Software Development for UK Charities

Charity software has to make every pound count

Charities run on tight budgets, small teams and a lot of goodwill. Their systems usually reflect that: a CRM chosen years ago, a donation platform, a Direct Debit provider, an events tool and spreadsheets joining them up. The result is duplicate supporter records, consent nobody can prove, and Gift Aid that never gets claimed because the declarations are hard to match to donations.

dijitul developments builds the pieces that join this up, and only builds new where off-the-shelf tools genuinely do not fit. Often the best value is a reliable integration between tools you already pay for, not a new system.

Gift Aid done properly

Gift Aid lets charities reclaim basic rate tax on eligible donations from UK taxpayers, adding 25p for every pound given. To claim, a charity needs a valid declaration (name, home address, postcode, the right wording and the date), a link between that declaration and each donation, and an audit trail HMRC can inspect.

We build declaration capture into every donation flow, with the correct statement text and options for one-off or enduring declarations. Donations are matched to declarations automatically, with exceptions flagged (missing postcodes, overseas addresses, sponsored events with benefits). Claims are submitted through HMRC's Charities Online service. HMRC publishes technical specifications for software that submits Gift Aid claims as XML through its Transaction Engine, including the IRmark hash every submission needs. Many charities use their CRM's built-in claim feature; where that is missing, we prepare the claim data or build the submission directly.

CRMs, fundraising platforms and payments

• CRMs: Beacon, Donorfy, Salesforce Nonprofit (and the older NPSP), Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT via the SKY API, ThankQ and Dynamics-based charity CRMs. See CRM integration.
• Fundraising platforms: JustGiving, Enthuse and similar platforms, pulling donations, fundraiser pages and Gift Aid status into your CRM.
• Payments: Stripe for cards, wallets and recurring giving, GoCardless for Direct Debit, PayPal. Webhooks keep failed payments and cancellations in sync. See Stripe integration.
• Charity Commission data: the Commission's Register of Charities API (currently in beta, with API keys from its developer hub) lets grant-makers and umbrella bodies check charity details automatically.
• Microsoft 365: many charities get Microsoft 365 through nonprofit programmes, so we use Microsoft Graph for sign-in, SharePoint and Teams.

Rules that shape charity software

• Charity regulators: the Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR in Scotland and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Annual returns and accounts need reliable income analysis.
• Charities SORP 2026: applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, replacing SORP 2019, with a new three-tier reporting structure and clearer income recognition guidance, according to Price Bailey and other charity accountants. Coding income correctly at source in your systems makes that far easier.
• Fundraising Regulator: the Code of Fundraising Practice covers consent, vulnerable people and handling of donor data.
• UK GDPR and PECR: email and SMS marketing needs consent; postal and phone fundraising may rely on legitimate interests with a proper assessment. We store the source, wording and date of every consent.
• Safeguarding: volunteer and staff DBS check records need restricted access and expiry tracking.

Volunteers, services and impact reporting

Fundraising is only half of a charity's data. The other half is the work itself: people supported, sessions run, volunteers deployed and outcomes achieved. That data usually ends up in a mix of forms, spreadsheets and a case management tool, which makes funder reporting slow.

We build volunteer management tools with sign-up, role matching, availability, rotas, training records and DBS check expiry reminders, with access to sensitive records limited to the people who need it. For service delivery we build case or session recording that captures the outcome measures each funder wants, using the same definitions every time, so a quarterly report is a filter rather than a fresh count.

Restricted funds are a common sticking point. If each grant is coded at source in your systems and linked to the activities it pays for, finance can show spend and outcomes per grant without a separate spreadsheet. That also makes the income analysis needed under the Charities SORP far less painful at year end. Dashboards for trustees can sit on top, showing income against budget, Gift Aid claimed and activity levels.

Getting started

Tell us how money and supporters flow through your charity today. After a free chat we map the data and give a fixed-price quote, often phased to fit funding. Many charities start with donation and Gift Aid sync, because the extra Gift Aid claimed can help fund the next phase. Related: data migration if you are moving CRM, and software for education.

What we deliver

• Donation, membership and event booking flows synced to your CRM
• Gift Aid declaration capture, eligibility checks and claim file preparation
• Integration between fundraising platforms, payments and your CRM
• Volunteer management with availability, rotas and check expiry reminders
• Service delivery and case management tools with outcome reporting
• Funder and trustee dashboards

How it works and what it costs

Every project gets a fixed-price quote after a free initial chat and a short scoping stage. You own the code and the data.

1. Free chat

   Tell us the problem in plain English: what you do now, what goes wrong and what "better" looks like. No charge, no obligation.

2. Scoping

   We map the processes, systems and data involved, agree what is in and out, and write it down so there are no surprises.

3. Fixed-price quote

   You get a fixed price for the agreed scope, or a phased plan for bigger builds, so you can start small and prove it works.

4. Build and test

   We build in short stages you can see and try, test against real data, then go live carefully with a rollback plan.

5. Hand over and look after

   You own the code and the data. We can host it, support it and keep improving it, or hand it to your own team.

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