GrantLink tracks donor-restricted grant income, expense allocations, restriction releases, supporting expenses, and restricted fund balances in one place. QuickBooks stays your accounting record. GrantLink uses these records to reconcile and report on your restricted funds.

Important: An expense doesn't reduce the restricted balance by itself. In GrantLink's restricted fund rollforward, each restricted award increases the balance, and releases reduce it. Expenses can support a release as evidence, but linking them doesn't create a release or post a journal entry.

For step-by-step release instructions, see Understanding and Using Restriction Releases in GrantLink.

Before you start

Check these points:

The award agreement says whether the grant is donor-restricted.
The grant exists in GrantLink with the right restriction type and grant dates.
QuickBooks is connected and synced, if income, expenses, or release entries come from QuickBooks.
The grant is linked to the right QuickBooks Class, Customer, Project, or Location.
The expense allocations you plan to use as release evidence are approved or posted.
Your accountant has decided when restrictions are met and how release entries are recorded in QuickBooks.
Your role is Member or Admin. Viewers can't record receipts, allocations, or releases. Only Admins can set beginning balances and close or reopen a fiscal year.

Classify the grant

When you create or edit the grant, choose the Grant Type that matches the award:

Grant Type option	Use it when
Without Donor Restrictions	The donor didn't restrict the time or purpose of the money
With Donor Restrictions, Time/Purpose	The money must be used for a stated purpose or in a stated period
With Donor Restrictions, Perpetual	The principal must be kept permanently

Restricted funds shows only grants with donor restrictions. You can record a release from the Restricted funds page only for a Time/Purpose grant. GrantLink doesn't decide the restriction type for you, so use the signed award and your accounting policy.

Grants imported into GrantLink start as donor-restricted. The Restricted funds page then asks you to confirm those grants. Review each one, and change the Grant Type if the grant isn't restricted.

Review grant income

Open the restricted grant.
Select Transactions > Invoices & receipts.
Use the All receipts, QuickBooks, and Manual views to review each source.
Check the amount, date, customer, QuickBooks transaction, and grant for each receipt.
If money arrived outside QuickBooks, select Add receipt. Enter the Amount and Received Date, choose a Source, and optionally add a Reference and Notes.

The Received total combines QuickBooks income matched to the grant with manual receipts for money received outside QuickBooks. GrantLink counts each QuickBooks income line once, even if an older GrantLink record also exists for the same income.

A receipt dated before the grant's start shows Prior next to its date, and its details say Prior-period receipt. It counts in lifetime receipts and in the opening balance, but not in current period income and expense totals.

QuickBooks income: Not every QuickBooks income line becomes grant income. If a line is missing or appears on the wrong grant, fix the grant's links or the QuickBooks tracking, and then sync again. See Understanding Fund Receipts.

Allocate qualifying expenses

In Ledger, find the synced operating expenses that belong to the grant.
Assign each expense to the grant and, if you know it, a budget line.
Complete your review so that the allocations are Approved or Posted.
Open the grant's Transactions > Allocations, and reconcile the expenses to the QuickBooks transactions and the budget.

Only approved or posted expenses from QuickBooks with a positive amount, allocated to the same grant, can support a release. A release line from QuickBooks can't support another release. An expense amount that already supports an active release can support another release only up to the amount that is still unused.

Record or sync restriction releases

Use one source for each release:

Situation	Workflow
The release entry is in QuickBooks	Set up the release accounts, sync, and resolve any problems in Releases
No synced QuickBooks entry covers the release	Select the grant in Restricted funds, and then select Record release
You already selected approved or posted expenses	Create the release from those rows in the grant's Transactions > Allocations

Don't create a manual release that duplicates an entry from QuickBooks.

What a manual release does

GrantLink saves a manual release right away as an approved release. It doesn't move cash, create an expense, or post anything to QuickBooks. Work with your accountant on the general ledger entry.

