Tithes and offerings: how to record every gift

Tithes, offerings and designated gifts

Keeping the three apart helps the church know where its support comes from, and keep its word to those who gave.

• Tithe: each person's regular giving. It can be recorded with the giver's name.
• Service offering: what goes into the plate or the bag, totalled, without names.
• Designated gift: missions, outreach, a building fund. The money has an agreed purpose and must be used for it.

After the service: the count

• Two people count together, straight after the service, before the money leaves the room.
• Separate banknotes and coins, and the tithe envelopes if the church uses them.
• Write on a count sheet the date, the service, the amount by method, the total and who counted.
• Both people sign the sheet.
• The money goes somewhere safe and is paid into the bank as soon as possible, always by the same route.
• Record the count on the same day, with the signed sheet attached.

Bank transfers, card and mobile payments

What comes in electronically never goes through the plate, but it's still an offering. The main care is not to count the same gift twice.

• If someone shows at the service that they've sent a transfer, note it on the count sheet, but don't add it to the cash counted.
• The real amount arrives on the bank statement, and that's what becomes the record.
• If the bank takes a fee on the card terminal, record the offering at its full amount and the fee as a bank charge.
• Ask people who give by transfer to say in the reference whether it's a tithe, an offering or for a particular purpose.

Each person's tithe

Many churches record the tithe with the giver's name. That way the treasury can answer when a member asks how much they gave in the year.

That amount is personal data linked to faith. Only the people who run the treasury should see it, and it never appears on a slide, a notice board or in a messaging group.

Common mistakes

• Counting the offering alone, or taking the money home to count later.
• Paying an expense from the offering bag before it's counted.
• Adding a transfer announced at the service, then adding it again when it reaches the bank statement.
• Mixing designated gifts with the general fund.
• Recording only the month's total, without knowing what came in at each service.

How Atrium helps

In Atrium, the Sunday count records the amount by method, such as banknotes, coins, bank transfer and card, the total and the signed sheet. Banknotes and coins become cash-box transactions straight away. Electronic gifts are noted on the count and come in through the bank statement, imported as a CSV file, with possible duplicates flagged. The tithe can be linked to the person, and only the administrator and the treasurer see that amount. At the members' meeting, tithes and offerings appear as totals, without names.

Frequently asked questions