Church Giving Reports: Start with Received Gifts

Church giving reports should distinguish received gifts from payment attempts. One gift is marked received. Another is still pending. A third payment fails. Those are three useful records, but they are not three received gifts.

TheFaithApp’s Giving overview counts received gifts and keeps pending, failed, and cancelled attempts out of those totals. Ordinary finance exports also include received gifts by default. That gives your team a practical starting point for a weekly review.

Here is a review routine you can use before sending figures to leadership.

1. Agree on the reporting window

Write the start date, end date, and currency at the top of the report. If your church receives several currencies, keep their totals separate. A number without its currency or reporting window is easy to misread.

2. Review received gifts first

Open Giving, check the Overview, then use the Donations list to review the same date range. Look at each gift’s amount, purpose, method, status, and date. Keep general giving and Outreach Campaign gifts identifiable when reviewing them together.

3. Give payment attempts their own follow-up

Pending or failed activity can help an authorized team support someone who had trouble giving. It should not increase the amount reported as received. Closing a payment screen also does not, by itself, complete a gift.

4. Separate gift value from settlement

A gift amount and a bank deposit can differ. Processing fees, refunds, disputes, and net settlement belong in the review. TheFaithApp shows these separately, so the team can examine the difference instead of assuming every number should match.

5. Handle corrections with a reason and review

A received gift is not edited in place. Authorized finance staff submit a correction or reversal with a reason; a different authorized person reviews it. The original remains in the audit history.

A simple leadership note:

“Period: [dates]. Received gifts: [amount and currency]. Payment attempts awaiting follow-up: [count]. Settlement items awaiting review: [short explanation]. Prepared by: [name].”

Before sharing, check the dates, currency, status filters, and who needs access to donor details. Then export the reviewed records.

For donor statements, use our year-end preparation checklist to confirm recipients, review a sample, and plan corrections before issuing the batch.

A clear giving report helps the next person understand what the numbers mean. Explore TheFaithApp Giving or request church access.

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