Collecting subs

Under Settings → Financial connections, set up online payments if you want parents to pay by card: that's Set up Stripe, or Connect your Square account if the group already takes card payments with Square (then switch on Use Square for "Pay online"). If the group collects Direct Debit, pick the Direct Debit provider for subs on the same page (Stripe Direct Debit once Stripe is connected, or GoCardless if you connect a GoCardless account). You can still record cash and bank transfers without any of this.

Open Finance → Subs and fill in Set up subs: a name, the Amount, How often (each term, each month, each week or once a year), when it starts, and Who pays, by ticking sections. Every young person in those sections goes on it, and Your subs then shows the amount, how often, how many young people and which sections.

Underneath, that's a payment schedule. Who's on it opens it under Income & Payments → Schedules, where Manage assignments takes someone off, changes their amount or adds a discount, and where instalment schedules are set up.

In Income & Payments → Schedules, Purpose & splits on a schedule shares out every payment as it arrives: for example £15 of each £45 into the Cubs pot and £5 into the Minibus fund. Add a split for each one, choosing a section pot, a fund or an event, and the amount of each full payment. What's left stays as the group's general money.

It works however parents pay, by card, Direct Debit, cash or bank transfer. A part payment is split in the same proportions, and a refund takes the shares back. Changing the split only affects payments from then on.

For subs the whole group pays on one schedule, choose Each young person's own section instead of a section pot. That part of each payment goes into the pot of the section the young person is in when it's paid: a Beaver's subs to Beavers, a Cub's to Cubs, and siblings on one invoice each to their own. A section without a budget, or a young person in no section, leaves it with the group.

Choose which pot in their section it goes to: General, or a pot every section has, such as Camp. Add more than one, for example £10 to General and £5 to Camp. A section without that pot puts its share in General, and the screen says which sections those are, with a button to add the pot to them. New pot in every section adds a pot to every section's budget in one go.

The same screen says what the schedule is for: Subs, A payment plan for an event, or Something else. The Schedules list shows it on each one, as Subs, Payment plan for and the event, or Not subs, and only subs appear under Finance → Subs.

Open the schedule with Edit and choose Delete schedule. The confirmation says how many young people are on it, how many invoices it has raised and which section pots take their subs share from it. Deleting stops any new invoices; invoices already raised are kept.

From Finance → Subs, Raise invoices opens the Invoices tab. Generate from schedule, pick the subs and a due date, then Generate invoices. That creates a draft for each parent with an assignment, nothing is emailed yet, and parents can't see it.

Open each draft and Send invoice. That emails the parent and moves the invoice to sent, which is what makes it appear in the family portal. You can Resend, Send reminder, download a PDF, or Record payment if they paid cash or by bank transfer.

Income & Payments → Balances shows Member account balances: credit a family has with the group (positive) or what they owe (negative). Adjust balance changes one by hand: choose the young person, type the Adjustment in pounds and pence (5.00 to add credit, -5.00 to take it away) and a reason, then Apply.

For a family behind on payments, Payment plan spreads what they owe over a number of instalments, and Write off arrears clears it to zero. A write-off can't be undone.