Fund Fee Types define how your organization charges admin fees to specific funds. Fund Fee Types have two components, consisting of the Fee Type and the Apply Fee. Different combinations of the two can be configured to fit your organization's needs and funds.
Who: Finance or accounting teams who configure and manage admin fee structures in CommunitySuite.
How to use Fund Fee Types:
Use Fund Fee Types to:
- Charge funds a flat amount or a percentage of asset balances on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.
- Apply per each fees to fund types such as fiscal sponsorship, agency, and affiliate funds based on transaction volume.
- Configure tiered percent range fees for endowed funds with large asset balances.
Fee Types
A fee type defines how a fund will be charged. In most settings, the fees are calculated based on a fund’s asset balances. Accounts can be excluded from admin fees to prevent the system from including specific asset accounts, such as receivables, when calculating the admin fees. If Average per Quarter is selected on the admin fee type, the fees are based on a fund’s bank and investment balances. In this case, accounts cannot be excluded.
Flat Fee - Charges a flat amount at a defined interval or on a per each basis.
Percent - Charges a percentage of a fund's asset balance at a defined interval or on a per each basis.
Percent Range - Uses tiers, which can also be laddered, to charge a percentage of a fund's asset balance. These are often used on endowed funds with large asset balances to keep their admin fee costs to a reasonable level.
Apply Fees
The Apply Fee options define when or how often a fund will be charged.
Interval Options
Interval options can be thought of as "fund asset balance fees" and are used to charge a fund on a monthly, yearly, or other defined basis. Interval admin fees must be processed at the same interval defined in the relevant admin fee type. These fees do not post until your organization processes the admin fee transaction. The calculate date should be set to the last date of a given interval period.
Per Each Options
Per each options are based on volume and apply a fee to each donation, grant, or other transaction posted by your organization. These are often applied to fund types such as fiscal sponsorship, agency, and affiliate. Per each admin fees post automatically when the transaction is posted, using the same date as the transaction. Per each options only apply to new transactions and do not apply retroactively. Note that the minimum yearly fee does not take per each options into consideration.
Yearly Minimum, Yearly Maximum, and Lifetime Maximum
The yearly minimum, yearly maximum, and lifetime maximum for admin fees will only look at the amounts a fund was charged in the assigned Default Admin Fee Expense account in Accounts and the Defaults left-side menu.
Fee Type and Apply Fee Combinations
Interval options, such as monthly and quarterly, are mutually exclusive from the per each options. An interval and a per each option cannot be used in the same fund fee type. Similarly, only one apply fee option can be used in the same fund fee type.
The table below shows the available fee types and when/how they can be applied. Y = Yes and N = No. For example, a fund fee type with a flat fee can be applied on a per each basis, but a percent range fee cannot be applied on a per each basis.
| Apply Fee | Flat Fee | Percent | Percent Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Y | Y | Y |
| Quarterly | Y | Y | Y |
| Yearly | Y | Y | Y |
| Fiscal Year (fiscal_year) | Y | Y | Y |
| Bi-Annual | Y | Y | Y |
| Bi-Annual Fiscal Year (bi-annual_fy) | Y | Y | Y |
| Per Each Grant (ea_grant) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Internal Grant (ea_int_grant) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Donation (ea_donation) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Internal Donation (ea_int_donat) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Stock (ea_stock) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Voucher (ea_voucher) | Y | Y | N |
| Per Each Invoice (ea_invoice) | Y | Y | N |
Calculations and Examples
Fund Fee Types in CommunitySuite calculate admin fees differently depending on the fee type and apply fee combination selected.
For the purpose of this article and to make a clear distinction between the percent range fee type and flat or percent fee types, the information and calculations are organized into two parts: Flat and Percent Fee Types and Percent Range Fee Type.
Example calculations were created using two example funds and several example admin fee types. Not all flat and percent fee types were used; however, the process and resulting transaction details will be similar for other apply fee options of the same type.
Example funds used in the options listed below.
- Donor Advised Fund - The fund being assessed/charged admin fees.
- Operating Fund - The fund receiving the admin fee revenue.
Example admin fee types used in the options listed below.
- Flat Fee Type - Monthly
- Flat Fee Type - Per Each Donation
- Percent Fee Type - Monthly
- Percent Fee Type - Per Each Donation
- Percent Range Fee Type - Yearly - No Ladder
- Percent Range Fee Type - Yearly - With Ladder
Flat Fee and Percent Fee Type Examples
The examples below compare the resulting transactions of a flat and percent fee type when applied on a "per each donation" basis or a "monthly" basis.
Per Each Example
In this example, the donor advised fund is assigned a flat fee type of $5.00 and a percent fee type of 2%- both of which are configured to apply on a "per each donation" basis.
When the donor advised fund receives a donation of $125.00 and the donation is posted, two charges occur.
- The Flat Fee Type - Per Each Donation charges $5.00.
- The Percent Fee Type - Per Each Donation charges $2.50.
Monthly Example
In this example, the donor advised fund is assigned a flat fee type of $10.00 and a percent fee type of 2%, both of which are configured to be applied on a monthly basis.
As a reminder, interval admin fees, such as monthly, do not post automatically and will need to be processed by your organization at the interval specified in the fee type.
When the admin fees are processed for the donor advised fund, two charges occur.
- The Monthly - Percent Fee Type charges 2% on the fund balance.
- The Monthly - Flat Fee Type charges 1/12th of $10.00 per month ($0.83).
Percent Range Fee Type Examples
The example below compares the resulting transactions of a laddered vs. non-laddered percent range Fee type when applied to the donor advised fund on a yearly basis. To highlight the effect of a laddered vs. non-laddered fee type, both fee types were given the same fee percent ranges and the donor advised fund had a balance of $15,000 when the admin fees were processed and posted.
Yearly Example
The images below show the laddered and non-laddered fee types. The percent ranges are the same; the only difference between the two is the fee ladder setting.
The table below lists the amount charged to the donor advised fund (with a balance of $15,000) when using a fee ladder vs. no fee ladder.
| Fund Balance ($15,000) | % Range | With Fee Ladder | No Fee Ladder |
| $0.01 | 1.00% | $10 | $0 |
| $1000.01 | 0.75% | $30 | $0 |
| $5000.01 | 0.55% | $27.50 | $0 |
| $10000.01 | 0.45% | $22.50 | $67.50 |
| $15000.01 | 0.35% | $0 | $0 |
| = $90.00 | = $67.50 | ||
If a fund advisor or an organization has multiple funds held by an organization, then using tier/ladder fees based on the total value of all associated funds may be desired. Using tiered/laddered admin fees helps organizations to not penalize organizations that create more than one fund for different purposes.