User guide

First week checklist

Do these in order. After that, jump to any chapter.

1. Create the church workspace or sign in.
2. Confirm the church name, email, phone, mailing address, and logo under Church Settings. Statements and letters use this.
3. Add bank accounts under Designated Funds. Add designated funds there, or on Giving → Categories.
4. Add vendors you pay (utilities, insurance, the music license).
5. Add households under Household Directory. Include mailing address, email, and phone if you will print, email, or text.
6. On Giving → Categories, add funds (General Fund) and categories (Tithe, Building, Missions). Link each category to a fund. Use Edit and Remove on those lists to rename or delete.
7. Invite the treasurer and office staff from Users. They receive an email with a join link.
8. Record this week’s offering on Giving. Set Gift date if you are entering a prior Sunday.
9. On any list, Edit opens the same fields you used to add the item. Remove deletes it after you confirm. Escape or Cancel leaves it as it was.
10. If you are still on a trial, finish Billing: subscribe monthly, choose annual full access, or enter a gift code so the banner goes away.
11. When the accountant asks for year-end books, jump to Year-end for the accountant. KingdomLedger does not print tax forms.

1. Go to kingdomledger.net and choose Sign in, or open /login.
2. Enter the work email and password. Press Sign in. You type the password once; use Show if you want to see it.
3. You land on the Dashboard. The left sidebar is the whole office: giving, people, books, worship, statements, and settings.
4. To start a new church instead, choose Begin trial or open /signup.
5. On signup, enter your name, work email, a password of at least 12 characters (type it twice to confirm), and the church name.
6. If you were given an Online gift code, enter it now (GIFT- followed by letters and numbers). That unlocks cloud full access with no payment.
7. If you were given a Desktop gift code (DGIFT-…), do not use this signup page. Open kingdomledger.net/signup/desktop instead — see KingdomLedger Desktop in this guide.
8. If a sister church referred you, enter their referral code (REF-…). They earn $25 if your church subscribes to annual full access.
9. After signup you are signed in as the Owner. Open Billing to start monthly checkout, subscribe to annual full access ($199/year), or redeem a gift code. Monthly checkout can include a 14-day trial if you have not subscribed yet.

1. On a computer, the navy column on the left stays put. Click a page name to open it.
2. On a phone, tap the menu button in the top bar, then choose a page. Tap outside the menu or press Escape to close it.
3. The top strip (Households, Worship, Website & App, Giving, Books, Events) is a shortcut to those modules. Books opens Designated Funds and the other ledger pages.
4. Dashboard shows cash and assets, open receivables, open payables, fund charts, and the last five expenses and deposits. It is a snapshot, not a place to enter data.
5. A card near the top of Dashboard opens this user guide if you need the first-week checklist again.
6. Your name is at the bottom of the sidebar. Use Change password or Sign out there.
7. Open User guide from the sidebar whenever you need these steps again.

1. Open Church Settings in the sidebar.
2. Enter the official church name, office email, phone, and mailing address.
3. Upload a church logo if you have one (square PNG, JPEG, WebP, or GIF under 1 MB). It is stored on this church and shows in the sidebar, on statements, and on the public site.
4. Press Save settings.
5. The subscription line shows your plan and status. Press Subscribe or update payment to open Billing.

1. Open Designated Funds.
2. Under Add account, type a name such as Operating Checking.
3. Choose a type: ASSET for bank and cash, LIABILITY for loans, EQUITY for net assets, REVENUE or EXPENSE if you want income and expense accounts.
4. Enter an opening balance if you already know the current bank figure. Use 0 if you are starting clean.
5. Press the submit button to save the account.
6. Under Add fund, type a name such as General Fund, Building, Missions, or Youth.
7. Enter an opening balance for that envelope, then save. You can also add a fund from Giving → Categories (name only; opening balance is 0).
8. Repeat until every bank account and every designated fund you use is listed.
9. Press Edit on a row to rename it or correct the balance. Remove only works if gifts, expenses, deposits, bills, invoices, or budget lines still use that account or fund.

1. Open Vendors.
2. Enter the vendor name (required). Add email, phone, and notes if you have them.
3. Submit the form. The vendor appears in the table.
4. Press Edit to change the name or contact fields. Remove deletes the vendor. Bills and expenses keep their amounts but lose the vendor name.
5. Use that same name later on Expenses and Payables.

