Funds can be created and managed from the Funds page of the system. Specific fund settings can be configured, such as administrative fees, fund statement formats, and distributions. Funds can be searched by name or ID. All funds must be added to a fund group.
Who: Finance and accounting teams, fund administrators, and development staff who create, configure, and manage funds in CommunitySuite.
Use Funds to:
- Create and manage fund records for endowments, donor-advised funds, scholarships, or other giving vehicles.
- Configure administrative fees, spending policies, and distribution types.
- Track principal and spendable balances, including resetting or adjusting unspent balances at the end of a fiscal year.
- Add grant and voucher approvers, designate primary fund advisors, and customize fund content.
- Generate and distribute fund statements to fund advisors, manually or in bulk.
- Run fund reports and dashboards to review transactions, balances, and lifetime fund activity.
Create, Customize, and Process Funds
Numerous fund setup options are available, and the selections made are unique per fund. Existing funds can be copied to make a new one. Funds can be edited, closed, or opened in bulk or one at a time. A fund can be closed at any time providing the fund has a zero balance. Funds can contain a subfund that is set on a fund record and establishes a connection to a parent fund for reporting and fund statement purposes.
Resources:
- Create, Edit, and Copy a Fund
- Fund Fields
- Fund Restrictions
- Bulk Edit Funds
- Create Fund Groups, SubGroups, Divisions, and Segments
- Import Funds
- Accept and Manage Online Fund Requests
Spendable Balance
If a fund is endowed, its principal and spendable balance can be tracked by checking the Endowed and Track Spendable boxes on a fund record. If a fund's spendable balance is not spent, it will remain in the spendable balance and will roll over to the next fiscal year. The spendable balance can be reset each year before processing the new distribution.
Resources:
Fund Settings
Voucher and grant approvers can be added to funds so that the voucher or grant can be approved before posting occurs. Adding a primary fund advisor to a fund allows for additional reporting fields to be available in the custom financial reporting area. Content for funds allows for the addition of custom text and messages to specific fields.
Resources:
- Add Grant Approvers to a Fund
- Add Voucher Approvers to a Fund
- Create and Edit Fund Beneficiaries
- Designate a Primary Fund Advisor
- Funds Content
Fund Fees and Admin Fees
Fund Fee Types are a combination of fee types and apply fees, and they determine how fees will be assessed. Fund Fee Types define how admin fees are charged to specific funds. Admin Fees are used to configure, manage, and process the various fees being charged to manage a fund.
Resource:
Distribution Types
Distribution types, sometimes known as spending policies, define how the spendable balance of an endowed or quasi-endowed fund is calculated. When a distribution interval is applied on funds, it does not limit when distributions can be calculated. However, it does limit when they can be posted.
Resources:
Fund Reporting
A fund summary report detailing transactions and activity can be found in Default Reports. The fund history page shows lifetime donation, grant, and scholarship activity of the fund. The Fund Balance report shows the total, the principal, and the spendable balance for specified funds. The Funds Dashboard provides valuable details about fund activity.
Resources:
Fund Statements
Fund statements can be created and generated to fund advisors in bulk. They can also be generated manually. Templates for fund statements are available.
Resources:
- Create and Edit Fund Statement Format
- Create and Edit Statement Accounts
- Run and Distribute Fund Statement
- Manual Fund Statements