Software for temple trusts: receipts, sevas and open accounts
Numbered donation receipts, online pooja and seva bookings, annadhanam and festival planning, and a read-only view of the accounts for every trustee.
Temple and trust software issues numbered donation receipts, takes pooja and seva bookings online, plans annadhanam and festival days, and gives trustees a read-only view of the accounts. It is for privately managed temples and religious trusts; temples administered by the government follow their own department's systems.
Where the day goes wrong
- 01
Receipt books and gaps
Handwritten receipts are numbered by hand, and a missing page raises questions nobody can answer.
- 02
Seva bookings by phone
Devotees abroad phone or message to book, and the priest's sheet is prepared from handwritten notes.
- 03
Annadhanam dates unclear
Sponsors are promised dates that are already taken, and the kitchen learns the headcount late.
- 04
Festival spending spread thin
Volunteers pay festival expenses in cash and claim them afterwards, so reconciliation comes last.
- 05
Trustees cannot see the books
Only the secretary or treasurer can open the accounts, and questions wait for the next meeting.
What we build for you
- 01
Donation and hundi receipts
Continuously numbered receipts for cash, UPI and cheque, with a daily summary and a count sheet.
- 02
Pooja and seva bookings
Online and counter bookings by date, with the devotee's details and a priest's daily sheet.
- 03
Annadhanam planner
Sponsor dates, headcount, groceries and volunteers for daily and special feeding.
- 04
Festival manager
Committee budget by head, sponsors, vendors, advances and expense approvals.
- 05
Trustee accounts view
Read-only statements and dashboards, with cancellations and edits logged.
- 06
Valuables register
Silver, jewellery and vessels offered to the temple, with weights and photographs.
- 07
Temple website
Timings, festival calendar, online giving and booking in Tamil and English.
For privately managed temples and trusts
This page is for temples, mutts and religious trusts that are managed privately, by a family, a community or a board of trustees. Temples administered by the government follow their department's own systems, and VS Tech Builders would not suggest replacing them.
The work of a trust is quiet and careful: receive offerings, perform the poojas, feed those who come, hold the festival, and account for every rupee to the people whose trust it is. Software should serve that work and stay out of its way.
A receipt a trustee can stand behind
Every donation, whether cash at the counter, UPI at the board or a cheque in the post, needs a receipt with a number, a date and a purpose. In a paper book the numbers are written by hand, a page is torn, and a question months later has no answer. We issue continuously numbered receipts, allow cancellation only with a recorded reason, and total each day's receipts by mode of payment.
The hundi is counted by people, and that stays a human process. The system records the count sheet they sign, enters the totals in the cash book and keeps a photograph of the sheet. Receipt fields for trusts with tax-exemption registrations come from your chartered accountant, and we build to them.
Pooja and seva bookings from anywhere
A devotee in Chennai or Singapore wants an archana on her birth star every month. Today that means a phone call, a message and a handwritten note passed to the priest. Online booking collects the name, star and gotra the priest requires, takes payment, confirms on WhatsApp and prints the priest's sheet for each day. Recurring sevas repeat on their own, and where you send prasadam by post, the address and dispatch status are kept with the booking.
Annadhanam and the festival season
For many temples annadhanam is a daily responsibility and, at festival time, a very large one. Sponsors are promised dates, the kitchen needs the headcount early, and groceries must be bought before the day. A calendar of sponsored dates stops two families being promised the same day, and the planner turns the expected headcount into a purchase list and a volunteer rota.
A festival is a project with a budget by head: decoration, music, lighting, the procession, offerings and annadhanam. Volunteers pay vendors in cash and claim it back later. We record advances, expenses and approvals as they happen, so the committee sees spending against budget on the third day, not after the last.
What trustees can see, and what they cannot change
Transparency is more than a report once a year. Each trustee gets a read-only login showing receipts, expenses by head, bank balances and the festival budget. Payments above a limit you set need a second trustee's approval. Every cancellation and every edit is logged with the name and the time, and no receipt number can be reused. The person who enters the data cannot quietly alter it. Our glossary entry on role-based access control explains the principle.
Money, and who can manage without software
A temple website in Tamil and English, with timings, the festival calendar and online giving, fits the Standard plan at ₹20,999. Donation, seva and accounts software typically starts around ₹85,000, with online giving and booking built on a payment gateway. If the trust receives donations from abroad, separate rules and separate accounts apply, and you should speak to your chartered accountant before enabling international payments.
A village temple that issues a few receipts a week is well served by a receipt book, a bank account and a good chartered accountant. Software begins to pay when there are several sevas a day, devotees booking online, annadhanam schedules and a board that wants to see the books without asking. Our page on software for NGOs and trusts covers charitable trusts more generally, and the web portal development page explains the booking portal.
Frequently asked questions
Can devotees book sevas and give donations online from abroad?
Yes, with caution. The website can take bookings and gifts through a payment gateway, using Razorpay for Indian payments and Stripe for international cards, subject to account approval. Donations from abroad follow separate rules and separate accounts, so speak to your chartered accountant before switching on international payments. We build the booking pages and the records; the rules are your accountant's.
How can trustees be sure the accounts have not been altered?
Receipts are numbered continuously and cannot be deleted, only cancelled with a recorded reason. Each change is recorded with the name of the person who made it and the time. Trustees log in with read-only access to the receipts, expenses and balances, separate from the person who enters data. No software removes the need for honest people, but this makes quiet changes visible and easy to question.
Do you build for temples run by the government?
No. Temples administered by a government department follow that department's own systems, and we would not suggest replacing them or working around them. Our software is for privately managed temples, mutts and religious trusts, where the trustees choose their own tools. If you are unsure which category your temple falls into, ask your board or your chartered accountant first.
How does the system handle daily hundi counting?
The counting itself stays a human process, done by the people you appoint. They sign a count sheet, and the system records the denominations and totals from it, adds them to the cash book, and keeps a photograph of the signed sheet. Two trustees can be required to confirm each entry before it is posted, if your board wants that rule.
Further reading
Software built for temples and religious trusts.
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