Funding Shares, Matching, and Cost Share Tracking for Grants

Funding shares show how each grant-related dollar should be treated for reporting: grant-funded, cash match, in-kind match, unrecovered indirect, program income, other local/non-federal share, excluded, or needing review.

GrantLink uses "funding share" as the product term because it covers more than traditional match. A funding share can be grant-funded spending, cash match, in-kind match, unrecovered indirect costs, program income, other local/non-federal share, or an amount that should be excluded from the grant report.

Funders and accountants may still use terms like match, cost share, local share, recipient share, or non-federal share. In GrantLink, those are all handled as funding shares so the reporting workflow is consistent across awards.

What GrantLink tracks

GrantLink tracks funding shares in four related places:

• Organization settings: how GrantLink should detect funding shares, and which QuickBooks field should be read.
• QBO value mappings: what a specific Class, Customer, Project, Custom field value, or Account means for funding-share reporting.
• Grant requirements: the match, cost share, program income, or local share requirement for a specific grant.
• Allocation and contribution records: the actual dollars that count, need review, need evidence, or should be excluded.

This keeps the accounting source data in QuickBooks while giving finance teams a grant-by-grant control layer for classification, review, evidence, and reporting.

Why funding shares matter

Funding shares matter because many grants do not pay for the whole project. A funder may say:

• We will pay 80%, but you must pay 20%.
• We will reimburse eligible grant costs, but you must document a local match.
• We will count approved volunteer time or donated goods as in-kind share.
• We will allow unrecovered indirect costs as match only if approved.

For federal awards, the core cost sharing rule is 2 CFR 200.306. It says cost sharing must be verifiable in the recipient's records, not counted for another federal award, necessary and reasonable, allowable, not paid by another federal award unless specifically allowed, included in the approved budget when required, and compliant with the rest of the award rules.

Common funding share types

Funding share type	What it means	Common evidence
Grant funded	The funder is paying this cost	QBO transaction, invoice, receipt, payroll support
Cash match	Your organization or a partner paid an eligible project cost with non-grant cash	QBO transaction, bank record, invoice, payroll register
In-kind match	Someone donated goods, space, equipment, or services that count toward the project	Donor letter, volunteer log, valuation support
Unrecovered indirect match	Approved indirect costs that could have been charged but were not	Approved indirect rate, calculation, funder approval
Program income	Income earned by the grant-funded program	Deposit record, invoice, award terms showing treatment
Other local share	A local or non-federal contribution that does not fit the other buckets	Source record, funder approval, allocation notes
Excluded	A cost or contribution that should not count in the funding share calculation	Reviewer note explaining exclusion
Needs review	GrantLink found a signal but cannot safely classify it yet	Accountant review

Match vs cost share vs funding share

People use these words loosely, but the accounting idea is the same: some part of the project is not paid by the main grant.

• Match usually means the required contribution is expressed as a ratio. A 1:1 match means the recipient brings one dollar for every funder dollar.
• Cost share usually means the required contribution is expressed as a percentage of total project cost. A 20% cost share on a $100,000 project means the recipient share is $20,000.
• Funding share is GrantLink's broader label for every dollar's funding source, including grant-funded dollars, match dollars, program income, excluded dollars, and items needing review.

Example: If the total project is $100,000 and the funder pays $80,000, the remaining $20,000 is the recipient's funding share. Depending on the award, that $20,000 might be called match, cost share, local share, recipient share, or non-federal share.

How QuickBooks usually fits

QuickBooks is still the accounting source of truth. GrantLink does not need users to rebuild their chart of accounts just to track funding shares.

Most nonprofits already track grant context in QuickBooks with one or more of these fields:

• Classes, which QuickBooks describes as a way to categorize transactions by meaningful business segment, such as department, product line, or location.
• Customers or projects, where QuickBooks projects group transactions and expenses for a specific customer/job-style activity.
• Custom fields, which QuickBooks supports for tracking extra transaction data on sales and expense forms.
• Accounts, when an organization already has dedicated revenue or expense accounts for match, local share, or program income.

GrantLink reads these signals and maps them to funding-share types. For funding-share tracking, use a QuickBooks Custom field when the organization needs a flexible label such as "Funding Share", "Match Type", or "Cost Share Category".

The important distinction is that the QuickBooks field gives GrantLink a signal, but the mapping tells GrantLink what that signal means. For example, a QBO Class named "Local Match" only becomes Cash match, Other local share, or Needs review after an admin maps that value in GrantLink.

How a user works with funding shares in GrantLink

1. Set organization funding share settings

An admin chooses how GrantLink should classify funding shares:

• Manual: users choose the funding share on each allocation.
• QBO signal: QuickBooks fields drive the classification.
• Hybrid review: QuickBooks suggests the classification, and a reviewer approves or overrides it.

The admin also chooses which QuickBooks field GrantLink should read, such as Class, Customer, Project, Custom field, or Account.

