How to Manage Puja Bookings and Donation Receipts

A temple counter has two jobs: take bookings for pujas and take gifts. Both involve cash, both happen in a crowd and both must match the evening count. The method below works with a paper receipt book and works better with software, because the number, the date and the amount are saved at the moment the devotee pays.

Separate the two kinds of money

A puja fee is a charge for a service the temple performs. A donation is a voluntary gift. They may go to different heads of account, and your trust may treat them differently in its accounts. Give each its own receipt series or at least its own category, so the end of day report shows puja income and donations separately. Your constitution and the office where you are registered decide how each should be recorded; the software only needs to follow that.

Setting up the counter

1. List your pujas and rates. Write each puja, the usual duration, the priest or group that performs it and the fee the committee has fixed.
2. List your donation purposes. Daily offering, annadan, renovation, festival fund, goshala and so on.
3. Decide receipt series. One series per counter or per type avoids duplicate numbers when two volunteers work together.
4. Set who may cancel a receipt. Only the treasurer or secretary should have this permission, and each cancellation needs a reason.
5. Choose payment modes. Cash, bank transfer, mobile wallet or QR and cheque, each recorded separately.

Taking a puja booking

For each booking, record the family name, a phone number, the puja, the date in Bikram Sambat and the amount received. If you take an advance, record the balance too. A booking calendar then shows the priest which pujas fall on which day, and prevents two groups being promised the same slot. On the day before, the staff can print the list or send a short WhatsApp reminder to the family. Keep the message plain, with the time and any item the family should bring.

Special days need extra care. On a festival, a rush of bookings arrives and the same family may book several pujas. Allow multiple lines on one receipt so one payment covers all of them, and print one receipt instead of five.

Issuing a donation receipt

A donation receipt needs only a few facts: receipt number, BS date, donor name, address or phone if given, purpose, amount, mode and the name of the person who received it. Some donors prefer to stay anonymous. Allow an anonymous option rather than inventing a name, because a made-up name makes the donor list useless later.

Gifts in kind need a separate step. If someone gives rice, ghee or oil, record the item, quantity and an estimated value if your trust accounts for it, and note where the stock goes. This stops the argument months later about what was received.

Closing the day

At the end of each day the counter volunteer and the treasurer should sit together for ten minutes:

• Print or open the day summary, split by puja, donation and payment mode.
• Count the cash and compare it with the cash portion only.
• Check that bank and wallet receipts match the incoming messages or statement.
• Look at the list of cancelled receipts and confirm each reason.
• Lock the day so entries cannot be changed without leaving a trail.

This small routine catches nearly every error while it is still easy to find. A shortage of cash found on the same evening is solved by memory. The same shortage found at the audit is a dispute.

Festival days and offline worries

Festival days put the most pressure on the counter, and load-shedding or a poor mobile signal can make it worse. Plan for it. Keep a printed receipt book as a backup, with numbers set aside for that day, and enter those receipts afterwards with the book number noted. Because our systems are online, a phone with mobile data or a small battery backup keeps the counter running. Whatever backup you use, the rule is the same: nothing is paid without a receipt.

Handling mistakes at the counter

Mistakes will happen in a crowd: a wrong amount, a misspelt name, a booking for the wrong date. Do not tear out pages or overwrite. Cancel the receipt, write the reason and issue a new one. Keep the cancelled copy. In software this is a two-click action that stays in the history, and in a paper book it means stapling the cancelled receipt in place. Either way, a visible correction is better than a clean page that raises questions.

Train every volunteer on this rule on their first day. It is the habit that keeps the evening count honest, and it protects volunteers from unfair suspicion when a figure does not add up.

Thank-you messages and follow-up

A short SMS or WhatsApp message after a gift builds trust and gives a second record of the amount. Many committees also send a note before a major festival or a rent due date. This can be done from the same system, using the gateway you choose. Take care to message only people who have given their number for this purpose.

Where this fits with the rest of your accounts

When receipts are entered digitally, the daily totals flow into the cash book and the fund balances without being typed again. This is the practical advantage of temple and guthi trust software over a separate notebook for each activity. If your temple also runs campaigns for a building or a school, the same data feeds fundraising reports.

Next step

Take one week of your current receipts and count how many different categories you actually use. That list is the setup for your software. Send it to WebsNP on WhatsApp at +977 9846280400 and we will show you a booking and receipt demo built from your own list.

Get a demo and quote for Temple, Guthi and Trust Software

Tell us about your business and we will reply the same working day with a demo and a clear quote. No obligation.

Chat on WhatsApp

Or call / WhatsApp +977 9846280400

Your name Phone / WhatsApp Email (optional) Business / organisation What do you need?

Request demo

More guides on Temple, Guthi and Trust Software