Evidence status

GrantLink compares the expenses linked to a release with the release amount:

Status	Meaning
Missing	No qualifying expense is linked
Partial	The linked expenses support only part of the release
Complete	The linked expenses support the full release amount
Over-supported	The linked expenses are more than the release amount and need review

A release for an elapsed time restriction, a donor change, or another reason that isn't based on expenses may need other support. Choose the right release reason, and refer to your documentation in the notes.

Review restricted funds

Open Grants > Restricted funds for the organization's rollforward of net assets with donor restrictions. GrantLink calculates each grant's balance this way:

Ending balance = beginning balance + contributions - released + or - adjustments

Contributions are the full award of each donor-restricted grant with the status Awarded, Active, Closeout, or Closed. GrantLink counts the award in the fiscal year of its award notification date, or of the grant start date if no notification date is recorded. Cash receipts don't change the restricted balance.
Released is the release activity recorded or synced for the year, minus any reversals.
Adjustments are corrections, transfers between grants, donor modifications, investment returns, and other changes, each with a plus or minus sign.
Expenses don't reduce the balance. Ready to release shows approved spending on Time/Purpose grants that isn't released yet, up to each grant's balance. It appears only for the current open year.

To review the page, follow these steps:

Open Restricted funds and choose a fiscal year.
Read the figures at the top. They are Restricted now, Time or purpose, Endowment, and Ready to release. Endowment appears only when you have a perpetual grant.
Select Review on the attention line to work through anything that must be fixed before you can close the year. Each fix opens in a panel next to the table.
Switch to Rollforward to see the beginning balance, contributions, releases, and adjustments for each grant.
Select a grant to see its rollforward, its releases and adjustments, and the Add adjustment action. Time/Purpose grants also show Record release.
Select Export to download a workbook with the status, the formula, and balances grouped by restriction type.

The figures are labeled Draft until the year is closed.

Beginning balances

GrantLink starts tracking restricted funds in the fiscal year when your organization first connected QuickBooks. A grant that began earlier shows Not set until an Admin selects Set beginning balances and enters the grant's balance on the first day of that year. The beginning balance usually comes from the last audited net asset schedule. Later years start from the prior year's figures, which stay draft until that year is closed.

Close a fiscal year

After a fiscal year ends and nothing is left to fix, an Admin can select the Close FY button for that year. Closing saves each grant's figures, makes the ending balances the next year's beginning balances, and locks releases and adjustments dated in that year. An Admin can reopen the most recent closed year by entering a reason. The close stays in the activity history. Closing a year doesn't create entries in QuickBooks.

Check the restricted fund records

At each close or reporting date, follow these steps:

Confirm that each grant's restriction type still matches the award and any amendments.
Sync QuickBooks, and fix any income or release problems.
Reconcile QuickBooks income and manual receipts to your records without counting anything twice.
Confirm that qualifying expenses are allocated, approved or posted, and categorized correctly.
Reconcile each release to its QuickBooks entry or your documented manual schedule.
Review releases with missing, partial, or over-supported evidence.
Confirm that the Restricted funds rollforward agrees with the general ledger and the approved release schedule, and then close the year.
Export the restricted fund and release workbooks that your reviewer or auditor needs.

Corrections and special cases

Wrong QuickBooks income or release entry: Correct it in QuickBooks, and then sync. Don't create a manual duplicate to make GrantLink agree.
Wrong manual receipt: Edit or delete the manual receipt, and then check lifetime and period income again.
Wrong release: GrantLink doesn't currently have a control to reverse a release. Contact GrantLink support, and correct any QuickBooks entry in QuickBooks.
Changed expense evidence: Review the linked expenses and the evidence status. Linking an expense as evidence doesn't change the allocation or count the expense twice.
Prior-period receipts: They count in lifetime receipts and the opening balance, not in current period income.
A QuickBooks release with no clear grant: GrantLink leaves the amount out of every balance until you choose a grant or fix the entry in QuickBooks.

What GrantLink doesn't do

GrantLink organizes restricted grants, income, manual receipts, expenses, releases, evidence, problems to fix, rollforwards, exports, and activity history. It doesn't decide when a restriction is met or give accounting advice. It also doesn't post a manual release to QuickBooks, and it doesn't replace your general ledger, award agreement, accounting policy, or professional review.