1. Open Household Directory. The directory is one page: the list stays on the left and the selected profile stays on the right (under the list on a phone).
2. The chips at the top count Active members (status MEMBER and Active): total, Adults, and Children. Family role CHILD counts as a child. Age category Child, Youth, or Infant also counts as a child. Head, Spouse, and Other with Adult or Senior count as adults.
3. Use Currently showing to filter Everyone, Active members, Visitors, Inactive, or one family group. Search this list by first name, last name, or email.
4. Click a row. Tabs on the profile are Details, Notes, Giving, and Groups.
5. Details holds member status, Active (Yes/No), family role (Head, Spouse, Child, Other), family group, birthday (age is calculated from it), age category (Adult, Child, Youth, Infant, Senior), phone, email, address, and an optional photo URL. Initials show if there is no photo.
6. Press Add person to open the create form. First and last name are required. Family group can start a new family, join an existing one, or stay empty.
7. Checkboxes on the list — and Select at the top — are for later actions. Owners and admins can Delete selected. Gifts stay in the batch.
8. Activate or Deactivate from the profile header. Deactivate also sets status to INACTIVE. Owners and admins can Delete one person from the profile.
9. Notes stay with the person. Giving lists gifts already linked to them, plus any pledges. Groups shows the family household and any worship teams.
10. A /people/id link still works; it opens /people?id= with that person selected on the same page.

1. Open Giving, then click Categories. The page has two lists: Funds, then Categories.
2. To add a fund such as General Fund, type the name under New fund and press Add fund. Opening balance is 0. For a starting balance, add the fund under Designated Funds (Books) instead.
3. Each fund row has Edit and Remove on the right. Edit to rename (General Offering → General Fund), then Save changes. Cancel or Escape leaves the name as it was.
4. Remove deletes that fund after you confirm. It will not delete if gifts, expenses, deposits, bills, invoices, or budget lines still use it. Categories that pointed at it become Unassigned.
5. To add a category, type a name such as Tithe, Missions, Building, or Youth Camp.
6. Choose the Fund that money should increase (General Fund). Press Add category. Repeat for every envelope line you use on Sunday.
7. Each category row has Edit and Remove. Edit to rename it or change which fund it posts to, then Save changes.
8. Remove deletes that category after you confirm. It will not delete if gifts or pledges still use it.

Fund

The designated envelope (General Fund, Building, Missions). Balances live here.

Category

The line on the offering envelope (Tithe, Missions). Link it to a fund so gifts post to the right envelope.

1. Open Giving (the page is titled Giving & Contributions). Pledges, Categories, and Online giving are links at the top.
2. Press + Record Giving.
3. Set Gift date first. It defaults to today. Change it to any earlier day — including January — when you are catching up.
4. Choose the Donor when you can, then enter Amount, Type, Fund, and Method. Method is Cash, Check, Card, Online, Cash App, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, or Other. Memo sits beside Method. When Method is Check, that field is Check number.
5. Press Save. The gift date is stored on that day’s batch, so same-day gifts share a count.
6. The list can show every month or one month. Use Show month, pick January (or any earlier month), and press Show. All months lists the full history.
7. If a gift is wrong, press Edit. Gift date is the first field — change the date, donor, amount, type, fund, method, or memo, then Save changes.
8. Remove deletes that gift and reverses the batch and fund totals.

1. Open Giving, then Pledges.
2. Choose the Person and the Category.
3. Enter the pledged Amount, the Start date, and an End date if you have one.
4. Add Notes if the board needs context, then submit.
5. The table lists each pledge. Compare it with actual gifts on the person’s page and on Statements.
6. Press Edit to change the amount, dates, or category. Remove deletes the pledge.

1. Add funds and giving categories first (Giving → Categories) and link each category to a fund. The public form will not accept a gift until at least one category exists.
2. Open Giving, then Online giving.
3. Choose Add bank account and finish Stripe’s form with the church legal name, tax ID, and routing/account numbers. If you already connected, use Open payout dashboard or Update bank details.
4. When the page says payouts are ready, copy Your giving link (or Open public page) and share it. Turn on online giving if it is still off.
5. A donor chooses an amount and category, then pays by card. Stripe sends that gift to this church’s bank, not another church.
6. The gift appears in a batch named Online giving for that day, linked to the household email when possible. Recent online gifts also list on this page.
7. When the Stripe payout hits the bank, record a Bank Deposit so checking matches.
8. Turn off online giving from the same page if you need to close the form. The public form also stays closed until payouts are ready.

