Features
Product
Feature tour Add-on
From Sunday's contribution to the year-end statement.
Scan a whole stack of checks and let AI read them. Track income and expenses by category, see where the budget stands every week, and email each giver their statement when the year is over.
New Batch check scanning is hereBatch check scanning New
Feed the checks through the scanner and they upload as one batch. AI reads each one, and the batch waits for your team to review.
01Scan
Feed the stack through an Epson check scanner. Lightpost Connect uploads the front and back of every check.
02Review
AI reads each check and suggests who gave it. Your team confirms every one, starting with those that need a second look.
03Commit
Choose the deposit date, and every approved check becomes a contribution, ready for your reports and statements.
AI check reading
Typing in every check is the slow part of counting the contribution. Now you scan the stack once, and the reading happens on its own while the page keeps you posted.
Each check goes to the AI with its storage option turned off, and it is not used to train AI models. What it reads comes back only to your Lightpost account. More on check security.
Check scanning comes with Financial Management, an add-on. See pricing.
Review and commit
AI does the reading, but your team makes every call. Each check is approved or excluded before anything becomes a contribution.
What gets flagged
Later, open any contribution from a batch and its scanned check and deposit date are right there.
One at a time
Batch scanning is an addition, not a replacement. Use a simple check reader for the odd midweek gift, or for every gift if that suits your church.
| Compare | Batch scanning | Check reader |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | The whole stack from Sunday | A few checks at a time |
| Equipment | Epson check scanner and Lightpost Connect | USB check reader |
| The amount | Read by AI | Typed in, starting from their last gift |
| Who gave | Suggested from the bank account or the name on the check | Found from the bank account |
| Check image | Kept with the contribution | Not captured |
| Posting | All at once, on one deposit date | One at a time |
Both end the same way: a contribution, linked to the right person, in the right category.
Contributions & expenses
Record what came in and what went out, by category, whether it arrived through a scanner, a spreadsheet or online giving.
Categories & budgets
Set up the categories your church already uses, give each one a number to aim for, and see where it stands at a glance.
Reports New
Three reports, built right into your admin. Read them on screen, switch the week or the year, and download a PDF for the meeting.
How did Sunday go? Each week is compared with the week before and with the four-week average.
Are we on pace? See the whole year against your goals and budgets, category by category.
All twelve months side by side for every category, with income, expenses, net and totals, so seasonal swings are easy to see.
Contribution statements
Finalize the year, add a note from the church, and every giver gets their own statement as a PDF by email.
Statements carry your church's Tax ID, if you add it, and a note about goods or services.
Budget visibility
Connect someone to a category, and they can check its budget and what has been used so far, without asking the treasurer.
Permissions
Giving is private. Roles let you decide who works with the money and who can see what each family gives.
Check security
A check shows a family's name, address and bank details, so scanned checks get their own protections. See how we protect everything else on our security page.
Account numbers are never saved as text. We keep a one-way fingerprint to recognize the account, and the last four digits. Only the check image shows the full number.
Check images live in their own private storage, and each link to one expires within minutes.
Only people who can review checks, or edit that contribution, can open a check image.
Images are deleted 90 days after a batch is discarded, a check is excluded, or its contribution is deleted.
Only the front image is sent, with storage turned off, and it is not used to train AI models. The AI is told never to return bank numbers, and anything that looks like one is thrown out.
Every check records who reviewed it, and every batch records who committed it and when.
What you need
You can always type contributions in by hand. A scanner or a reader just saves the typing.
Lightpost Connect scans with the Epson TM-S1000II-NW.
Link a computer to your account with a code, then allow it to scan checks.
It types the numbers from a check right into the browser. Ask us which readers work.
Reviewing checks, reports, budgets and statements all happen in your Lightpost admin.
Questions
Don't see yours? Ask us, or read the documentation.
Financial Management is an add-on you can turn on for your church, and check scanning comes with it. The pricing page lists the current monthly price.
No. You can type contributions in by hand or import them from a spreadsheet. A USB check reader helps with a few checks at a time, and an Epson check scanner handles the whole stack.
No. Every scanned check waits for a person to approve or exclude it, and nothing becomes a contribution until someone commits the batch.
You correct the amount before approving it. A check is flagged when the amount looks uncertain or the box and the written line disagree. If it can't be read at all, you type the amount in from the image.
Not right now. Reading checks is free while check scanning is in beta.
No. You still take the checks to the bank. Lightpost records them, and the deposit date you choose lines the contributions up with your bank statement.
Not as text. We keep a one-way fingerprint to recognize the account, and the last four digits for you to see. A check image does show what is printed on the check, so images stay in private storage where only people who can review checks or edit that contribution can open them.
To read a check, the image of its front goes to our AI provider with its storage option turned off, and it is not used to train AI models. Like any request to the provider, it can sit in their abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days before it is deleted. What the AI reads comes back only to your Lightpost account. Our subprocessors page lists the companies we work with.
Yes. Import contributions and expenses from a CSV file. You map the columns and match categories and people, and your draft is saved along the way.
It tracks income and expenses by category, with budgets and reports. It isn't double-entry accounting, and it doesn't connect to your bank.
An add-on for any plan
Financial Management works with your directory, so gifts are tied to the right people from day one. Add it to any Lightpost plan.