TEMPLES
Temple Trustees: Managing Donations, Seva Bookings and Staff
The week before the annual festival, three trustees give three different estimates for flowers, lighting and prasad, and the cash from the hundi is counted by whoever is around. Everyone is devoted. The routines around the devotion, from counting to scheduling to purchasing, are thin.
With trustees and the temple manager we look at how cash is counted and how sevas and festival days are scheduled. We also sort out who does what among priests, staff and volunteers, and what the trust reads monthly. We do not advise on ritual, religious matters, tax or the trust deed.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Hundi and counter cash is counted and recorded differently on different days, so trustees cannot compare one month with another or explain a dip with confidence.
- 02Seva slots are written in a notebook at the counter, and a double booking on a Saturday morning is discovered only when two families arrive.
- 03Festival budgets are set from last year's memory, and spending on decoration, food and crowd arrangements overruns because nobody holds a running total.
- 04Priests, clerks, cleaners and volunteers have no written duties, so any gap on a busy day lands on the manager personally.
- 05Trustees change every few years and take the working knowledge of vendors, rates and customs with them because none of it is written down.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A daily cash sheet for the counter, hundi and online receipts with two named counters and a signed total
- 02The seva register: slot, date, name, amount, receipt number, and who confirmed it
- 03A festival budget built from the previous festival's actual bills, with a running spend column during the week
- 04Vendor list for flowers, oil, grains and lighting with agreed rates and who is authorised to order
- 05Duty chart for priests, clerks, cleaners and volunteers on a normal day and on a festival day
- 06Monthly one-page summary for trustees: receipts, spend, advances and pending bills
- 07Stock of puja material and prasad ingredients, with a minimum level and a person who checks it
- 08Approval limits: what the manager can spend alone and what needs a trustee's signature
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- For the next seven days, record every counter and hundi total on one sheet with two counters' names. Compare the week to the same week last month at the next trustee meeting.
- Take last festival's bills and group them under flowers, lighting, food, sound and cleaning. Hypothetical example: if lighting was ₹60,000 last year, write that as the starting line and ask vendors to quote against it.
- Write a one-page duty list for a festival day: who opens, who handles the queue, who holds cash, who closes. Share it with the staff and volunteers before the next occasion.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A daily cash and receipt sheet with counting and sign-off steps for counter and hundi
- A seva booking register format and a calendar view that prevents double slots
- A festival planning sheet with budget heads, vendors, duty roster and a day-by-day spend log
- A trustee summary template for the monthly meeting, one page, with pending items listed
Not the right fit when: Wait if the trust is in a dispute over management, property or its governing deed. A lawyer and the relevant authority come first.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
