Blog & guides

Guides for festival committees.

Practical playbooks and templates from committees who’ve run transparent festivals on Om Kosh.

Featured · Feature

How to compare your caterer’s per-plate rate with last year

Write each festival day’s dish, rate per plate and plates. Next year, every dish shows what it cost last time, from any vendor, and by how much the rate has gone up.

8 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Feature
How to record cash withdrawn from the bank by self cheque for festival expenses
A committee member draws cash from the society’s bank with a self cheque to pay for flowers, prasad and decoration. Here is how to record it so the books and the bank statement agree.
8 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Feature
How to track which volunteer is holding your festival’s cash
Volunteers collect cash door to door and hand it over days later. Om Kosh credits each collector’s cash to their own account, one line per day, so the treasurer always knows who is holding how much.
29 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Feature
How to collect festival contributions online (without a payment gateway)
Email members a secure pay link, let them scan a UPI QR and record their own payment, then verify it against your bank.
12 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
How-to
How to reconcile UPI payments against your bank statement
Upload your bank statement and let Om Kosh match every online payment on UTR and amount, verifying the real ones, flagging the rest.
20 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
How-to
How to send a payment link to society members for contributions
Email a secure one-time link to everyone who hasn’t paid, they see their amount, pay by UPI and record it themselves.
24 Aug 2026 · 5 min read
Guide
Managing committee cash advances during a festival
Give a volunteer ₹10,000 to spend, track every bill against it, and settle the balance cleanly, no “who has the cash?” at the AGM.
8 Jul 2026 · 6 min read
Feature
Handing cash between committee members, with an audit trail
When one volunteer passes collected cash to the treasurer, record the hand-off so the money is never “lost between hands”.
15 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Guide
Tracking mandal assets and inventory year to year
Chairs, sound systems, lights, idols, mandap frames, keep a register of what you own, who has it, and what needs repair.
28 Jun 2026 · 6 min read
Guide
A festival planning checklist for society committees
From permissions to visarjan, a pre-event checklist so nothing falls through the cracks during Ganpati or Navratri.
3 Jul 2026 · 7 min read
How-to
How to track who hasn’t paid the festival contribution
See defaulters at a glance, understand who pays late every year, and follow up without awkward door-knocking.
18 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Explainer
Audit-ready balance sheets for festival trusts and societies
What a mandal’s CA needs at year end, Balance Sheet, Income & Expenditure, Receipts & Payments, and how Om Kosh produces them.
6 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Guide
Earning and tracking banner advertisement income for a mandap
Local shops will pay to hang a banner at your pandal, here’s how to price it, book it, and record it cleanly.
10 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
How-to
How to import your society member list from Excel
Already have a flat list in a spreadsheet? Bulk-import it into Om Kosh in minutes instead of typing 114 flats.
22 Jun 2026 · 4 min read
Feature
Running multiple mandals or festivals from one account
Manage several societies or a year of festivals under one login, with separate books for each and a combined view for you.
30 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Comparison
The best software for Ganpati mandal vargani collection in 2026
Excel, Google Forms or a dedicated app, an honest look at how mandals collect vargani, and where each approach fits.
14 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Comparison
Festival collection: Excel and WhatsApp vs a dedicated app
Where the spreadsheet-and-group-chat method breaks down, and when it’s worth moving to a purpose-built app.
26 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Explainer
How much should a society collect for Ganpati per flat?
There’s no fixed number, here’s how to work out a fair per-flat contribution from your actual festival budget.
5 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Explainer
80G donation receipts for festival and trust collections
What an 80G receipt is, when your mandal can issue one, and how Om Kosh prints numbered receipts with PAN and signatures.
2 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Guide
How to run a transparent Ganesh Chaturthi collection
A step-by-step playbook for committees to collect, record and report festival funds without the chaos.
18 Jun 2026 · 6 min read
Comparison
Yearly vs per-festival contributions: which fits your society?
The pros and cons of each collection model, and how to decide what works for your residents.
2 Jun 2026 · 5 min read
Template
Free festival budget & expense template for societies
Download a ready-made budget sheet, or skip the spreadsheet entirely with Om Kosh.
21 May 2026 · 4 min read
Playbook
Closing the pending tail: getting the last 20% of units to pay
The long tail of non-payers is where committees lose the most money. Here’s how to close it kindly.
9 May 2026 · 5 min read
Guide
Donation receipt format for Ganpati mandals: what to include
What a valid festival donation receipt must show, how to number them without gaps, and why a duplicate register saves you at audit time.
28 Apr 2026 · 6 min read
Playbook
Navratri and Garba: collecting across nine nights without losing track
Nine nights, several income streams and a lot of cash. A practical way to keep Navratri collections, passes and sponsorships straight.
15 Apr 2026 · 6 min read
Guide
Durga Puja committees: budgeting the pandal without surprises
Chanda collection, pandal and idol costs, priest and bhog, vendor advances, how to plan a Durga Puja budget that survives contact with reality.
2 Apr 2026 · 7 min read
Guide
Diwali in housing societies: one collection, many events
Rangoli, lighting, fireworks, sweets and a cultural night, how to fund a multi-event Diwali without collecting five separate times.
