Every year the same story repeats in housing societies across India: a treasurer with a diary, a WhatsApp group full of screenshots, and an AGM where someone inevitably asks “where did the money go?”. It doesn’t have to be that way. A transparent Ganesh Chaturthi collection comes down to three habits — record at the point of collection, issue a receipt immediately, and publish a report everyone can read.
1. Set up before the drive opens
Register your society and import your member list organised by wings, towers and shops. Decide your minimum contribution and set a realistic target based on last year. The moment your committee has the app on their phones, you are ready to collect — no spreadsheets, no shared registers.
2. Record every rupee at the mandap
The golden rule: never let cash sit “to be entered later”. When a volunteer collects from a flat, they record it on the spot — pick the unit, confirm the amount, choose cash or UPI. A branded, numbered receipt is issued to the resident on the spot, and the collection total updates live for the whole committee.
3. Track expenses the same way
Log every payment out — the mandap decorator, the idol, the sound system, the mahaprasad — with the bill attached. Your balance-in-hand is always correct because it’s just collections minus expenses, computed for you rather than reconciled at midnight.
4. Publish an audit-ready report
When visarjan is done, publish the report in one tap. Residents see income, itemised expenses, sponsors credited and the balance carried forward. That single act of transparency is what ends the “where did the money go” arguments for good.