members:member_name account for each member, primed with (e.g.) the Annual Subscription at the beginning of the Rotary year, and with optional entries at the time of opt-in to the charitable donations.

I’d appreciate the thoughts of the group, especially from anyone who’s tried either (or both) the Business Features and the Assets approach.

Regards,

Michael