1. Create your society
Open Burial Desk on Android or in your browser and choose Start an organization, then Burial Society, or go straight to create your society. There are three short steps:
- Your society: its name, an optional description, and its currency.
- Contributions: the monthly contribution and the grace period in days. You can change these later.
- Your login: your full name, South African ID number, phone number, email address and a password.
Confirm your email address with the six-digit code we send, and accept the platform terms. Your society is created straight away, with you as its owner, and your admin dashboard opens. There is no approval step, and your society starts on a free trial.
2. Set your rules
In Settings, set the rules the rest of the system follows:
- the monthly contribution and the day of the month it is due;
- the waiting period before a claim can be made;
- what the society pays out for a member, a spouse and other beneficiaries;
- how many beneficiaries each member may name;
- when a member falls out of good standing: missed meetings, missed months, and how much they may owe.
Burial Desk applies these rules every night, so take a moment to get them right before your members join.
3. Bring in your members
There are three ways, and you can use all of them:
- Join codes. Under Invite Codes, create a code and share it however you like: WhatsApp, SMS or a notice at your meeting. A code is eight characters, lasts seven days and works for up to ten people. Members enter it when they create their account and join straight away.
- Add a member yourself. Someone new gets an account with a one-time password you pass on to them. Someone who already uses Burial Desk is sent a code to accept instead.
- Import your list. Bring your existing member list across from a spreadsheet; see moving your records.
Members who are already behind can be given an opening balance, with a reason, so what they owe is right from the start.
4. Appoint your office-bearers
Give your treasurer and secretary their roles from each person's member record. The treasurer looks after payments and reports; the secretary looks after members, meetings and documents. Under Role Management you can change what each role may do.
5. Run your first month
- Contributions: the treasurer records payments as they come in. Members who paid by EFT or cash tap I've paid and attach a photo of their slip, and the treasurer confirms each one. If your society connects its own PayFast account, members can also pay by card or instant EFT in the app.
- Meetings: schedule the meeting and name its host. At the door, the host scans each member's membership-card QR code, or members check in with the meeting's code. Hosts can record fines, and the minutes are kept with the meeting.
- Announcements: an administrator posts a notice, and every member sees it in the app.
6. Beneficiaries and claims
Members name the people their cover pays for, and an administrator or secretary approves each one. When someone dies, the claim is lodged in the app and the death certificate attached; your waiting period and debt rules are checked when it is filed.
Ready to start?
Need a hand? Ask for an onboarding call, or message us on WhatsApp.