Phase 4: Open the budget year

On the Annual Budget planning page, select Open Budget.

Grantmaking checks to make sure all funds in the budget total and in all Categories is further allocated to Reserve Funds and Line Items. (Unallocated amounts are not permitted in open budgets: They can't be used to cover payments and risk being forgotten rather than given.)

If unallocated funds in Categories or in the budget total are found, Grantmaking creates a Reserve Fund for the unallocated amount (within that Category, or at the top level of the budget hierarchy). Grantmaking first summarizes these potential changes:

Review this information carefully before proceeding.

Select Print to print this page for further offline review. Select Cancel if you want to consider any changes before proceeding.

Select Open Budget to proceed. Any Reserve Funds summarized above are created, and the open Annual Budget page for the year opens.

During the budget year, you and other Grantmaking users are appropriating funds for Payments and tracking progress toward giving goals. But your budget may change during the year, and to keep an accurate record of what's happening with your giving, there are several tweaks and changes you may need to make during the year.

You can access an open budget from the Annual Budgets list by clicking the budget year.

Budget maintenance tasks during the open budget year start from this page. You can get a summary or detailed view of the current state of your budget, specific items, and so on.

The body of the page shows all Categories in the budget, showing each one's place in the budget hierarchy. Top level Reserve Funds are shown.

This view enables you to see the "big picture" of your open Annual Budget, and your progress toward giving goals. You can drill down to the see the Line Items and Reserve Funds of any given Category, then see the payment appropriations for each of those in turn.

To view a Category's child Line Items and Reserve Funds, open the Category menu and select View Details.

Tip: When this window is open, you can select a different Category in the main budget page in the background; the details window updates to show children of the newly selected Category.

During open stages, actions which are taken on Reserve Funds and Line Items are shown in the budget item menu. During open stage you can:

• Edit the budget item.

• Adjust Budget Item Amount

• Transfer Funds to or from the budget item

• View Appropriations made for Payments

Tip: Line Items and Reserve Funds are viewed by drilling down in the Budget Summary dashboard part.

When the budget is open or closed, you can drill down and see individual appropriations made against each Line Item or Reserve Fund in your budget.

Open the budget page for the open year.

Find the Category which is the parent of the Line Item or Reserve Fund you want review. In the Category menu, select View Details to see its child budget items. The budget details window opens.

Now open the menu for the budget item you want to review and click View Appropriations. The appropriations window opens.

The following data about each appropriation are provided:

• Organization: The name of the payee Organization.

• Project Title: The Project Title of the Request associated with the Payment.

• Amount: The appropriation amount (which equals the payment amount).

• Date/Time: The date and time on which the appropriations was made.

Tip: Appropriations are viewed by drilling down in the Budget Summary dashboard part.

Categories, Line Items, and Reserve Funds are editable.

To access budget items for editing during open status:

• For Categories, navigate to the planning or open budget page and select Edit from the Category menu.

• For Line Items and Reserve Funds, you need to identify their parent Category, then open the budget details for that Category. In the budget details window, you can then open the menu for the item and select Edit.

During the budget year, you may want to add new budget items. For example, you belatedly decide to fund a particular organization this year; while waiting for their proposal, you may want to add a new Line Item linked to their Organization record.

Note: Budget items cannot be deleted from an open budget.

Adding a Category, a Line Item, or a Reserve Fund works the same way during open status as during planning.

Even grantmakers with the strictest of budgets often have to move funds within their annual budget during the course of a fiscal year. For instance, more or less money is needed in a Line Item than anticipated. To address these changes, users with access to the Annual Budgets can transfer money between items in a budget.

Note: Funds can only be transferred within a budget year; you cannot transfer funds from one year to another.

You select two budget items ( a source and destination for the funds) and the amount to transfer. This does not affect the overall budget total; you're moving money, but within the established total.

To transfer funds:

Go to open Annual Budget page for the year in which you want to transfer funds.

Open the budget details of the Category which is the parent of either the source ("from") budget item or the destination ("to") item.

In the budget item's menu, select Transfer Funds. The Transfer Funds window opens:

Determine the amount to transfer by either entering the amount in the first currency field (negative numbers are permitted) or by entering the new total you want for the first item in the second currency field. Each field recalculates automatically based on what you type in the other.

Select the binoculars to search for the Reserve Fund you want to transfer funds from. The Select a Reserve Fund window opens:

The top panel shows the budget hierarchy. Select a Category and its child Reserve Funds are listed in the lower panel. Click the link for the Reserve Fund or Line Item to serve as the second budget item. The item is then shown in the second position in the Transfer Funds window.

Enter the staff person who is authorizing this transfer (your user name is the default). You can add Notes as well.

