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Accept Achisomoch payments online
Members and donors pay straight from their AAC account, for donations, membership, sponsorship, honours and seats, on your donate page or in the member portal. No vouchers in the post, nothing to key in afterwards, and Gift Aid handled correctly.
The problem
Most systems treat an AAC voucher as cash
If your community gives through Achisomoch, and in most UK frum kehillos a large share of giving does, then the software you use almost certainly has no idea what that is. The usual arrangement is that the voucher arrives, someone in the office records it by hand as a manual payment, and the donor gets no confirmation until somebody remembers to send one.
That is workable for a handful of vouchers a month. At Purim and Yom Tov it is not, and it is precisely when the office has least capacity that the volume arrives.
Worse, a manual entry loses the thing that makes the record useful: the payment is not attached to the invoice it settles, so the member still shows as owing, the reminder still goes out, and somebody has to apologise.
How it works
The donor never leaves your page
- 1. The donor chooses Achisomoch on your donate page, the member portal, or a payment link from an invoice.
- 2. They enter their AAC account number.
- 3. The payment is authorised against your Achisomoch campaign, and the money is yours. It never passes through Kehilla.
- 4. The invoice is marked paid, the receipt sends itself, and the donor is recorded against your donor list like any other payment.
Recurring membership and donation subscriptions work the same way, so a member on an AAC standing arrangement is handled by the system rather than by somebody's memory.
What it covers
What can be paid with Achisomoch
Donations
One-off gifts and appeal contributions, from the donate page or the member portal.
Membership
Annual and monthly membership subscriptions, including recurring ones.
Sponsorship
Kiddush, seudah shlishit and shiur sponsorship.
Honours and aliyot
An aliyah is given for a gift to the shul, so honours are always payable this way whatever your shul calls the category.
Seats
High Holiday and reserved seat charges.
Payments for goods and services (a dinner ticket, hall hire, a raffle) are not charitable donations, so they are not payable from an AAC account. Kehilla applies that rule per income category automatically, so the Achisomoch option simply does not appear where it would not be allowed. Nobody has to remember the rule.
The detail that matters
Gift Aid, and the double claim you must not make
When a donor puts money into their Achisomoch account, AAC claims the Gift Aid on it at that point. That is how the account grows by 25p in the pound before the donor has given anything away. By the time the donation reaches your shul, the Gift Aid on that money has already been reclaimed.
So claiming Gift Aid again on an Achisomoch donation is a duplicate claim to HMRC. It is an easy mistake to make with a system that treats AAC as just another payment method and leaves the Gift Aid box ticked.
Kehilla will not let it happen. Gift Aid applies only to card and bank payments, and the Achisomoch option is disabled the moment a donor ticks the Gift Aid box. The rule is in the software rather than in the treasurer's head.
For everything else on the subject, see the Gift Aid guide for treasurers.
Setting up
What you need
- • Your own Achisomoch campaign, with its campaign ID and secret. You give these to us once and they are stored encrypted.
- • Your campaign's notification URL registered with AAC on their side, so payments report back to your records automatically.
- • Separate per-event approval from AAC if you want to take event payments this way.
We do this part with you, and it is usually a short conversation and one email to AAC.
Questions
Common questions
- Can my shul accept Achisomoch payments online?
- Yes. With Kehilla, members and donors pay from their Achisomoch account directly on your donate page or in the member portal. They enter their AAC account number and the payment is authorised against your campaign. There is no voucher to post and nothing for the office to key in afterwards.
- What is Achisomoch?
- Achisomoch Aid Company (AAC) is a UK registered charity that runs charity accounts widely used in the Orthodox Jewish community. A donor deposits money into their AAC account, AAC claims the Gift Aid on that deposit, and the donor then gives to charities from the account by voucher, charity cheque or online. AAC keeps the donor's giving records for them and donates its profits to UK Jewish educational institutions.
- Can we claim Gift Aid on an Achisomoch donation?
- No, and this is the mistake to avoid. Achisomoch has already claimed the Gift Aid when the donor funded their AAC account, so claiming it again on the donation would be a duplicate claim to HMRC. Kehilla prevents this: Gift Aid is only ever applied to card and bank payments, and the Achisomoch option is disabled the moment a donor ticks Gift Aid. You cannot make the mistake by accident.
- What can be paid for with Achisomoch?
- Donations, membership subscriptions, sponsorship, honours and aliyot, and seat charges. Payments for goods and services (dinner tickets, hall hire, a raffle) are not charitable donations and are not payable from an AAC account. Kehilla applies this rule automatically per income category, so the Achisomoch option only appears where it is allowed.
- How long does the money take to arrive?
- AAC processes online campaign donations far faster than posted vouchers, which are typically handled within about 48 hours of receipt and can take longer at busy times such as Purim. Because the payment is authorised against your campaign at the moment the donor gives, your records are updated immediately regardless of when the funds settle.
- What do we need to set it up?
- An Achisomoch campaign of your own, and its campaign ID and secret. You give those to Kehilla once, they are stored encrypted, and AAC needs your campaign's notification URL on their side so payments report back automatically. Event payments require separate per-event approval from AAC.
- Does the money come to us or to Kehilla?
- Directly to you. Payments are authorised against your own Achisomoch campaign, exactly as Stripe payments settle to your own Stripe account. Kehilla never holds your money.
Built for how your community actually gives
Achisomoch alongside card and bank payments, Gift Aid, membership and donor records, in one system, whether you are a shul or a Jewish charity.
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