Integrating Xero South Africa and Loom: A Guide for South African Non-profit & NGO Businesses
South African Tool
Xero South Africa
Modern cloud accounting software popular with South African accountants and SMEs.
Commission for every new South African business referred
Global Tool
Loom
Async video messaging tool for recording and sharing screen recordings, walkthroughs, and team updates.
Why this matters in South Africa
South African non-profits manage grant reporting, donor communication, programme delivery, and compliance reporting to the DSD simultaneously — often with a small team and limited systems budget. The average NPO spends 30% of admin time on manual grant reporting that could be automated.
Compliance note: NPOs must be registered with the Department of Social Development. PBO status for tax exemption requires SARS registration under Section 18A. Organisations receiving foreign funding must comply with the NPO Act and applicable SARB exchange control regulations.
South African NPOs often struggle to bridge the gap between complex financial data in Xero and the narrative reporting required by international donors and the Department of Social Development. While there is no native API-driven integration between Xero and Loom, creating a manual workflow allows your team to provide visual context to financial transactions, significantly reducing the back-and-forth communication during grant audits. By recording a brief Loom walkthrough of a specific project’s ZAR expenditure in Xero, you can provide donors with a clear, human-led explanation of how funds were allocated, ensuring compliance with Section 18A reporting requirements. This approach transforms static financial statements into transparent, accessible updates, saving your team hours of manual email drafting while maintaining the high level of accountability expected by local regulators and foreign funding bodies.
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How to add Xero South Africa to Loom
- 1
1. Identify the specific grant-funded project in Xero and filter your transactions by the relevant tracking category to isolate the ZAR expenditure for the reporting period. Ensure all invoices and receipts are correctly uploaded to the Xero files library to maintain a clean audit trail for SARS compliance.
- 2
Open your Loom desktop application and prepare to record your screen, ensuring that you are logged into your secure, POPIA-compliant workspace. Set your recording to capture only the browser window containing your Xero dashboard to avoid exposing sensitive, unrelated organisational data.
- 3
Navigate through the Xero report, using the cursor to highlight specific line items that correspond to your grant budget milestones. Verbally explain the nature of these expenses, linking them directly to the programmatic objectives outlined in your DSD-approved project plan.
- 4
Conclude the recording by summarising how these figures align with your current Section 18A tax-exempt status and any specific exchange control regulations relevant to your foreign funding. Stop the recording and allow the Loom cloud platform to process the video, ensuring the privacy settings are restricted to specific donor email addresses.
- 5
Copy the unique, secure URL generated by Loom and store it in a dedicated, internal spreadsheet or project management tool that tracks your grant reporting progress. Do not attempt to force this URL into Xero’s limited reference fields, as this is not a standard accounting practice and may compromise your audit trail integrity.
- 6
Create a summary document for your donor report that includes the financial data exported from Xero alongside the corresponding Loom link. This provides the donor with a professional, multimedia package that explains the "why" behind the numbers without cluttering your accounting software.
- 7
Conduct a periodic review of these video links to ensure they remain active and that the access permissions are still restricted to authorised stakeholders. This manual oversight ensures that your organisation maintains strict control over who views your financial narratives, supporting your internal POPIA data protection policies.
- 8
Archive the summary document and the associated video link in your secure cloud storage once the grant report has been submitted and approved. This creates a permanent, searchable record of your financial transparency that can be easily retrieved during your annual financial audit.
Free calculator
Are you still doing admin manually?
Calculate what it's costing your business in rands
Frequently asked questions
Is Xero South Africa compatible with Loom?
Yes. Xero South Africa and Loom can be connected via their APIs or through automation tools like Zapier. This guide covers the exact process for South African non-profit & ngo businesses.
How long does the setup take?
Most businesses complete the initial setup in 1–3 hours. If you already have active accounts on both platforms, you can have a basic automation running in under an hour.
Do I need a developer?
Not for basic Zapier-based integrations. Custom API integrations will need development support. Melamu Tech Ventures builds these — get in touch if you need a tailored solution.