Select Transfer Funds to complete the transfer.

During planning stage, the amounts of budget items are edited at will. When the budget is open, increasing or decreasing a Line Item or Reserve Fund's amount needs to be audited more carefully.

To adjust a budget item's amount during open stage:

Go to open budget page for the year in which you want to adjust an item.

Open the budget details of the Category which is the parent of the Line Item or Reserve Fund you want to increase or decrease.

In the budget item's menu, select Adjust Budget Item Amount. The Adjust Budget Item Amount window opens:

Enter the new Amount for the budget item.

The new Amount cannot be lower than zero, or the Appropriated amount, whichever is greater.

Enter the staff person who is authorizing this transfer (your user name is the default). You can add Notes as well.

Select Save. Grantmaking asks you to confirm that you want to adjust the amount, which it notes does affect the overall budget total. You can continue or cancel.

The appropriating budget funds for payment section describes features included with the Budget Module.

Each time you approve a Request or schedule a Payment, Grantmaking requires you to appropriate funds for the Payment's annual budget.

• Appropriating funds for an unpaid Payment adds the funds to the “Committed” amount tracked in the Budget. (Unpaid Payments may have a Status of Scheduled, Hold, or Contingent.)

• Appropriating funds for a paid Payment adds the funds to the “Paid” amount tracked in the Budget. (Paid Payments may have a status of Paid or Void.)

In either case, the amount of the Payment is subtracted from the available budget balance.

Budget appropriation is required when you:

• Attempt to pay a Payment for which funds have not been appropriated.

• Create a Payment for an approved Request in an open Annual Budget year, including when creating Payments during Request approval.

• Approve a Request with unappropriated Payments during an open Annual Budget year.

• Change the amount of a Payment.

• Reschedule a Payment, changing its Fiscal Year to another which has an open Annual Budget.

In addition, you can choose to appropriate funds for a Payment created for a pending Request, but it is not required until you want to pay the Payment.

In most cases you are appropriating funds for a single payment. If you are approving a Request and having Grantmaking schedule multiple payments for you, you need to appropriate funds for all.

The appropriating fund for a single payment section describes features included with the Budget Module.

Note: While appropriating funds for a payment is triggered by different actions, each time the Budget Appropriation page looks the same:

Your task is to find the appropriate Reserve Fund or Line Item from which to appropriate funds to cover the Payment. To find your best option, you should understand the different elements of the budget appropriation interface.

The title summarizes the Request/Grant which the Payment is for, showing Request ID and Project Title, then identifying the payee Organization Name and ID.

Below the OK and Cancel buttons, the Payment we are appropriating funds for is summarized. Key data includes ID, Schedule Date, Amount, Fund, and G/L Account.

The Appropriated from column isn't populated until you pick a Reserve Fund or Line Item; then it is listed.

The page shows Reserve Funds and Line Items from the annual budget with the same Fiscal Year as the Payment. There are many filters here which determine which items are shown. For example, if Authorized Users are in use, a Reserve Fund or Line Item is listed only if you are authorized to use it. Line Items are only shown if they are linked to the payee Organization.

In the Filter By section, you have the opportunity to apply additional filters, in order to narrow down the list of budget items and find the right one. The filters are applied/removed dynamically: as you select or clear a filter, the list of budget items below updates automatically.

For example, the G/L account for the Payment we're working with is 0011001. if were to select the Payment G/L Account check-box in the Filter By section, only budget items coded with the same G/L Account would be listed.

You can select the Reserve Fund or Line Item to appropriate funds from. In the left panel, budget Categories show you the structure of available budget items. To find the right budget item, select a Category. On the right, and Reserve Funds and Line Items matching the filters we've chosen are listed.

To finish budget appropriation:

Find and select the budget item you want to appropriate funds from, then select OK.

The following changes are saved in Grantmaking:

• If the Payment is Scheduled, Contingent, or Hold, the selected Reserve Fund or Line Item sees its Committed Amount increase by the Payment Amount.

• If the Request is Paid, the budget item's Paid Amount increases by the Payment Amount.

• The available Balance of the budget item is decreased by Payment Amount.

• Payment record is updated to be linked to the budget item from which funds were appropriated.

Note: When resolving a Payment against a line item, that item may either not have sufficient funds to cover the amount of the Payment or have surplus funds that you’d like to transfer to another Budget item. If you need to transfer funds, you must do it in the Budget module then return to the Payment.

If you approve a Request and choose to have Payments automatically scheduled, you are required to appropriate all Payments first:

Your task is to find the appropriate Reserve Fund or Line Item from which to appropriate funds to cover the Payments.

Note: You can use different budget items to cover different Payments for the same Grant. In fact, as you can see above, your multiple Payments may fall in two different fiscal years, requiring payments to be covered by funds from two different annual budgets.

