Use an Initiative to group several grants, goals, files, and reports that support one body of work. An Initiative gives you a combined view for management and reporting. It isn't a grant, a QuickBooks class, or a general ledger fund.

Programs and Initiatives are the same record

GrantLink uses the word Initiative in navigation, page headings, buttons, and most messages. The URL is still /programs, and plan limit messages still say "active programs." Some report prompts also say "program report." All of these names refer to the same GrantLink record, so you don't need to create both a Program and an Initiative.

Accounting boundary: Creating, linking, editing, or archiving an Initiative changes GrantLink records only. It doesn't create a QuickBooks record, change transaction coding, move cash, post a journal entry, or change a grant's award amount.

Before you start

Confirm that:

You're signed in to the correct organization.
You have the Member or Admin role. Viewers can look at Initiatives, but GrantLink rejects changes from Viewers. The sidebar and the Initiatives list hide New Initiative and Archive from Viewers.
The grants you want to group already exist, and you've reviewed their award amounts, dates, statuses, budgets, and allocations. See Creating and Managing Grants and Setting Up Grant Budgets.
You know whether the whole grant award belongs to this Initiative, or only a fixed amount or percentage of it.
If you'll use QuickBooks funding or allocation rules, QuickBooks Online is connected and the source transactions have synced.
Your plan has room for another active Initiative. GrantLink counts Initiatives with the Active status that aren't archived. Planning and Completed Initiatives don't count toward the limit.

Create an Initiative

In the sidebar, under Initiatives, select New Initiative.
In the text box, describe the Initiative. Include its name, purpose, timeline, funding target, and any goals you want GrantLink to set up.
Optionally, attach source files. You can attach up to five PDF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP files, up to 20 MB each and 25 MB in total.
Select Create Initiative.
Keep the page open while GrantLink uploads and reads the files.
Review the new Initiative, because GrantLink can misread details from your text or files.

GrantLink creates the Initiative with the Active status, so the plan limit applies. If GrantLink can't read a file, it still creates the Initiative and lists the file names it couldn't read.

If you start from a grant's Initiatives card, the button is Create & Link. GrantLink creates the Initiative, links it to that grant, and returns you to the grant. Otherwise, GrantLink opens the new Initiative.

Review and complete the Initiative

The Initiative page has the tabs Overview, Funding, Allocations, Budget, Reports, and Files.

Details and status

To edit details, open the Initiative actions menu at the top right and select Edit details. You can change the Name, Code, Purpose, Funding target, Form 990 category, Period start, and Period end. Correct QuickBooks accounting facts in QuickBooks, and then sync again.

The status control next to the Initiative name changes the status. The statuses are Planning, Active, Completed, and Archived. Depending on the current status, the menu offers Activate, Reactivate, Mark Completed, Back to Planning, or Archive.

Goals

Goals appear on Overview. Select New goal and enter a Title. You can also add a Description, Status, Due date, measure label, unit, current value, and target. The goal statuses are Planned, On track, At risk, Achieved, and Cancelled. A current value needs a target, and both values must be zero or more. Select a goal to edit it. GrantLink doesn't update a goal's progress on its own.

Files

On Files, select Upload to add PDF, Word, or common image files. GrantLink rejects a file over 25 MB. You can preview a file or remove it. Removing a file archives the GrantLink file record and doesn't change your original document. Keep the official agreements and evidence under your organization's normal retention process.

Link grants and set their shares

The Initiative's financial totals depend on its linked grants. You can link a grant in either of these places:

On the grant's Details tab, in the Initiatives card, choose an Initiative from Link an initiative....
On the Initiative's Funding or Allocations tab, add a Grant award rule and select Add grant.

The grant and the Initiative must belong to the same organization, and you can't link the same pair twice.

For each link, choose how much of the award belongs to the Initiative:

Choose Amount when a fixed part of the award belongs to the Initiative.
Choose Percent when a percentage of the award belongs to it. The percentage must be from 0 to 100.
Choose No split when the whole award belongs to it.

A link has either an amount or a percentage, and setting one clears the other. With no split, GrantLink counts the full award for the Initiative. If the same grant is linked to two or more Initiatives with no split, GrantLink shows a warning, because the full award would count more than once. Use Edit share to set the correct share.

