Resource
Treasurers' guidance sheets
The Quaker treasurers' guidance sheets offer supplementary guidance to be used in conjunction with the ACAT handbook.
Resources
ACAT Handbook
The primary source of reference for Quaker treasurers on legal and financial matters is the ACAT (Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers) handbook, which can be accessed at
www.acat.uk.com. Britain Yearly Meeting has a membership with ACAT covering all area meeting and local meeting treasurers – if you are a treasurer and have not yet received the ACAT login details, please contact Quaker Life, supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk.
Treasurers' guidance sheets
The Quaker treasurers' guidance sheets offer supplementary guidance to be used in conjunction with the ACAT handbook (see above). There are 25 guidance sheets – one for each chapter of the ACAT handbook – and all 25 are contained in the PDF linked to below. Please read the introduction first as this gives a brief overview of how to use these sheets as well as other information and resources that may be of help.
Governance update email
The governance update email is sent three times per year. It is a publication from Quaker Life that has information and updates for trustees and treasurers. Below is an archive of the past editions.
- Governance Update issue 7: Summer 2024 (PDF)
- Governance Update issue 6: Spring 2024 (PDF)
- Governance Update issue 5: Autumn 2023 (PDF)
- Governance Update issue 4: Summer 2023 (PDF)
- Governance Update issue 3: Spring 2023 (PDF)
- Governance Update issue 2: Autumn 2022 (PDF)
Fundraising guidance sheets
The Fundraising team has produced guidance sheets to help Friends improve how they collect donations in their meetings.
Treasurers survey 2023
Every year the fundraising team conducts a survey with treasurers to better understand their meetings' circumstances and the challenges they are facing ahead. The findings are presented below.
Quaker accounting spreadsheets and software
The Quaker Cash Book Spreadsheet for recording local meeting and area meeting transactions is available to download through the PDF document below. The End of Year spreadsheet and the AM Collation spreadsheet did not match the new layout of the SOFA required by SORP 2015. Quaker Stewardship Committee (laid down at Yearly Meeting 2022) decided not to continue maintaining these spreadsheets against changing requirements, and so they have been discontinued. Both the Charity Commission in England and Wales (CC) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) now provide spreadsheet templates for the annual report that partially replace these spreadsheets. In view of the demise of the End of Year spreadsheet the new version 10a of the Cash Book spreadsheet has been given some limited end-of-year functions to make it easier to transfer the column totals into the Charity Commission template.
The technical support email for the spreadsheets is treasurersIT@quaker.org.uk.
Simpler meetings
The Simpler meetings project has resources that treasurers may find useful. Visit the project webpage at www.quaker.org.uk/simplermeetings for more information.
Checklists for reports and accounts
There are checklists provided so trustees and treasurers can check whether their report and accounts are complete: England & Wales Checklist (Word) and Scotland Checklist (Word). These documents were revised in 2024.
Trustees' annual review, annual report and financial statements
- Trustees' annual report, including financial statements for the year ending December 2023 (signatures redacted for fraud prevention).
- Annual report 'Our faith, our work' 2023-24 (see below):
Recommended reading
- Property Guidance Sheets 2019 (PDF)
- Protect yourself from fraud (PDF)
- For information on how to improve the cyber security of your meeting see the Cyber Security: Small Charity Guide at www.ncsc.gov.uk/charity
- Banking with the Co-operative – a dilemma for Friends: paper prepared by QPSW about our relationship with the Co-operative Bank in response to questions raised by Friends (PDF)
- Implementing an integrated finance system: information and guidance on how to create an integrated finance system (PDF)
- Treatment of local meeting money in area meeting accounts: information and guidance on local meeting money in area meeting accounts (Word)
- A vulnerable victim? An account of the theft of an area meeting's money by their treasurer, including lessons learned (PDF)
- Central England Quakers' approach to financial administration (PDF)
- Electronic donation boxes - points to consider for Quaker meetings (PDF)
- Tech kit and other guidance on holding blended worship in Quaker communities (PDF)
General support
Asking for help
If you haven't found the information you are looking for on this page and need further general treasurer support, please send an email to supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk and we will get back to you.