If the same QuickBooks field is already used for grant assignment or functional reporting, GrantLink warns the admin. This matters because a field used to identify the grant may not also be safe to use as the funding-share signal unless the organization's QBO structure is intentionally designed that way.

2. Map observed QBO values

When a QBO source is selected, GrantLink shows the observed values it has seen in synced transactions. Finance users map each value to the appropriate funding-share treatment:

• Grant funded
• Cash match
• In-kind match
• Unrecovered indirect
• Program income
• Other local share
• Excluded
• Needs review

Mappings can be updated or archived. Changing a mapping does not silently rewrite historical allocations; an admin previews and applies a backfill separately.

3. Add the grant's funding share requirement

On the grant, the user records the funder's requirement. Examples:

• 20% total non-federal share
• $25,000 cash match
• $10,000 in-kind match
• Approved unrecovered indirect costs

GrantLink stores the requirement separately from the grant budget because a grant can have a budget and also have a separate match or cost-share rule.

4. Classify QBO allocations

When a QuickBooks transaction is allocated to a grant, GrantLink stores a funding share classification on the allocation.

If there is no funding share setup, the allocation defaults to Grant funded. If the organization uses QBO signals, GrantLink reads the configured QuickBooks field and applies the matching funding-share mapping.

This is intentionally conservative. A QuickBooks label should help the accountant work faster, but it should not automatically count toward a funder requirement unless the value is mapped and the review rules allow it. If GrantLink cannot safely classify the value, the allocation stays in Needs review.

5. Review eligibility

A reviewer decides whether each share can count toward the requirement.

Common statuses:

• Unreviewed: not approved yet
• Eligible: can count toward the requirement
• Ineligible: reviewed and cannot count
• Submitted: included in a funder report
• Accepted: accepted by the funder
• Rejected: rejected by the funder

This matters because an amount can be tagged as cash match but still not count until it has support and reviewer approval.

6. Attach or record evidence

For cash match, evidence is usually normal accounting support: invoice, receipt, payroll report, bank record, or QBO transaction.

For in-kind match, evidence usually includes the donor, date, description, value, valuation method, and a signature or acknowledgement when appropriate.

For volunteer services, the rate should be supportable. Federal rules say third-party volunteer service rates should be consistent with similar work, and donated property should generally be documented at fair market value.

7. Add standalone contributions when needed

Not every funding share appears as a QBO expense line. A user may add a standalone funding share contribution for:

• Volunteer services
• Donated goods
• Donated space
• Partner cash contribution
• Third-party professional services

This keeps the grant's funding share report complete without forcing fake transactions into QuickBooks.

8. Monitor the grant summary

GrantLink summarizes:

• Required funding share total
• Eligible share total
• Submitted and accepted totals
• Unreviewed, ineligible, and rejected totals
• Remaining amount needed
• Cash, in-kind, unrecovered indirect, program income, and other local totals

GrantLink also shows mapping and review coverage so finance teams can see where classifications came from:

• Mapped QBO values
• Unmapped QBO values
• Manual classifications
• Heuristic suggestions
• Review exceptions
• Missing evidence

The goal is to show whether the grant is on track before the final report or audit.

9. Report and audit

When reporting, the user can separate:

• Grant-funded expenses
• Recipient share / match / cost share
• Program income
• Excluded items
• Items still needing review

This gives the accountant a clear trail from the funder requirement to the underlying QuickBooks transaction or contribution record.

Practical example

A grant funds an after-school program.

The award says the total project budget is $100,000:

• $80,000 federal grant
• $20,000 non-federal cost share

In GrantLink, the user creates a $20,000 funding share requirement. Then the user tracks:

• $12,000 of staff time paid by unrestricted funds as cash match
• $5,000 of donated professional services as in-kind match
• $3,000 of approved unrecovered indirect costs

Once reviewed and documented, GrantLink shows $20,000 satisfied and $0 remaining.

What not to do

Avoid these common mistakes:

• Counting the same dollar toward two different grant requirements
• Using federal funds as match for another federal award unless the program specifically allows it
• Counting in-kind contributions without valuation support
• Waiting until the final report to discover a match shortfall
• Treating a QuickBooks label as enough evidence by itself
• Mixing grant assignment and funding share into one field when the organization needs both

Sources and terminology

This article uses GrantLink's product term "funding share" and maps it to common funder/accounting terms such as match, cost share, local share, recipient share, and non-federal share.

Reference sources:

• 2 CFR 200.306, Cost sharing: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200/section-200.306
• QuickBooks Classes: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/class-list/create-manage-classes-quickbooks-online/L1QzEOUxM_US_en_US
• QuickBooks Projects: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/manage-projects/set-create-projects-quickbooks-online/L9GAdLMyT_US_en_US

Grant terms vary by award. Always follow the award agreement, funder guidance, and your accountant's documented policy.

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GrantLink tracks funding shares alongside grant allocations so nonprofit finance teams can monitor match, cost share, and non-federal share without rebuilding QuickBooks or maintaining a separate spreadsheet.