Tracking Customers and Vendors for Grants

QuickBooks Customers and Vendors play important roles in grant management. Here's how to set them up effectively with GrantLink.

Customers in Grant Management

Using Customers for Funders

Some organizations use QuickBooks Customers to represent funders:

Advantages:

• Track receivables by funder
• See payment history
• Generate funder-specific reports in QuickBooks

Setup:

1. Create a Customer for each funder
2. Use Projects under the Customer for individual grants
3. Link the QuickBooks Customer to the GrantLink Funder

Using Customers for Grants

Alternatively, use Customers directly for grants:

When to use this approach:

• You want to track grants as "jobs" in QuickBooks
• Your team is familiar with the Customer/Job model
• You need Customer-based reporting in QuickBooks

Configuration in GrantLink:

1. Go to Settings > QBO Mapping
2. Select Customers for grant tracking
3. Each grant maps to a QuickBooks Customer

Vendors in Grant Management

Why Vendor Tracking Matters

Accurate vendor tracking helps with:

• Form 1099 reporting
• Consultant fee monitoring
• Procurement compliance
• Audit documentation

Vendor Setup Best Practices

1. Complete vendor information

   • Legal name (for 1099s)
   • Tax ID
   • Address
   • Payment terms

2. Use vendor types

   • Consultant
   • Subcontractor
   • Supplier
   • Government

3. Track by grant when needed

   • Some grants require vendor-specific reporting
   • Use memos or custom fields for grant references

Linking Vendors to Grants

GrantLink tracks vendor spending by grant automatically:

1. Enter a bill or expense in QuickBooks
2. Assign the vendor
3. Apply the Class (grant)
4. GrantLink captures the vendor relationship

Vendor Reports

In GrantLink, view vendor spending:

• By grant (which vendors were paid from this grant)
• By vendor (which grants paid this vendor)
• By period (vendor payments over time)

Projects and Sub-Customers

QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced offer Projects:

Using Projects for Grants

1. Create a Customer for the funder
2. Add Projects under the Customer for each grant
3. Track time and expenses to Projects

Benefits:

• Hierarchical organization
• Project profitability reports
• Time tracking integration

GrantLink Integration

When configured for Customer/Project tracking:

• Projects map to grants
• Parent Customers map to funders
• Full hierarchy is preserved

Best Practices

For Funders/Customers

1. Use consistent naming conventions
2. Keep contact information current
3. Set up payment terms
4. Track communication history

For Vendors

1. Complete W-9 collection
2. Set up 1099 tracking
3. Document vendor qualifications
4. Maintain contracts on file

For Projects

1. Match project names to grants
2. Set project budgets
3. Track to project deadlines
4. Archive completed projects

Troubleshooting

Vendor Not Appearing in GrantLink

• Verify the vendor is active in QuickBooks
• Check the last sync time
• Trigger a manual sync

Customer/Funder Mismatch

• Review the funder mapping in GrantLink
• Ensure the correct Customer is linked
• Update the link in funder settings

How GrantLink supports this today

GrantLink can map grants to QuickBooks Customers, sub-customers/jobs, Projects, Classes, or app-only tracking. Configure this in Settings > QuickBooks Mapping before importing grants. Use Settings > QuickBooks Permissions to keep QBO read-only or to allow selected writebacks.