1. Open Bank Deposits after the offering is at the bank.
2. Enter the Date and the Amount that posted.
3. Choose the Bank account (your checking ASSET) and the Fund.
4. Add a Memo such as “Sunday 9/7 deposit,” then submit.
5. Checking and the fund both increase by that amount.
6. Press Edit to change the date, amount, account, fund, or memo. Remove puts the money back off the account and fund.

1. Open Expenses.
2. Enter the Date and Amount.
3. Choose the Vendor if you added one.
4. Choose the Account to pay from (usually Operating Checking) and the Fund.
5. Add a Check # and Memo if you have them, then submit.
6. The account balance and the fund balance both go down.
7. Press Edit to correct the expense. Remove puts the money back on the account and fund.

1. Open Payables.
2. Fill Bill date, Amount, Fund, and optionally Due date, Vendor, Invoice #, and Memo. Submit.
3. The bill appears under Open bills. Overdue bills are flagged.
4. When you pay it, use Record payment on that bill: Pay date, Pay from account, Amount (it defaults to what is still due), and Check #.
5. Submit the payment. The bill moves to Paid when it is fully settled. Checking and the fund go down.
6. Press Edit on an open or paid bill to change vendor, dates, amount, or memo. Remove reverses any payments back onto the account and fund.

1. Open Receivables.
2. Enter Invoice date, Amount, Payer name, and Fund. Add Due date, Invoice #, Memo, and a directory person if you want.
3. Submit. The invoice appears under Open invoices.
4. When the check arrives, use Record receipt: Receipt date, Deposit to account, and Amount.
5. The invoice moves to Received when it is fully paid. The bank account and fund go up.
6. Press Edit on an open or received invoice to change payer, dates, amount, or memo. Remove reverses any receipts off the account and fund.

1. Open Budget.
2. Enter a Name (Annual Budget is fine) and the Year, then create the budget.
3. On that budget, add a line: Category, Fund, and Amount.
4. Repeat for every category the board approved.
5. Press Edit on the budget name or a line to correct it. Remove deletes that budget or line.

1. Open Year-End Reports to see total deposits, total expenses, open receivables, open payables, and each fund balance.
2. Those four totals add up every deposit and expense on the books. They are not January–December of a year you pick. There is no date filter on Reports.
3. Open Dashboard for the same cash picture plus recent expenses and deposits.
4. To print or save a PDF, use your browser’s Print dialog on Year-End Reports or on the source page (Designated Funds, Expenses, Bank Deposits, Payables, Receivables, Budget, Vendors).
5. If a number looks wrong, open the source page and check the last entries.

1. KingdomLedger does not generate tax forms, Form 1099, Form 990, a formal profit-and-loss or balance sheet, a CSV download, or a books-close. Those screens are not in the product.
2. Gather bank and credit-card statements from the bank (outside this app). If the church takes online gifts, add the Stripe payout history from Giving → Online giving (Open payout dashboard).
3. Owners and admins open Backup & Restore and press Download backup JSON. That file is the machine-readable snapshot. Treasurers and staff cannot export it — the page tells them to ask an owner or admin.
4. Print or save as PDF (browser Print) from Year-End Reports, Designated Funds, Expenses, Bank Deposits, Payables, Receivables, Budget, and Vendors. Year-End Reports totals are all-time, not a calendar year.
5. For gift-by-gift detail, open Giving, use Show month (including January), and print that list. The backup JSON holds the same gifts in a file the accountant can open.
6. Giving Statements are year-end letters for donors in January. Print or email those to households. They are not the core of the CPA package.
7. Hand the accountant: bank and card statements, Stripe payouts if you give online, the backup JSON from an owner or admin, and the printed Reports and ledger pages.

1. Open Giving Statements in January (or whenever you mail donor letters).
2. Choose the calendar year and press Show year.
3. Only households with linked gifts in that year appear. Unlinked batch gifts will not show here.
4. Review each household’s gift lines and deductible total.
5. Print letters opens a print-friendly page. Use your browser’s Print dialog to print or save as PDF.
6. Download PDF saves a PDF of the letters.
7. Email statements sends one email per household that has an email address. Households without email are skipped.
8. You can also print or download one household at a time from that household’s row.

