Giving & Gift Aid
Set up online giving, record Gift Aid declarations and generate HMRC-ready reports: everything your church needs to maximise giving income.
Setting up online giving
Connect your church's Stripe account
Go to Settings → Giving & Stripe and click "Connect Stripe". You'll be taken to Stripe's secure onboarding flow where you enter your church's legal name, address, charity number (if applicable) and a UK bank account for payouts. This typically takes 5 to 10 minutes. Once verified, your giving page goes live automatically. The Stripe account belongs to your church, not ChurchLinker. Every donation goes straight from the giver to your bank, with ChurchLinker taking 0% of any gift.
Why an own Stripe account (not a shared one)?
Three reasons. First, the money is yours. No platform holds your donations or controls when you get paid. Second, you keep full visibility: open dashboard.stripe.com any time to see every charge, payout and refund with the church's own login. Third, if you ever leave ChurchLinker, the Stripe account, payment history and recurring donors come with you. We're a tool that creates the Checkout Sessions on your behalf, nothing more.
Create your giving funds
Go to Giving → Funds → New Fund. Create a fund for each area your church collects for: General Fund, Building Fund, Missions, special appeals. Set one fund as the default; this is where donations go unless a member chooses a specific fund. You can add, edit or archive funds at any time.
How members give
Members can give through the ChurchLinker app (iOS/Android) or through your church's member portal (e.g. kcc.churchlinker.com). They choose a fund, enter an amount and complete payment via Stripe's secure checkout (card, Apple Pay or Google Pay). One-off and recurring (weekly, monthly) giving are both supported. The charge runs on your Stripe account, so the money lands in your balance immediately and Stripe pays out to your bank on its normal schedule. Members receive an automatic email receipt after each transaction.
Recording offline giving
You can log donations received by cash, cheque, bank transfer or standing order manually from Giving → Record Donation. Enter the person, amount, fund and date. These records appear in the donor's profile and in all giving reports, including Gift Aid calculations.
Gift Aid: everything you need to know
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is a UK government scheme that allows charities (including churches) to reclaim 25p in income tax for every £1 donated by a UK taxpayer. For a typical church receiving £50,000 in donations annually, Gift Aid can add over £10,000 in additional income. ChurchLinker automates the entire tracking and reporting process.
Enabling Gift Aid in ChurchLinker
Go to Settings → Giving → Gift Aid and toggle it on. Enter your church's HMRC Gift Aid reference number (if you don't have one, visit hmrc.gov.uk to register your charity, which is free and typically takes 2 to 4 weeks). Once enabled, Gift Aid tracking is active on all new donations.
Recording a Gift Aid declaration
A Gift Aid declaration is a statement from a donor confirming they are a UK taxpayer and consent to the church claiming Gift Aid on their donations. From a person's record, go to the Giving tab and click "Add Gift Aid Declaration". Record whether it was given in writing, verbally or via an online form, and the date. The system stores this securely and uses it to calculate claimable Gift Aid on all eligible donations from that person.
HMRC's Gift Aid declaration rules
A valid declaration must state: the donor's name and home address, the name of your church, that they want Gift Aid to apply to their donations and confirmation they pay enough UK income tax or capital gains tax to cover the Gift Aid claimed. ChurchLinker's online declaration form (available through the member portal) meets all these requirements automatically.
Generating a Gift Aid report
Go to Giving → Reports → Gift Aid Report. Select the date range (usually the tax year: 6 April to 5 April) and ChurchLinker generates a report showing all eligible donations, the claimable Gift Aid amount per donor and the total claimable. This report is formatted for HMRC's Charities Online portal. Submit it there to receive your Gift Aid payment, typically within 5 weeks.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)
GASDS allows churches to claim Gift Aid on small cash donations up to £30 each, without requiring a signed declaration. ChurchLinker can flag these donations separately in your Gift Aid report. You can claim up to £2,000 per year in GASDS. See HMRC's guidance for eligibility details.
Giving statements & reports
Individual giving statements
Go to People, open a person's record, then go to the Giving tab and click "Generate Statement". Choose a date range (e.g. the tax year) and ChurchLinker produces a PDF showing all their donations, Gift Aid declarations and fund allocation. You can email it directly to the donor or download it.
Sending year-end statements to all donors
Go to Giving → Reports → Year-End Statements. Select the tax year and click "Send to all donors". ChurchLinker sends a personalised giving statement to every donor who has an email address on file. This is a popular feature come April each year; donors appreciate the summary and it supports your Gift Aid records.
Fund summary reports
Go to Giving → Reports → Fund Summary. See total giving by fund for any date range, useful for treasurer reports, AGMs and budget reviews. You can export to CSV for use in Excel or accounting software.
Integrating with accounting software
Giving data can be exported as CSV for import into Sage, Xero, FreeAgent or QuickBooks. If you need a native integration, contact us; we are building direct integrations with popular UK church accounting tools.
💡 Did you know?
A church receiving £40,000 a year in donations from taxpaying donors could claim over £10,000 in Gift Aid annually. If your church isn't claiming Gift Aid yet, setting it up in ChurchLinker is one of the highest-impact things you can do this year.