Gathering - Multi-Faith Congregation App for Events, Rotas, Rooms and Giving
Congregation Platform for Four Faiths Sharing One Building
Designed and built a clickable leaders' console for a Birmingham interfaith charity whose church, mosque, gurdwara and synagogue share one community centre: a member directory with privacy built in, role-based member records, one room calendar for the whole building and Gift Aid claims prepared for HMRC Charities Online - with each congregation's member data walled off from the others.
Most of our work is under NDA. Per agreement, we can share the work but not the company details - all names and identifying information shown here have been changed.
Impact
Dashboard, member directory, member detail with 7 tabs, the centre's room bookings and Gift Aid with its claim batch panel, from approving a join request to recording an HMRC payment.
Switch between congregation admin, vicar, treasurer, safeguarding lead and centre manager: navigation, dashboard cards, member tabs, contact details and booking detail change with each role.
Each congregation sees its own members and giving only. Other congregations' room bookings show as Booked, and the centre manager sees bookings and aggregate member counts, never names.
22 members, 4 join requests and 3 former members, plus 6 rooms, 35 room bookings including 6 requests, 33 donations, 14 Gift Aid declarations and 5 claim batches.
The Problem
Four congregations share the Rowanfold Community Centre, and each ran its own mix of WhatsApp groups, paper rotas, spreadsheets and a donations tin. Room clashes were settled on a whiteboard in the office, and two festivals once ended up booked into the main hall on the same evening. Treasurers rebuilt Gift Aid claims by hand, nobody could say quickly which volunteers working with children had a current DBS check, and member lists sat on personal laptops.
Our Solution
Gathering gives each congregation one console for members, events, volunteers, giving, Gift Aid and safeguarding, and gives the Trust one calendar for the whole building. Every screen is scoped to one congregation and filtered by role, so a treasurer, a vicar and a safeguarding lead each see what their job needs and nothing more.
The Challenge: One Building, Four Congregations, Sensitive Data
Membership of a congregation reveals a person's religion, and the four congregations at Rowanfold are separate organisations with their own members, leaders, funds and charity status. The product has to share a building without sharing people.
Religion Is Special Category Data
Under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, membership, attendance and giving to a named place of worship generally reveal religious belief. The design rests on the Article 9 condition for not-for-profit bodies with a religious aim, which generally does not cover disclosure outside the body without consent - so no congregation may see another's members.
A Shared Building With Hard Clashes
Six rooms are booked by four congregations, outside hirers and the centre itself. Clashes have to count setup and clear-down time, room rules such as 48 hours' notice and a named food safety lead for the kitchen (client policy), and hire fees that are not donations.
Gift Aid Rebuilt by Hand
Gift Aid needs a valid declaration and a gift rather than a payment: tickets, room hire and membership fees generally do not qualify. Declarations missing a house number or postcode, cancelled declarations and payments for events all have to be caught before a claim goes to HMRC Charities Online.
Safeguarding Without Gaps
Volunteers on children's rotas are generally eligible for an enhanced DBS check with a barred list check, and DBS certificates have no legal expiry. Rowanfold's own policy is a recheck every 3 years, and a volunteer with no record on file must surface before their next slot.
Our Approach: From Charity and Data Rules to a Clickable Console
Spec and Rules Research
Mapped 10 user roles from member to Trust admin, 48 screens across the member app, leaders' console and public pages, and a data model where almost every record carries a congregation and only rooms, bookings and hirers belong to the centre. Wrote down the rules the design follows: UK GDPR special category data, PECR marketing consent, Charity Commission status, HMRC Gift Aid, DBS checks and WCAG 2.2 AA, with Rowanfold's client policies marked as such.
Clickable Demo on a Production UI Kit
Built 5 key screens of the leaders' console on a production dashboard kit, scoped to St Columba's Church: the dashboard with KPIs, this week's events against capacity and a needs-attention list by role, the directory with join requests, member detail with pastoral notes and safeguarding tabs, the room calendar with a clash-checked requests queue, and Gift Aid from declarations to a paid claim. A demo account switcher shows 5 roles. All actions run on local state.
What a Production Build Adds
The member app and public pages, row-level security that enforces the congregation walls in the database, a second factor for every staff login, and an append-only audit log. Integrations with Stripe Connect and GoCardless per congregation, Postmark, Twilio and push notifications, the Charities Online export, DBS Update Service, Xero, the Charity Commission register and calendar feeds - plus review of the Gift Aid rules and each congregation's lawful basis against current HMRC and ICO guidance.
Why It Works: Privacy by Congregation and by Role
The Directory Reminds Staff What It Holds
A banner says the list reveals members' religion. Phone and email show only where the member allows it or the viewer is an admin, and every export needs a reason and is written to the audit log.
Each Role Sees Its Own Slice
Giving shows to the treasurer, vicar and admin, pastoral notes to the vicar and anyone a note is shared with, and the full safeguarding record to the safeguarding lead. Gifts over £500 appear in the activity feed for the treasurer and vicar only (client policy).
One Calendar, Clashes Shown Before Approval
Rooms are columns and bookings are coloured by congregation, hirer or centre block, with setup and clear-down shaded. The centre manager's queue flags clashes and rule breaches, such as two congregations wanting the main hall on the same Saturday evening, and a decline needs a reason, with another room or time offered if there is one.
Gift Aid That Quotes No Rates
Gathering marks eligible donations, lists excluded ones with the reason and exports the claim schedule. A banner tells the officer to check eligibility, rates and limits against current HMRC guidance, and the amount HMRC actually pays is entered by hand.
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
Contact Us
Locations
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
© 2026 - Copyright. All Rights reserved Oceanlab