The title summarizes the Request/Grant which the Payment is for, showing Request ID and Project Title, then identifying the payee Organization Name and ID.

Below the OK and Cancel buttons, the Payments we are appropriating funds for is summarized. Key data includes ID, Schedule Date, Amount, Fund, and G/L Account. The Appropriated from column isn't populated until you pick a Reserve Fund or Line Item; then it is listed.

In cases where two different Annual Budgets are in play, you must select Payments from one year and find budget items for them, then move to the next year, and so on. The Annual Budget for the selected fiscal year appears below.

After selecting the fiscal year you want to deal with first, you must select which Payments you want to designate Reserve Funds or Line Items for.

The page shows Reserve Funds and Line Items from the selected fiscal year's budget. There are many filters here which determine which items are shown. For example, if Authorized Users are in use, a Reserve Fund or Line Item is listed only if you are authorized to use it. Line Items are only shown if they are linked to the payee Organization.

In the Filter By section, you have the opportunity to apply additional filters, in order to narrow down the list of budget items and find the right one. The filters are applied/removed dynamically: as you select or clear a filter, the list of budget items below updates automatically.

You can select the Reserve Fund or Line Item to appropriate funds from. In the left panel, budget Categories show you the structure of available budget items. To find the right budget item, select a Category. On the right, and Reserve Funds and Line Items matching the filters we've chosen are listed.

To finish budget appropriation:

Find and select the budget items you want to appropriate funds from for each Payment, then select OK.

The following changes are saved in Grantmaking:

• If the Payment is Scheduled, Contingent, or Hold, the selected Reserve Fund or Line Item sees its Committed Amount increase by the Payment Amount.

• If the Request is Paid, the budget item's Paid Amount increases by the Payment Amount.

• The available Balance of the budget item is decreased by Payment Amount.

• Payment record is updated to be linked to the budget item from which funds were appropriated.

When resolving a Payment against a Line Item, that item may either not have sufficient funds to cover the amount of the Payment or have surplus funds that you’d like to transfer to another Budget item. You can transfer funds as necessary while resolving Payments.

• For information on dealing with Reserve Funds or Line Items with insufficient funds—that is, you've chosen an item with a balance less than the Payment amount—review the Transferring Funds to a Budget Item section.

• For information on dealing with Line Items which have surplus funds after the Payment is covered, review the Transferring Funds to a Line Item section.

If you choose to appropriate funds for a Payment from a Line Item with a balance greater than the Payment amount, you are offered a chance to transfer the funds to a Reserve Fund.

You can decide to leave the apparent surplus in the Line Item, or transfer the balance to a Reserve Fund.

You can either select No and keep the Line Item balance, or use the following procedure to transfer the surplus funds:

Select "Yes, allow me to select a reserve fund" and click OK.

The entire surplus amount is the Transfer Amount. You can't enter a different amount.

Click the binoculars to search for the Reserve Fund you want to transfer funds to.

The top panel shows the budget hierarchy. Select a Category and its child Reserve Funds are listed in the lower panel. Click the link for the Reserve Fund there to send funds to it. The Reserve Fund is shown in the To field on the Transfer Funds window.

Enter any Notes you want and select Next.

The effect of the transfer is summarized and you are asked to confirm:

Select Previous to go back and make changes, or Cancel to cancel.

If you want to proceed, select Transfer Funds.

The Transfer Amount is taken from the Line Item and transferred to the Reserve Fund.

If you choose to appropriate funds for a Payment from a Reserve Fund or Line Item with insufficient funds to handle the amount, you are prompted to transfer the funds needed from a Reserve Fund to the budget item in question.

Note: If you are appropriating funds from a Reserve Fund which permits a negative balance, you have a third option of letting the fund go negative.

You can decide to try another budget item with a larger balance, or you can transfer funds:

You can either select No and choose another budget item, or use the following procedure to transfer the needed funds.

Select Yes, allow me to select a reserve fund, then select OK.

Enter the Transfer Amount.

The minimum required to cover the Payment is the default value. You can't enter a lower amount.

Select the binoculars to search for the Reserve Fund you want to transfer funds from.

The top panel shows the budget hierarchy. Select a Category and its child Reserve Funds are listed in the lower panel. Select the link for the Reserve Fund there to take funds from it. The Reserve Fund is shown in the From field on the Transfer Funds window.

Enter any Notes you want and select Next.

Select Previous to go back and make changes, or Cancel to cancel.

If you want to proceed, select Transfer Funds.

The Transfer Amount is taken from the source Reserve Fund and transferred to the Reserve Fund or Line Item you are trying to appropriate funds from.