How to set up a charity

1. Settings > Company Preferences > Parameters.
2. Select the Enable Charity\Non-Profit options check box > OK.
3. To open the Charities window, browse to Company > Links > Charities.

Funds are the only record type specific to charities. Other records have charity options within them and you can read about these in the help topic for that record type.

You can use fund records to track the income and expenditure of the funds you are managing.

As income and expenditure is recorded in Sage 50 Accounts you can assign the relevant fund to a transaction, so that the balance on the fund updates.

To create a new fund record

1. Company > Links > Funds.
2. Add > complete the Add Fund window as follows:
   
   

Name	Enter the fund name or description up to a maximum of 63 characters.
Type	This is used to specify the type of fund you are creating. You can choose any of the following fund types: Restricted - The income or donation is held for a specific purpose, for example a Disaster Relief fund collected and held for victims of a specific disaster. Unrestricted - There is no restriction or limit placed on how the money held in the fund can be spent. Endowment - Used to record endowments, where the income from a donation of money or of an asset is held to generate long-term income. Note: There are no restrictions placed in Sage Accounts over how a fund may be used. The fund type is for reporting purposes only.
N/C	Enter the nominal code to be associated with the fund, for example 3200. Note: You must include this code in the Capital and Reserves category of your Chart of Accounts as all income and expenditure associated with the fund is transferred to this nominal code when you run the Year End option.
O/Balance	Enter any balance already held for your fund. Tip: For further information about how to enter an opening balance, please refer to the To the opening balances topic
Balance	The current balance of the fund, automatically calculated from the transactions posted to the fund.
Contact	Optional - Used to enter any contact name associated with the fund.
Institution	Optional - Used to enter the name of the holding institution associated with the fund.

3. OK > Close.

Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) categories are used to generate a Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) report that describes your charity's sources of income and expenditure, and should be submitted to the appropriate reporting body if the accounts are prepared on an accruals basis.

As a non-profit making organisation your nominal accounts must be associated with SOFA categories to generate your SORP reports.

How to edit the default SOFA categories

1. Settings > Nominal Defaults > select the category you want to edit > Edit.
2. In the Name box, enter the required name > OK.
3. To close the SOFA Categories window and return to the Charity Settings window, click OK.

How to assign SOFA categories to your nominal codes

1. Modules > Nominal Ledger > Layout > List.
2. Double-click the required Nominal Record > Details.
3. From the SOFA Category drop-down list choose the relevant category > OK.
4. To save your changes and return to the desktop> Save > Close.

Note: This process should be completed for each profit and loss nominal record. For more information about editing a Chart of Accounts, please refer to Ask Sage article 27557.

To report on the amount of Gift Aid your company is eligible for, you must complete the Gift Aid declaration date and check box in the donor record. Donations entered through the Donations window will then appear on the Gift Aid reports so you can easily retrieve the figures to send to HMRC.

How to set up Gift Aid for a customer

Note: You must create your customer records and they must have an address, title, forename and surname before you can record a donation.

1. Modules > Customers > double-click the customer record
2. Complete the Donor Information area as follows:

Title	From the drop-down list, choose the donor's title.
Forename	Enter the donor's first name or initials.
Surname	Enter the donor's surname.
Default Fund	Select a fund record, this fund is applied to all new invoices created for the customer.
Gift Aid Declaration Received	Select this check box if you have received a gift aid declaration form from the customer.
Declaration Valid From	Enter the date from the gift aid declaration form.
Gift Aid Declaration Received	If the customer has completed a Gift Aid declaration, select the Gift Aid Declaration Received check box.
Declaration Valid From	If you have received a Gift Aid Declaration, enter the date you received it here.

3. In the Account Type area, select the Donor check box > Save > Close.
   
   

GASDS

In April 2013 HMRC introduced new legislation affecting Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs called the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). Eligible charities can now claim a top-up payment equivalent to Gift Aid on up to £5,000 of small cash donations collected in the UK each year, without needing to obtain a Gift Aid declaration from the donor.

You can use the new features in Sage 50 Accounts to identify these donations and report on the information easily in a format recognised by HMRC.

• Company > Links > Charities > GASDS Settings > select This charity is eligible to claim a top-up payment equivalent to Gift Aid under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)? check box.

To find out more about the settings, click here.

If a transaction meets the small donations criteria for your organisation, you can then select the Small Donation check box when entering the transaction and claim a top up payment equivalent to Gift Aid. You can then run a report to calculate the total amount of GASDS payments you've received and reclaim the money from HMRC.

For more information about recording Gift Aid transactions, please refer to How to process in a charity.

For more information about charity reports, please refer to Charity reports.

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