The Initiative's totals include linked grants with the Awarded, Active, Closeout, or Closed status that aren't archived. The Budget tab combines the budget categories of those grants and shows Budget, Actuals, Variance, and Used for each category. You can't edit the budget on the Initiative. Correct a budget on the grant's Budget tab, and correct transaction treatment in the allocation workflow.

Unlinking removes the grant's share from the Initiative's totals. It doesn't delete the grant or its accounting records. GrantLink records link, share update, and unlink events in the activity history. Check the totals and the report scope again after you change a link.

Review allocations and funding

The Allocations tab shows spending that GrantLink matched to the Initiative, and the Funding tab shows income that GrantLink matched to it. Each tab groups the matched QuickBooks lines as Needs review, Assigned, or Removed. Select a line to see its QuickBooks source and assignment details.

Remove from initiative takes an assigned line out of the Initiative's totals. It doesn't change QuickBooks.
Restore to initiative checks the line, its rule, and any grant claims again before GrantLink counts it.
Confirm updated source accepts a line whose QuickBooks source changed, after GrantLink checks the current line.

Only assigned lines count in the Initiative's QuickBooks totals. GrantLink can send a line to Needs review when its source changes, when it isn't eligible, or when a grant already claims it. Unfinished matching can also make a total show as unavailable.

Funding and allocation rules

The Funding and Allocations tabs also hold the rules that decide which grants and QuickBooks lines belong to the Initiative. You can start a rule from a template, e.g., Grant award, Income account, Expense account, QuickBooks class, Customer or project, or Custom rule. A rule can only use the fields that the rule editor offers. QuickBooks rules require a QuickBooks connection.

When you save a changed rule, GrantLink keeps the earlier version and checks the matching QuickBooks lines again. It doesn't silently rewrite lines that you already reviewed. Review Allocations and Funding after you change a rule, the connection, or the source data.

Create and review Initiative reports

Open the Initiative's Reports tab and select Draft report with Assistant.
In the chat, state the reporting period and whether to include all linked grants or only some of them.
Check every figure and statement against the grants, allocations, funding, budgets, goals, and source documents.
Return to Reports to find the report later. A draft shows Open Draft, and a published report shows View Report. A PDF link appears when a PDF exists.

You can't link an Initiative report to a grant's reporting cycle. Viewers can't create reports, and your plan's monthly report limit can block a new report. For the full workflow, see Generating Funder Reports, Understanding Report Types, and Publishing Secure Funder Reports.

Check the result

Open the Initiatives list. It groups records as Active initiatives, Planning, and Completed, and it doesn't show archived Initiatives.
Confirm the status, the number of linked grants, the funding and remaining amounts, and any unsplit grant warning.
On Overview, check the goals, the funding and allocation summaries, and the remaining amount. Don't rely on a figure marked Unavailable.
On Budget, compare each combined category with the linked grants' budgets and allocations.
On Allocations and Funding, resolve or explain each line under Needs review, and compare assigned lines with QuickBooks.
On Reports and Files, confirm that the expected drafts, published reports, and files belong to the Initiative.

For allocation corrections, see Reviewing and Correcting Grant Allocations. For how source data arrives, see Understanding the Sync Process.

Correct, complete, or archive an Initiative

Use Edit details to correct details, and use the status control to move the Initiative to Planning, Active, or Completed. Correct grant shares on the grant link, grant budgets on the grant, and QuickBooks errors in QuickBooks. Then sync and check the totals again.

To archive an Initiative, choose Archive from the Initiatives list, the sidebar, or the status control. Archiving sets the status to Archived, and the Initiative stops counting toward your plan's active limit. It doesn't delete linked grants, files, reports, goals, or QuickBooks data.

The Initiatives list and the sidebar don't show archived Initiatives. If you still have the Initiative's link, you can open it and choose Activate or Back to Planning from the status control. Moving it back to Active is subject to your plan limit. If you don't have the link, contact support rather than creating a duplicate.

Accounting boundary

Initiative award, budget, spending, remaining, funding, and report figures are GrantLink summaries. Grant shares control how much of each award counts for the Initiative. Assigned QuickBooks lines feed the Initiative's funding and spending figures. Neither changes grant totals, transaction coding, the general ledger, cash, donor restrictions, or QuickBooks. Reconcile Initiative reports to the linked grants and the accounting records, and ask your accountant how to present the work in your financial statements.