A grant comes in

Record the award when the grant is won

A grant is the society’s money from the day it is awarded, not the day the cheque lands. Record the award here: the giver, the amount, and when the money is expected. Until it arrives it stands as money owed to the society, in the grant’s own fund, where anyone can see it.

(Done on the Funds page.)

Say what the money may be spent on

Most grants come with a purpose. Write the purpose in the giver’s own words. That text is what every later spend from this fund is read against, including in the month’s questions.

Money with no set purpose goes to the general fund, and this step is short. A grant that is part one, part the other is recorded in its parts. The parts must add to the grant.

(Done on the Funds page.)

Record the money when it arrives

When the payment lands, record it against the award that stands open. It settles what the giver owed. It is not new money on top of the award.

Money with a set purpose waits in its fund as money held for that purpose. It counts as the society’s earnings only as it is spent on the purpose. Receive money drafts that recognition as the spending happens.

(Done on the Receive money page.)

Spend it from its own fund

When the society spends grant money, record the spend and pick the grant’s fund, not the general one. Each month, the routine asks whether each spend from a restricted fund fit the giver’s purpose. The question is easy to answer when the spend was recorded from the right fund with a plain note.

(Done on the Pay money page.)

Watch what is left of the grant

The Funds page shows each fund’s balance at any date, provable from the entries themselves: awarded, arrived, spent, left. This is the page that answers the giver’s report and the board’s question: how much of the grant is left.

(Done on the Funds page.)