Church Accounting Software: Features for Modern Ministries

Church accounting software is purpose-built financial management for ministries that need fund accounting (tracking tithes, offerings, building funds, and missions separately), donation tracking with year-end giving statements, and nonprofit financial reporting. The top options in 2026 are Alignmint (free tier, all-in-one with CRM and volunteers), Aplos ($59+/mo, accounting-focused), ChurchTrac (free for small churches, single-entry only), and Realm by ACS Technologies (enterprise, custom pricing). The key requirement is true fund accounting — not QuickBooks "classes."

Your church's finances are more complex than most people realize. You're managing tithes, offerings, building fund gifts, mission trip donations, benevolence requests, and designated gifts that each have their own rules about how they can be spent.

Why Churches Can't Use Generic Accounting Software

QuickBooks, Wave, and Xero are fine for small businesses. They track income and expenses, generate invoices, and reconcile bank accounts. But churches aren't businesses, and the differences matter.

Churches Need Fund Accounting

When a member gives $500 to the building fund, that money is restricted. You can't use it to pay the electric bill. When someone donates to the mission trip, those dollars must be tracked separately from general tithes.

This is called fund accounting — tracking each fund with its own balance, revenue, and expenses. It's not optional. It's required by nonprofit accounting standards and expected by your congregation, your board, and the IRS.

QuickBooks handles this with "classes" — but classes aren't funds. You can't see a true fund balance, you can't enforce restrictions, and your financial statements won't be formatted correctly. Here's a detailed explanation of why QuickBooks isn't enough for churches.

Churches Need Donor Tracking

Every gift needs to be connected to a donor for year-end giving statements. Generic accounting software doesn't track donors — it tracks revenue. You'd need a separate CRM or spreadsheet to manage donor information, then reconcile the two systems every January when statements are due.

Church accounting software with built-in donor management connects every gift to a donor profile automatically. When January comes, you generate statements in minutes — not days.

Churches Need Transparency

Your congregation trusts you with their tithes and offerings. They expect to see where the money goes. Church accounting software provides fund-level reporting that shows exactly how much is in each fund, how it was spent, and what remains. This level of transparency builds trust and encourages continued generosity.

Key Features for Church Accounting Software

1. True Fund Accounting

Not classes, not tags — actual funds with their own balances and restrictions. Your software should support:

• General fund: Unrestricted tithes and offerings for operating expenses
• Designated funds: Building, missions, youth, benevolence, and other restricted purposes
• Temporarily restricted funds: Gifts restricted by time or purpose that will eventually be released
• Permanently restricted funds: Endowments where only the earnings can be spent

You should be able to see every fund's balance at a glance and generate reports by fund, by date range, or across all funds.

2. Tithe and Offering Tracking

Track weekly giving by donor, by fund, and by method (cash, check, online, ACH). Your software should handle:

• Individual gifts with donor attribution
• Split gifts across multiple funds (e.g., $300 to general, $200 to building)
• Pledge tracking with payment schedules
• Recurring gift management for automatic monthly givers

3. Year-End Giving Statements

IRS-compliant giving statements are non-negotiable. Your software should generate them automatically with:

• Donor name and address
• Itemized list of gifts with dates and amounts
• Your church's EIN
• Required IRS language about goods and services
• Bulk email or print options

The best systems let you generate and send all statements in under 30 minutes. See our complete guide to year-end giving statements for churches.

4. Online Giving

Your members expect to give online — from their phones, during the service, or from home. Your accounting software should include or integrate with online giving that:

• Accepts credit cards, debit cards, and ACH transfers
• Supports recurring gifts
• Lets donors choose which fund to give to
• Automatically records gifts in your accounting system and on the donor's profile
• Provides a branded donation page that matches your church's website

5. Financial Reporting

Your board, finance committee, and congregation need regular financial reports. Your software should generate:

Report	Audience	Frequency
Balance sheet	Board, auditors	Monthly
Income statement (by fund)	Board, finance committee	Monthly
Budget vs. actual	Board, finance committee	Monthly
Fund balance summary	Congregation	Monthly or quarterly
Giving statements	Donors	Annually
Form 990 schedules	IRS	Annually

6. Budgeting

Create annual budgets by fund and track actual spending against them throughout the year. Your finance committee should be able to see at any point how much has been spent vs. budgeted for each category.

7. Volunteer and Event Management

Many churches need more than just accounting. If your software also handles volunteer scheduling, small group management, and event planning, you can run your entire ministry from one platform instead of three or four.

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Common Church Accounting Challenges

Challenge	Root Cause	Solution
Designated gifts spent incorrectly	No fund-level tracking	True fund accounting with restrictions
Giving statements take days	Donor data in spreadsheets	Integrated donor management
Board can't see fund balances	Reports require manual spreadsheets	Real-time fund balance dashboard
Volunteers enter data inconsistently	Complex software	Intuitive interface with guided workflows
Multiple systems don't sync	Separate CRM, accounting, and giving tools	All-in-one platform
Audit preparation is painful	Poor documentation	Automated audit trails

How to Choose the Right Church Accounting Software

1. Count your funds: How many designated funds do you manage? If it's more than 3-4, you need true fund accounting — not QuickBooks classes.

2. Check for donor management: Can the software track donors, generate giving statements, and manage communications? If not, you'll need a separate CRM.

3. Test online giving: Does the platform include online giving, or do you need a third-party tool? How much are the transaction fees?

4. Evaluate the learning curve: Your church treasurer or bookkeeper (often a volunteer) will use this software. It needs to be simple enough for someone who isn't an accountant.

5. Look at the total cost: Don't just compare the accounting subscription. Add up the cost of CRM, online giving, email tools, and volunteer management. An all-in-one platform is often cheaper than separate tools.

6. Ask about multi-campus support: If your church has multiple locations (or plans to), make sure the software can handle multi-campus accounting with consolidated and location-level reporting.

The most common thing we hear from church treasurers switching to Alignmint: "I didn't realize how much time I was wasting." Between the spreadsheet reconciliation, the separate giving software, and the January scramble for year-end statements — most churches are spending 10-15 hours a month on work that should take two.

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Related:

• Church Fund Accounting: Why QuickBooks Isn't Enough — Why churches need true fund accounting
• Best Free Church Accounting Software in 2026 — Top free options for churches
• Year-End Giving Statements Guide — Generate compliant statements fast
• Affordable CRM for Churches — CRM features churches actually need
• Fund Accounting — See how Alignmint handles church accounting