1. Open Letters.
2. Edit the Subject and the Letter body.
3. Use merge fields exactly as written: {{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, {{churchName}}, {{year}}, {{address}}.
4. Under Send to, choose Active members, Everyone in the directory, Households with gifts this year, or One household.
5. If you chose One household, pick that person in Household.
6. Set Year if you are writing to this year’s givers.
7. Email letters sends the merged letter. Print letters opens a print page. Download PDF saves a file.
8. What went out at the bottom keeps the last 20 letters and how many were sent, skipped, or failed.

1. Open Bulk Texts from the sidebar.
2. Edit the message. Watch the character count; about 160 characters is one SMS segment.
3. Use merge fields exactly as written: {{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, {{churchName}}, {{year}}.
4. Under Send to, choose Active members, Everyone in the directory, Households with gifts this year, or One household.
5. If you chose One household, pick that person in Household.
6. Set Year if you are writing to this year’s givers.
7. The preview shows how many people have a phone number. People without a phone are skipped.
8. Send texts. Confirm the count. What went out at the bottom keeps the last 20 sends.

1. Open Events & Attendance.
2. Enter Title and Starts (date and time). Add Location, Ends, and Description if you have them. Press Create event.
3. Submit, then click the event.
4. Add a registration: type the Name, optionally Link person, then press Register.
5. Press Edit on the event, a registrant, or an attendance row to fix the fields. Remove deletes that record after you confirm.
6. Change a registrant’s status to REGISTERED, ADDED (walk-in), CHECKED_IN, or CANCELLED from Edit, then Save changes.
7. Under Attendance / check-in, type a name and press Mark present when you need a simple headcount.

1. Open Worship Planning. Teams and Song library are links at the top.
2. Create a service: Title (Worship Service is fine) and Starts, then press Add service.
3. Click that service in the left list. Press Edit to change the title or start time, or Remove to delete the service and its outline.
4. Add an outline item: Start time, Title, and optionally Key, Led by, Notes. Check Highlight if the row should stand out.
5. If a row is wrong, press Edit, fix the fields, and Save changes. Remove deletes that line. Escape or Cancel leaves it as it was.
6. Repeat in order — call to worship, songs, sermon, blessing.
7. Open Song library (from Worship) to add Title, Artist, Key, and CCLI. Edit or Remove a song from that table.
8. Open Teams to add a team name, then add members with Name and Role. Link a directory person when you can. Edit or Remove the team or a member from that page.

1. Open Website & App. This is a click-and-drag page builder, not a stack of cards. The canvas is a live preview of the page guests will see.
2. Use the palette to add a section: Hero, Text, Image, Buttons, Service times, Visit CTA, Give CTA, Events list, Custom HTML / text, Spacer / divider.
3. Drag the handle on a section to reorder it, the way you would stack blocks in WordPress. Click a section to edit it in the side panel (heading, body, image URL, buttons, SEO title and description).
4. Toggle Desktop, Tablet, or Phone to check the preview. Press Save draft. Owners and admins press Publish site when it is ready. Staff can save drafts but cannot publish.
5. Copy guest link (or Open guest site). The public URL is /c/your-church — a real church homepage with a header, hero, sections, and footer. The nav includes Home, published inside pages, Events, Give (when online giving is on), and Plan a visit. Those same CTAs are in the footer and in Visit CTA / Give CTA blocks.
6. Copy member link for /c/your-church/m. Tabs are Home, Events, Give, People (the directory), and Visit. The page tells members to add it to a phone home screen. The church also has a web-app icon (Add to Home Screen) — it is not an App Store listing.
7. A seeded demo church uses the slug grace-community, so the guest site is /c/grace-community and the member view is /c/grace-community/m when that workspace is published.
8. Open Page setup to add an inside page (About, Ministries). Then choose that page in the builder and drag sections onto it. Check Published on inside pages you want in the public nav.
9. Plan-a-visit and event registrations from the public site land under Form responses.

1. Open Users to see each person’s role.
2. When you invite someone, pick STAFF, TREASURER, or ADMIN. Owner is not in that menu.
3. Everyone with a login can open the church pages. What they can change depends on the role below.

Owner

The person who created the church workspace. Full access: invite and remove people, church settings, books, giving, letters, bulk texts, website publish, backup export, and backup restore. Cannot be invited or removed from Users. There is only one owner.

Admin

Office manager. Same day-to-day power as the owner: invite and remove staff, set a password for someone who cannot get in, church settings, books, giving (including online payout setup), letters, bulk texts, export backups, publish the website, and delete directory records. Cannot restore a backup and cannot remove or replace the owner.

