Setting Up Grant Budgets

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

1. Open the grant and select Budget.
2. Select Add budget line.
3. Choose an existing Category, or select Create new category and enter Category Name, optional Code, and Functional Category.
4. Enter Line Item Name, Budgeted Amount, and optional Notes.
5. 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 already identifies the expense accounts that should become budget lines.

1. Select Set up from QuickBooks on an empty budget, or Map QuickBooks accounts on an existing budget.
2. Review the eligible expense accounts and their uncategorized allocation activity.
3. Map each account to an existing category and line, or create a proposed category/line with its budget amount.
4. Decide whether to backfill existing uncategorized allocations.
5. Save and review the resulting lines and categorized actuals.

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. AI output is a proposal, not funder approval. Review category names, line totals, period spreads, mappings, exclusions, and warnings before applying any plan.

Import a Budget Spreadsheet through GrantLink AI

Spreadsheet import is available in a grant-scoped chat rather than as a conventional Import spreadsheet button.

1. From the Budget empty state, open Ask GrantLink AI. If the budget already has rows, open a grant-scoped chat from that grant.
2. Attach a CSV, XLS, XLSX, or XLSM budget file up to 10 MB.
3. Ask GrantLink to import the approved budget.
4. Review the persisted import preview, including proposed rows, periods, QuickBooks mappings, exclusions, totals, and warnings.
5. Correct the source workbook or answer mapping questions when the preview reports unresolved reconciliation, duplicate, hidden-sheet, schedule, or account issues.
6. 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.
7. 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

1. Open the schedule control in Budget.
2. Create monthly, quarterly, or explicit periods. Monthly and quarterly schedules require grant period dates.
3. Review labels and non-overlapping start/end dates.
4. Optionally spread each line evenly across the periods.
5. 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 one budget line

1. Select the line row to open its details.
2. Review Budgeted, Spent, Remaining, allocation activity, and Budget history.
3. Select Edit budget line.
4. Change the name, amount, or description.
5. If the amount changed, enter the required Modification Reason and choose whether to Share this reason for reuse in reports and portals.
6. 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

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

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