A GrantLink budget is the approved financial plan used to categorize grant allocations and compare budgeted, spent, and remaining amounts. It is separate from the award amount and from the QuickBooks chart of accounts.

Accounting boundary: Adding a budget line or mapping a QuickBooks expense account does not create, rename, or change a QuickBooks account or transaction. The mapping tells GrantLink how to categorize synced allocations for this grant.

Before You Start

Confirm that:

The grant exists and its Award Amount and period are correct on Details.
You have a non-viewer role. Viewer mode is for inspection and hides budget setup actions in empty states.
You have the approved budget and know whether categories must follow funder, internal functional, or indirect-cost rules.
QuickBooks is connected and synced if you want to map actual spending by general-ledger account.

Categories, Lines, and Accounts

A budget category is an organization-scoped grouping, such as Personnel or Travel. A newly created category also requires a functional category: Program Services, Management & General, Fundraising, or Split.
A budget line belongs to one grant and one category and has its own name and nonnegative budgeted amount.
A QuickBooks account mapping can route eligible synced spending to a category or line. More than one account can map to a line.

Use the funder's terminology when it matters. Do not assume a generic equipment threshold or cost category is allowable for a particular award.

Creating a Grant Budget

Add lines manually

Open the grant and select Budget.
Select Add budget line.
Choose an existing Category, or select Create new category and enter Category Name, optional Code, and Functional Category.
Enter Line Item Name, Budgeted Amount, and optional Notes.
Select Add Budget Line or Create & Add.

The amount cannot be negative. If budget periods already exist, GrantLink spreads a newly added line evenly across them as a starting point; review the period amounts afterward.

Set up from QuickBooks accounts

Use this when synced grant spending identifies the expense accounts that should become or feed budget lines.

To create a line from an account in an existing budget:

In the add row, choose Line.
Search the active synced QuickBooks expense accounts by name or account number.
Choose an account, enter its approved budget amount, and save the new line.

To change the accounts that feed an existing line:

Select Accounts beside the budget line.
Search by account name or number, then select one or more accounts for the line. An account already mapped to another line identifies that line and cannot be reassigned here.
Select Save, then review the line's categorized actuals. If the mappings changed after you opened the picker, cancel and reopen it before saving again.

Accounts with activity are the strongest candidates, but account history is not an approved budget. Enter the funder-approved amounts; do not substitute historical spending for authorization.

Use GrantLink AI

The budget matrix empty state can open Ask GrantLink AI to help build the budget. An organization Admin can also ask Chat to create, update, delete, reorder, clear, or replace budget lines, periods, cells, and grant-specific category budgets. Related changes are applied together in one atomic edit; unmentioned budget records remain unchanged.

Chat first reads the current budget revision and explains the exact changes and consequences. Review that explanation, then choose Approve or Do not approve on the native approval card. Approval resumes the exact signed edit; there is no separate budget plan ID or later apply request. If the budget or one of its dependencies changed, GrantLink rejects the stale edit and Chat must read the budget again before requesting fresh approval. Successful edits return a receipt, and destructive edits first snapshot the prior budget for recovery. They never write the budget to QuickBooks.

AI output and runtime approval are not funder approval. Review category names, line totals, period spreads, mappings, exclusions, and warnings against the approved source budget.

Import a Budget Spreadsheet through GrantLink AI

Spreadsheet import keeps its separate persisted preview/apply workflow. It is available in a grant-scoped chat rather than as a conventional Import spreadsheet button.

From the Budget empty state, open Ask GrantLink AI. If the budget already has rows, open a grant-scoped chat from that grant.
Attach a CSV, XLS, XLSX, or XLSM budget file up to 10 MB.
Ask GrantLink to import the approved budget.
Review the persisted import preview, including proposed rows, periods, QuickBooks mappings, exclusions, totals, and warnings.
Correct the source workbook or answer mapping questions when the preview reports unresolved reconciliation, duplicate, hidden-sheet, schedule, or account issues.
Approve the exact preview in a later message. Sensitive plans expire after 15 minutes; an expired or stale plan must be rebuilt and approved again.
After apply completes, reconcile the imported total, row count, period count, and mapping results shown in the receipt.

The importer stores an immutable source and extraction record, and applies only the reviewed server-built plan. It does not execute workbook macros or let AI invent authoritative amounts. If the account does not expose a grant-scoped chat, add lines manually or map QuickBooks accounts instead.

Configure Budget Periods

Open the schedule control in Budget.
Create monthly, quarterly, or explicit periods. Monthly and quarterly schedules require grant period dates.
Review labels and non-overlapping start/end dates.
Optionally spread each line evenly across the periods.
Edit cells to reflect the approved timing, then save pending changes.

Budget periods are not reporting cycles. A report may cover part of a budget period, and changing the budget schedule does not change report due dates.

Budget Modifications

Grants often require budget modifications. GrantLink tracks these:

Edit totals in the budget matrix

When the grant has no budget period schedule, select the total for a standalone line or category budget, enter the new amount, add the required reason, and select Save changes. A child line included in a category budget remains read-only because the category owns that budget total.

After you add a period schedule, edit the individual period cells instead. GrantLink rejects a pending total-only edit if someone adds a schedule or changes the source amount before you save; refresh and review the current budget rather than overwriting it.

Edit one budget line

Select the line row to open its details.
Review Budgeted, Spent, Remaining, allocation activity, and Budget history.
Select Edit budget line.
Change the name, amount, or description.
If the amount changed, enter the required Modification Reason and choose whether to Share this reason for reuse in reports and portals.
Select Save Changes.

GrantLink records the original amount and revision note. Editing a name or description without changing the amount does not require a modification reason.

Save a matrix revision

Select Save revision, enter a required Revision reason, and save a snapshot of every current line and period amount. Budget revisions can compare saved versions. A snapshot does not constitute funder approval; retain approvals and effective dates in your normal document process.

Remove a budget line

Use Remove from the line editor and confirm Remove Budget Line. Removal cannot be undone. If the line has allocations, GrantLink normally retargets them to Uncategorized. A QuickBooks-linked line with allocations cannot be removed until that conflict is resolved. Related account-mapping rules are archived.

Budget vs. Actual Tracking

The budget shows budgeted, spent, remaining, and percent used by line, plus grant-level coverage and pacing. Actuals come from effective grant allocations, not from all QuickBooks spending automatically. Spending without a line remains Uncategorized until mapped or assigned.

GrantLink can notify on material grant-level budget thresholds, but it does not replace allowability review, funder rebudgeting rules, or unusual-transaction controls.

Best Practices

Reconcile the total budget to the approved award and explain any difference.
Verify mapped-account actuals against Allocations; mappings do not prove allowability.
Review Uncategorized spending regularly.
Save revision reasons that explain what changed, not merely “updated budget.”
Retain funder approval for rebudgeting outside GrantLink.

For assigning actual expenses to lines, see Allocating Transactions to Grants.