Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for nGOs and trusts.
A checklist built from how nGOs and trusts work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Donor and donation register
- Receipts and donor statements
- Grant and fund head tracking
- Beneficiary and activity records
- Utilisation report builder
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For trustees and the managing committee
- For the fundraising team
- For programme and field staff
- For the accounts person
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Donations received by fund head, appeal and programme
- Donor giving history, repeat givers and lapsed givers
- Receipts issued and receipt numbers used in each series
- Grant utilisation against each funder budget line
- Beneficiaries reached by programme, centre and location
- Field activity count and volunteer hours by programme
- In-kind stock received and issued by item
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS and email
- Payment links and gateway
- Donation form on the trust website
- Accounting package export, agreed at set-up
- Biometric or mobile attendance devices
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can restricted grant money be kept apart from general donations?
- Does it print donation receipts with our own numbering?
- Can a receipt carry tax-exemption wording?
- We receive foreign contributions. Are they handled separately?
- Can a donor see what they have given over the years?
- Will field staff at a centre be able to enter attendance?
- Can sponsor and funder utilisation reports come straight out of it?
- Does it connect with our accounting software?
- Will the annual donor statements and tax certificates come out of it?
- What does it cost?
- Which records could the accounts person use before field reporting is built?
- What should trustees and the accounts person gather beforehand?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Receipts go out late
- Fund heads get mixed up
- Donor tax numbers and addresses are incomplete
- Field data is incomplete
- Utilisation reports take weeks
Prefer to talk it through? See the nGOs and trusts page.