How do I export donation details to ChurchSuite?
If your organisation uses ChurchSuite, then you may wish to export your donations into ChurchSuite and claim Gift Aid within ChurchSuite.
Watch the ChurchSuite Export Module Overview video to find out how it works.
ChurchSuite Export Setup
Before you export donation data from ExpensePlus to ChurchSuite:
1) You may need to set a ChurchSuite Fund Name for some of your income categories. The ChurchSuite Export module within ExpensePlus will notify you of any categories for which you need to do this. The ChurchSuite Fund Names should match the names of the funds that you have set up within ChurchSuite.
You can manage in the Income and Expenditure Categories screen.
2) You may need to set up additional donation methods in ChurchSuite (as ChurchSuite doesn't come with as many donation methods as ExpensePlus has - however, you can add more). Within the ChurchSuite Giving module, click on the cog symbol and add any of the following donation methods (as applicable to your organisation):
- Stewardship
- CAF
- Impact Vouchers
- Charities Trust
- GAYE
- Parish Giving Scheme
Exporting Transactions
Once you have finished bank matching donations in ExpensePlus, you can export transactions from the ChurchSuite Export module within ExpensePlus.
You will get a CSV download that you can upload to ChurchSuite.
Tip: Don't forget to watch the module overview video for further guidance.
By importing this export file into ChurchSuite (rather than a bank statement):
- You ensure that the donation data in ChurchSuite is always consistent and matches with the donation information in ExpensePlus
- All income transactions that are not donations (e.g. supplier refunds, non-donation income, etc.) get automatically excluded from the import file for you
- Donations originating from ChurchSuite are not included in the export (as they will already be in ChurchSuite - this avoids donation duplication in ChurchSuite)
- Donations that have already had Gift Aid claimed on them (e.g. those given through Stewardship or CAF) are included in the export, but marked with an override flag so that ChurchSuite knows to exclude them from any Gift Aid claims (to avoid the risk of double claiming). This means your donor records in ChurchSuite will be full and accurate, whther or not Gift Aid has been claimed through ChurchSuite.
Note: If you only have one site set up within ChurchSuite, ChurchSuite will automatically map any GASDS donation in the upload file correctly.
If you have more than one site set up within ChurchSuite, you will need to specify which site to record each GASDS transaction to when uploading transactions (e.g. G-0SDS-3).
What if transactions are missing from the Export file?
If a donation you are expecting to appear within the ChurchSuite export is not there, then this is likely to be due to one or more of the following reasons:
- You are looking at the wrong date range (check that the dates set at the top of the screen are set correctly)
- The donation hasn't been recorded as a Named Donation (to check this, click on the income transaction in question)
- The income has been coded as a Named Donation, but the donation method is set as ChurchSuite. ExpensePlus excludes these donations from the export, as these originated from and are already inside ChurchSuite, so including them on the export would cause duplication. If this wasn't the case for this donation, then you need to update its donation method.
To better understand the ChurchSuite Export module, please view the module overview video here.