20 Mar 2026 · 5 min read
Checklist
7 cash-handling mistakes festival committees make
The specific habits that turn a well-run festival into an ugly AGM, and the small changes that prevent each one.
8 Mar 2026 · 6 min read
Guide
Vendor advances: the biggest leak in a festival budget
Booking amounts, part payments and final bills, how to track what you owe, what you paid, and what is still outstanding.
24 Feb 2026 · 5 min read
Playbook
Walking into your AGM with audit-ready festival accounts
What members and auditors actually ask for, and how to have all of it ready without a fortnight of reconstruction.
10 Feb 2026 · 6 min read
Guide
Festival sponsorships: pricing, crediting and receipts
How to structure sponsorship items, what to promise, and how to credit sponsors so they come back next year.
27 Jan 2026 · 5 min read
Guide
Recording donations from visitors, shops and well-wishers
Not every rupee comes from a member. How to capture outside donations properly so they show up in your accounts and not in a pocket.
13 Jan 2026 · 5 min read
Guide
Who should have access to festival money? A roles guide
Ten volunteers should be able to collect. Ten volunteers should not be able to edit the accounts. How to divide access sensibly.
30 Dec 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Dahi Handi: managing pathak payments, prizes and permissions
Prize money, govinda pathak bookings, insurance and permits, the money side of running a Dahi Handi safely.
16 Dec 2025 · 5 min read
Template
The expense categories every festival committee should track
A ready-made category list for Indian festival accounts, and why consistent categories are what make year-on-year comparison possible.
2 Dec 2025 · 4 min read
Comparison
Register, spreadsheet or app: how should your society collect?
An honest comparison of the three ways committees run festival collections, including where each one actually breaks.
18 Nov 2025 · 6 min read
Guide
Holi in housing societies: budgeting colours, water and safety
Rain dance, organic colours, water rationing and a DJ, how to fund a society Holi that nobody regrets the next morning.
4 Nov 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Eco-friendly Ganpati: what it actually costs and how to fund it
Shadu clay idols, natural colours and artificial immersion tanks, the real cost difference, and how to explain it to your members.
21 Oct 2025 · 6 min read
Checklist
Visarjan day: the costs committees always forget
The last day of Ganpati is where budgets break. The transport, the dhol, the escort and the tips nobody planned for.
7 Oct 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Onam committees: funding the pookalam, sadya and the day itself
Ten days, a flower budget that compounds daily and a sadya for hundreds, how Onam committees keep the accounts straight.
23 Sep 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Pongal in apartments: four days, one budget
Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal, how apartment associations fund a four-day festival cleanly.
9 Sep 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Chhath Puja: budgeting ghat arrangements and community support
Ghat cleaning, lighting, changing rooms and safety, the costs of supporting Chhath vratis properly, and how to share them.
26 Aug 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Gudi Padwa, Ugadi and Baisakhi: small festivals, same discipline
Regional new year festivals are modest in budget and huge in goodwill. Why the small ones still deserve real records.
12 Aug 2025 · 4 min read
Guide
First-time festival treasurer? Start here
You said yes at the meeting and now you are responsible for several lakh rupees. A calm, practical starting point.
29 Jul 2025 · 7 min read
Template
How to write a festival collection notice residents respond to
The circular that gets paid, and the one that gets ignored, with a template you can copy for your next drive.
15 Jul 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
How to decide your festival minimum contribution
Work backwards from the budget, not forwards from last year’s number, and what to do about flats that cannot pay it.
1 Jul 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Building a member register your collection drive can actually use
Unit numbering, wings, owners versus tenants, shops, get the register right and the drive runs itself.
17 Jun 2025 · 5 min read
Playbook
Organising volunteers for a collection drive
Who covers which wing, who holds the cash, and how to make sure the same flat is not asked three times.
3 Jun 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Using a UPI QR for society collections: what works and what doesn’t
A QR at the mandap removes the cash problem and creates a matching problem. How to run UPI collections without losing track.
20 May 2025 · 5 min read
Playbook
The five-minute end-of-day cash close
The single habit that separates committees who reconcile in minutes from those who reconcile in March.
6 May 2025 · 4 min read
Checklist
The permissions and paperwork checklist for a public festival
What to arrange, who to ask, and when, so the paperwork is not what stops your festival.
22 Apr 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Planning mahaprasad: quantities, cost per plate and waste
The most over-ordered line in every festival budget. How to get the headcount, the quantity and the cost honest.
8 Apr 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
You ended with a surplus. Now what?
Leftover festival funds are a governance question, not an accounting one. How committees handle it without a fight.
25 Mar 2025 · 5 min read
Playbook
How to publish festival accounts residents will actually read
A total nobody reads is not transparency. What to include, what to lead with, and when to send it.
11 Mar 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Handing over a festival committee without losing everything
Every year the records restart from zero because they lived in one person’s phone. How to hand over properly.
25 Feb 2025 · 5 min read
Guide
Why last year’s festival is your best planning tool
Multi-year records turn budgeting from guesswork into arithmetic, and turn vendor negotiations decisively in your favour.
11 Feb 2025 · 4 min read

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