Peer support - AM treasurers e-group
The e-group for Quaker treasurers offers peer support on all aspects of the role. It is currently for area meeting treasurers. If you would like to be subscribed to the e-group please contact supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk. If you are no longer the treasurer of your AM please also get in touch to be unsubscribed and let us know who should be subscribed instead.
Contributions material and support
Asking for help
For all enquiries relating to contributions, please contact Maisa Monteiro on 020 7663 1015 or at contributions@quaker.org.uk.
Contributions pack
Each year we produce a contributions pack for treasurers and collectors to use to encourage contributions from meetings. You can find electronic versions of the documents in this pack at www.quaker.org.uk/contributions. If you would like paper copies to give out in your meeting please contact Maisa Monteiro on 020 7663 1015 or at contributions@quaker.org.uk.
Vulnerable Supporters Policy
For guidance on asking for contributions from those who may be vulnerable, our Vulnerable Supporters Policy (PDF) provides practical information and advice.
Area meeting contribution reports
Area meeting treasurers can request a quarterly report on their giving to Britain Yearly Meeting by emailing contributions@quaker.org.uk. The report is broken down by local meeting and also shows a total for direct giving by individuals.
Paying-in slips
Treasurers should use these paying-in slips for meeting contributions to Britain Yearly Meeting sent by cheque or BACS transfer. These will help your meeting's contribution get to the right place and any allocation details to be logged correctly.
- Paying-in slip to accompany cheques sent by post (PDF)
- Paying-in slip to email to us when you make bank transfer BACS (Editable PDF)
Please return the BACS paying-in slip to
contributions@quaker.org.uk and finance@quaker.org.uk.
If you have any problems using this editable PDF form, please contact contributions@quaker.org.uk.
Not all Quaker Funds are administered by Britain Yearly Meeting and the addresses for some of these organisations are given here.
Gift Aid
Your Quaker meeting can claim back 25p from HMRC every time an individual donates £1 to your charity. This is called Gift Aid. You must be registered with HMRC to claim Gift Aid and the donors must be UK taxpayers who have made a Gift Aid declaration. They must have paid the same amount or more in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year. See www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid for further information.
There is a Gift Aid declaration section on all Quaker contribution forms at www.quaker.org.uk/contributions.
Changes to claiming Gift Aid (July 2024)
From July 2024 HMRC is making changes for meetings claiming Gift Aid. It will mean that local meetings will no longer be able to claim as they have previously. All claims will need to go through area meetings. See the guidance document below for information on the change and on claiming Gift Aid.
There are other documents that we will be updating as part of this process. It may take a little while before everything is complete.
Information sheets on Gift Aid for treasurers:
- How Gift Aid works (PDF) - updated 2024
- Advice for local meetings on special collections and Gift Aid (PDF) - updated 2018
See also information below on the GASDS which you can consider if your meeting already claims Gift Aid.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) allows eligible charities to claim 'top-up' payments. You may be able to claim 25% on:
- cash donations of £30 or less
- contactless card donations of £30 or less collected on or after 6 April 2019
Donations can be in any foreign currency. You don't need to know the identity of the donors or collect Gift Aid declarations, which makes it easier to claim on donations like street collections.
See www.gov.uk/guidance/claiming-a-top-up-payment-on-small-charitable-donations and www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/small-donations-scheme for further information about eligibility and making a claim.
Information sheets on Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme for treasurers:
Training and events
Conferences for Treasurers and Trustees
Useful documents from the last conference:
- Good practice in faith-based charities (pdf): Nick Donaldson, Head of Faith Charities Engagement, Charity Commission
- Simpler Meetings (pdf): Jonathan Carmichael, Simpler Meetings Project Manager (project now completed)
- Reducing the load on treasurers (pdf): by Jonathan Carmichael, Simpler Meetings Project Manager
- Can Quakers do buildings? (pdf): Huw Davies, Project Manager, Property Support Project (project now completed)
Treasurers' training at Woodbrooke
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and Quaker Life are looking at the training needs for treasurers. You can contact Woodbrooke directly, www.woodbrooke.org.uk, email enquiries@woodbrooke.org.uk or phone 0121 472 5171.