Treasurer

Books and giving. Can record accounts, funds, expenses, deposits, payables, receivables, giving categories, and pledges, and can send statements, letters, and bulk texts. Cannot invite users, change church settings, publish the website, set up online giving payouts, export or restore backups (including the year-end JSON), or delete people.

Staff

Everyday office work: add and edit households, vendors, worship, events, and website drafts. Cannot change the books (accounts, funds, expenses, deposits), record or edit giving, send letters or bulk texts, invite users, change church settings, publish the site, or delete people.

1. Open Users.
2. Enter the person’s Email and choose a Role: STAFF, TREASURER, or ADMIN. See User roles for what each one can do.
3. Press Invite. KingdomLedger emails them a join link. A pending invite also appears with that same /invite/ link if you need to copy it.
4. If the email does not arrive, check spam, then press Resend email on the pending invite. You can also copy the invite link and send it yourself.
5. The teammate opens the link, enters their name, types a password of at least 12 characters twice, and lands on the Dashboard.
6. People already on the church appear in the Members table with their role.
7. If someone cannot get in, an owner or admin can press Set password on that row, type a new 12-character password twice, and leave Email them this temporary password checked so they get the password and sign-in link. Uncheck it only if you will tell them yourself. You cannot set or remove the owner from this page.

1. At the bottom of the sidebar, click Change password.
2. Enter your current password.
3. Enter a new password of at least 12 characters, then type it again in Confirm new password. Use Show if you want to see what you typed.
4. Press Update password. A confirmation appears when it worked.
5. If the current password is wrong, you will see an error. Try again carefully — passwords are case sensitive.

1. KingdomLedger Online (this website) and KingdomLedger Desktop are different products. A cloud gift code (GIFT-) does not activate Desktop. A Desktop gift code (DGIFT-) does not unlock Online billing.
2. Download the app first at kingdomledger.net/download/desktop (Mac or Windows).
3. If someone gave you a Desktop gift code, open kingdomledger.net/signup/desktop — not the regular /signup page.
4. Enter the DGIFT- code, your name, email, a password of at least 12 characters (type it twice), and the church name. Press Create account & activate Desktop.
5. You land on Purchases & licenses. Press Download license and save the .klf file somewhere safe.
6. Install KingdomLedger Desktop on your Mac or PC. In the app, open Settings → License and import the .klf file.
7. If you already have a KingdomLedger login, sign in and open Purchases & licenses (/licenses). Paste the DGIFT- code under Have a Desktop gift code? and press Apply code.
8. Return to Purchases & licenses anytime to download the license file again.
9. To buy Desktop without a code, open kingdomledger.net/purchase/desktop and choose a plan.

1. Open Billing. You will see the church name, plan, status, and trial end date if you are on a trial.
2. Monthly plans: Starter $19.99, Standard $29.99, Plus $59.99. Each checkout is handled by Stripe.
3. Full access: subscribe annually at $199/year for every module. If you already have lifetime access from an earlier purchase or gift, the button reads Already paid in full.
4. If you still have a trial and no subscription yet, monthly checkout includes a 14-day Stripe trial.
5. To update a card or cancel, press Update card or cancel. That opens the Stripe customer portal.
6. To redeem an Online gift code later, paste a GIFT- code in the gift code box on Billing and submit. The church becomes LIFETIME and ACTIVE. Desktop DGIFT- codes are not entered here — use /signup/desktop or Purchases & licenses.
7. If you were given a discount code (usually SAVE- followed by letters), paste it in Discount code, then subscribe or pay. Stripe applies the percent or dollar off at checkout.
8. After a successful payment, wait for the success message. Status should read ACTIVE.

1. Join at /refer, or sign in and open Referrals.
2. Copy your link and send it to another church.
3. You earn $25 when they subscribe to annual full access.
4. We pay you after the sale. Your dashboard shows what you have earned.

1. Open Backup & Restore.
2. Owners and admins click Download backup JSON. Treasurers and staff cannot export — the page says to ask an owner or admin. Save the file somewhere the treasurer can find — it is named kingdomledger-backup.json.
3. The file includes accounts, funds, vendors, expenses, deposits, budgets, people, notes, households, giving categories and batches, pledges, events, worship, songs, website cards and pages, and form responses. That is the machine-readable copy for the accountant.
4. To bring names back in, the owner chooses that JSON file under Restore and submits. Admins, treasurers, and staff cannot restore.
5. Restore adds vendors, people, funds, and songs. It does not replace the whole church or reload every expense and gift.