Get Started with Budgets

These are two styles of budgets available in GrantsConnect. The style your organization uses is determined by your client Feature settings set up during implementation. The main difference between these two styles is where the funds for your budget originate.

• Simple budgets refer to budgets whose funds (cash or in-kind) are tied directly to the budget itself. There is no underlying funding source.

  Note: Simple budgets are beneficial if you do not need that additional level of organization for your funds. Because you aren't required to create and manage funding sources in addition to your budgets, the process of setting up and maintaining these budgets is more efficient.

• Budgets with funding sources refer to budgets whose funds (cash or in-kind) are pulled from a separate funding source or multiple funding sources.

  Note: Budgets with funding sources are beneficial if you want an additional level of organization for your funds. You can create separate funding sources for different regions, departments, etc. and tie these to your budget. This allows you to specify where these funds come from, track the availability of funds for each source, and report on their usage.

There are several reasons budgets are integral to the grant-making process in GrantsConnect, including:

• Budgets allow you to define the amount of money that will be available for a program's awards. This helps to automate the availability of funds for a program as applications are submitted with the option to automatically reserve the Amount Requested from the budget.

• Funding sources are beneficial to organizations that require more intricate accounting methods as they provide insights into where (e.g., locations, branches, etc.) the funds available in your budgets originate.

• They help you organize your funds across multiple programs, including helping to differentiate between cash and in-kind awards.

• They help you streamline reporting, offering a means for breaking finances into more manageable time periods (e.g., annual, quarterly).

To begin, you will need to create at least one funding source followed by at least one budget.

1. Create a cash or in-kind funding source that will be used to feed your budgets.

   Note: When creating a funding source, you will need to know the type (cash or in-kind), the total funds that will be allocated, and the Payment Processor.

2. Create a budget that will be used for your program cycles.

   Tip: If you are creating multiple budgets at a time, it is recommended to use the Bulk Import feature to save time and effort. Otherwise, you can use the Create Budget > Single Budget tool.

3. Add the funding source to the budget.

You can continue to create as many funding sources and budgets as necessary.

Unlike with budgets with funding sources, you won't need to create a funding source upfront. Instead, you'll skip to setting up the budget itself.

1. Create a cash or in-kind budget that will be used for your program cycles.

   Note: When creating a budget, you will need to know the type (cash or in-kind), the total funds that will be allocated, and the Payment Processor.

   Tip: If you are creating multiple budgets at a time, it is recommended to use theBulk Import feature to save time and effort. Otherwise, you can use the Create Budget > Single Budget tool.

You can continue to create as many budgets as necessary.

Funding is applied to a grant program on the cycle level. When adding or editing cycles, you will choose one or more budgets to make available for the applications submitted during the cycle.

Note: You will also be prompted to choose the budget and funding source (if applicable) to set as the default.

Add a budget to a new cycle

1. Create a new grant program or edit an existing program. Be sure to update its details and configure its settings.

2. In the Program Details, add a new program cycle and choose your budgets.

3. Save the changes to the program.

Update the budget in an existing cycle

1. Edit an existing grant program.

2. In the Program Details, edit the cycle to update the budgets assigned.

3. Save the changes to the program.

In order to create Awards payments for applications, a budget and funding source must be assigned to each individual application. Unless automation is in place, these payments will automatically use the default budget and source for the cycle. You can also manually update the budget assigned to an application.

Note: Budget assignment can be automated by creating rules against which newly submitted applications will be evaluated. For more information, see the Automate Budget Assignments resource.

In addition to program cycles, budgets are surfaced in the following areas.

• Applications - The budgets and funding sources (if applicable) used for Awards payments will appear in the Applications area. They can also be updated for each application or payment.

• Payment Processing - Each payment created will have a budget and funding source (if applicable) listed.

  Note: The budget assigned to a payment can be edited if the payment is Pending. Learn more.

• Ad Hoc - Reports can be built for both budgets and funding sources using the Ad Hoc tools.

  Tip: Several budget reports are available in the standard report templates. Additionally, reports can be created specifically for the Budgets and Funding Sources areas.

• Dashboards - Custom dashboards can be built to display the financial information for your grant programs over a period of time.

  Note: There are currently no standard dashboard templates that show budgets and sources explicitly. However, you can add and configure your own widgets to display this information.

• Insights - The Budget Insights Dashboard and Funding Source Insights Dashboard offer a breakdown of these assets. They are included in the Insights tools out-of-the-box.

• Data Hub - An Excel or CSV file summarizing an organization's budgets can be exported from GrantsConnect using the Data Hub tools.

It is recommended that you follow the best practices outlined below for using budgets in GrantsConnect.

• It is recommended to close budgets at the end of the year if they are not in use for an active program cycle.

• It is recommended to create new budgets at the start of the year to use for new program cycles rather than adding funds to existing sources. This makes reporting easier and helps align funding reports with the appropriate cycles.

• For year-over-year budgets, it is recommended to include the time period (e.g., 2022, 2023, Q1, Q2) in the name.

There are more advanced features that can help streamline your workflow level routing and even application review process as it relates to budgets . These include:

• Create multiple budgets at once using a Budget Import File.

• Add an Account Number to a budget and pull it into your Accounts Payable (AP) integration, payments, and Ad Hoc reporting.

• Automatically assign budgets to newly submitted applications based on a set of criteria and rules you define.

• Automatically reserve the Amount Requested in an application from the budget.

• Automatically decline an application based on the availability of funds in a budget.

• Permissions required for simple budgets

• Permissions required for budgets with funding sources

• Automate budget assignments using rules

• Automatically reserve the Amount Requested from a budget

• Manually update budget assignments

• Display budget summary in Application View

• Update budgets assigned to Award payments