Tracking Customers and Vendors for Grants

QuickBooks Online Customers and Vendors both play a part in grant management. The sections below explain how to set them up for funders, grants, and contractors, and how GrantLink uses them.

Customers in grant management

Using Customers for funders

Some organizations use a QuickBooks Customer to represent each funder. You can then track receivables by funder, but only when the receivables are posted to Accounts Receivable and assigned to that Customer. You can also see payment history and run funder reports in QuickBooks.

To set it up:

1. Create a Customer for each funder.
2. Assign the funder's pledges, invoices, payments, and other receivable activity to that Customer.
3. In GrantLink, open the funder's record and link the QuickBooks Customer in the QuickBooks Integration section.

If you set your company to the nonprofit tax form, you can change the Customer label to Donors in QuickBooks Online settings.

Using Customers for grants

Other organizations use a Customer, or a sub-customer under the funder, to represent each grant. Sub-customers can go up to four levels below a parent Customer. The approach fits teams that already know the Customer and sub-customer model, or that need Customer-based reports in QuickBooks.

To set it up in GrantLink:

1. Add the grant manually or from a PDF of the award letter, agreement, or RFP.
2. On the grant's Details page, use the QuickBooks panel to link the Customer, sub-customer, Project, Location, or Class on the Expenses tab.
3. If a QuickBooks record also identifies the grant's income, link it on the Money received tab.

Vendors in grant management

Why vendor tracking helps

Accurate vendor records support Form 1099 reporting, consultant fee monitoring, procurement reviews, and audit documentation.

Vendor setup

For each vendor, record:

• The legal name, for 1099 reporting
• The tax ID
• The address
• The payment terms

Mark vendors who should get a Form 1099 for 1099 tracking in QuickBooks Online. Some grants require reports by vendor. In that case, add the grant reference in the memo or in a custom field.

Connecting vendor costs to grants

Choosing a vendor on a transaction doesn't allocate the cost to a grant. The grant's QuickBooks links decide which costs belong to the grant, and you then review the allocation.

1. Enter the bill or expense in QuickBooks Online.
2. Choose the vendor, and add the Customer, Project, Class, or other tag that identifies the grant.
3. In GrantLink, confirm that the tag is linked on the grant's Expenses tab.
4. Review the synced line, its allocation, and its budget line if needed.

You can review and filter synced vendor data in Ledger and Allocations. Use QuickBooks Online for official vendor, payment, and 1099 reports.

Projects and sub-customers

Projects are available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Plan features can change, so check Intuit's plan page before you buy.

A Project isn't the same as a sub-customer. Each Project belongs to exactly one Customer, while a sub-customer is a record nested under a parent in the Customer list.

Using Projects for grants

1. Create a Customer for the funder.
2. Create a Project for each grant under that Customer.
3. Assign time and expenses to the Project.

Projects give you a Customer-and-Project structure, project profitability reports, and time tracking.

Projects in GrantLink

Link a Project to a grant through the grant's QuickBooks links. GrantLink doesn't create funder or grant records from your QuickBooks Customer list by itself, so you add those records or choose which ones to import. QuickBooks Online Projects track project costs and profit. The approved funder budget belongs on the grant's Budget page in GrantLink, and it may use different categories and dates.

Best practices

For funders

1. Use consistent names.
2. Keep contact information current.
3. Set payment terms.
4. Keep a record of communications.

For vendors

1. Collect Form W-9 when your vendor and 1099 policy requires it.
2. Turn on 1099 tracking for vendors who need it.
3. Document vendor qualifications.
4. Keep contracts on file.

For Projects

1. Name each Project to match its grant.
2. Reconcile project costs with the grant budget that you keep separately.
3. Track project deadlines.
4. Close out completed Projects.

Troubleshooting

A vendor's cost doesn't appear in GrantLink

• Open the transaction in QuickBooks Online and check the vendor and the grant tag.
• Check that the transaction falls within the synced period and that the last sync succeeded.
• After you fix QuickBooks Online, sync again and review the line in Ledger or Allocations.

A funder is linked to the wrong Customer

• Open the funder's record in GrantLink.
• Link the correct QuickBooks Customer in the QuickBooks Integration section.
• Keep each grant's expense and income links on that grant.

How GrantLink supports this today

After you add a grant, use its Expenses and Money received tabs to pick the Customers, sub-customers, Projects, Locations, or Classes that belong to it. GrantLink allocates matching eligible expense lines automatically. The vendor on a line and the line's budget category are separate facts, and they may need review. Money received links match income or revenue records, so a matched line isn't always a cash receipt.

GrantLink doesn't require one tracking type for the whole organization, and QuickBooks Online stays your accounting record. GrantLink doesn't change QuickBooks Online unless your organization allows that change in Settings > QuickBooks > Permissions. To create a report, select Draft report with Assistant on the grant's Reporting > Reports page, or open Chats > New chat.

Sources

• Intuit: Create projects: which plans include Projects, setup, and the link to one Customer.
• Intuit: Add new customers: Customers and sub-customers.
• Intuit: Configure an account for a nonprofit organization: the nonprofit tax form setting and the Donors label.
• IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC: the official filing rules. QuickBooks Online vendor settings don't decide your federal filing duties.