In TidyOne, a fund is a financial context that can be linked to a project and to transactions. It can be marked Restricted or General / unrestricted, has a currency, a purpose and an optional target. When you record a donation or expense, selecting the fund lets reports calculate inflows, outflows and the difference. Crucially, the Restricted label and Purpose text do not automatically block an ineligible expense. TidyOne tracks what you record; the nonprofit still needs to review agreements, donor intent, funder rules, evidence and accounting records.
What a restricted fund means in TidyOne
A project answers “what activity or campaign are we tracking?”, while a fund answers “which pool of money do we want to track separately?”. For example, a “2026 Recovery” project may have a general project fund and a separate “Intensive therapy” fund for money the nonprofit wants to follow distinctly.
Under Projects & Funds → New fund, the current form contains Fund name, Project, Fund type, Currency, Status, Target and Purpose. The current Romanian UI labels the types Restricționat and General / nerestricționat. If you choose a project, the fund is tied to that project. If you leave Project empty, the fund remains organization-wide.
Before creating the fund: define the project, currency and real-world restriction
Before clicking Fond nou (New fund), record why the money is restricted. The restriction might come from a contract, a campaign promise, a grant condition or an internal decision. TidyOne cannot infer that rule from the fund name. Write a purpose that is specific enough for another team member to understand what should be checked before payment.
Choose the currency carefully. On Projects & Funds, fund inflows and outflows are calculated in the fund's configured currency. Current code does not convert currencies and does not prevent a transaction in another currency from being assigned to that fund. For a clean audit trail, normally keep one currency per fund or use separate funds by currency.
Step 1 — Create the project and fund
If the money belongs to a defined campaign or activity, create the project first in Projects & Funds. In multi-beneficiary mode, the project can link one or more beneficiaries and an optional case for each. Then click Fond nou. Example: project “2026 Recovery”; fund “Intensive therapy – Anna”; type Restricted; currency RON; purpose “Therapy sessions and assessments for the 2026 Therapy case”.
You can also enter a target. However, the current fund list and report fund table do not display a fund-target progress bar comparable to the project target bar. Do not tell the team that the fund target is automatically being monitored visually until the interface explicitly provides that feature.
Step 2 — Record the donation once and select the fund
Open Finance → + Income / donation. Enter name, amount, currency, category, date and, where relevant, the donor or sponsor contact. Choose the project and then the fund. Once a project is selected, the fund selector keeps organization-wide funds plus funds linked to that project; a fund linked to another project is not offered in that combination.
There is also a useful save rule: if you select a fund that already belongs to a project while Project is blank, TidyOne uses the fund's project as the transaction's effective project. For operational clarity, still verify both Project and Fund visibly before saving whenever possible.
If one donation supports multiple beneficiaries, enable Împarte suma între mai mulți beneficiari (Split the amount across multiple beneficiaries). Beneficiary/case allocations explain the internal distribution of the same donation; fund and project remain on the original transaction. Do not duplicate the full donation for each person when the bank received one payment.
Step 3 — Record the expense and preserve supporting evidence
When money is used from the fund, open Finance → + Expense. Choose project, fund, amount, currency, category, date and beneficiary/case context where relevant. You can attach an invoice, receipt, contract or bank PDF/image. The file is also placed in Documents and remains linked to the transaction through its transaction relationship.
For a shared expense across multiple beneficiaries, keep one real transaction and use allocations. The transaction still has one fund. If a single invoice legally needs to be charged to two separate funds, the current transaction model does not split one transaction across multiple funds. Do not create fictional duplicates simply to force the report. Agree the correct representation with the accountant and retain reconciliation evidence.
Step 4 — Do not mix currencies without an explicit process
Suppose the fund is configured in RON, but a 300 EUR donation is accidentally assigned to it. The Projects & Funds fund row calculates inflows and outflows from the configured fund currency; the EUR transaction is not converted into RON and does not increase the RON value shown on that row. In Reports, the finance section can show currencies separately, while the fund table still calculates the fund row in its own configured currency.
If your nonprofit receives multiple currencies, a clearer structure is usually separate funds such as “Therapy – RON” and “Therapy – EUR”, or an external documented conversion process followed by transactions that reflect the actual accounting entries. TidyOne does not perform FX conversion.
What “Available” means — and what it does not mean
On Projects & Funds, a fund row calculates Inflows − Outflows from transactions assigned to that fund in its configured currency. That page loads organization transactions without the report date-range filter, so the value is effectively the cumulative difference across the fund transactions TidyOne has loaded.
This “Available” number is not automatically the balance of a bank account. It can differ because of missing entries, duplicates, bank fees, currency exchanges, unassigned receipts or other transactions. And even a positive arithmetic difference does not mean every unit of currency can be spent for any purpose.
Step 5 — Review the fund in Reports
In Reports, you can choose a project and then a fund. The fund selector includes organization-wide funds and funds compatible with the selected project. After Actualizează raportul (Update report), choosing a fund filters transactions by that fund relationship. The Funds section shows inflows, outflows and “Available” for the funds in the report.
This is where one crucial difference appears: Reports only uses the selected period. Therefore, “Available” in the report's fund table is the net movement during the reporting period, not necessarily the lifetime balance of the fund.
Worked example: why a monthly report can show a negative fund balance
This is a fictional example. The restricted “Intensive therapy – Anna” fund is in RON and belongs to the “2026 Recovery” project. In August, the nonprofit receives and records an 8,000 RON donation to the fund. In September, it pays 2,500 RON for therapy, attaches the invoice and payment evidence, and selects the same fund.
| Period / view | Inflows | Outflows | Displayed value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projects & Funds after both entries | 8,000 RON | 2,500 RON | Available 5,500 RON |
| September-only report | 0 RON | 2,500 RON | Available −2,500 RON |
| August–September report | 8,000 RON | 2,500 RON | Available 5,500 RON |
A −2,500 RON value in the September report does not automatically mean the fund is overdrawn. It means outflows exceeded inflows inside that date range. To interpret a cumulative fund balance, include the relevant history from the fund's beginning or reconcile with external records.
How the fund-project relationship propagates
A fund can be organization-wide or carry a project relationship. When saving a transaction, TidyOne uses the project selected in the transaction form; if that field is empty and the fund has a project, the fund's project becomes the effective transaction project. This supports project reporting but should not replace a human review of the form.
An organization-wide fund can still appear in the fund list when a project is selected. That is intentional in current logic: a general nonprofit fund can be used alongside a project. If your internal rules prohibit that in a particular situation, TidyOne does not enforce those internal rules automatically.
How funds interact with beneficiaries and allocations
In multi-beneficiary mode, the fund does not replace the beneficiary or case. You can have one shared project, one restricted fund and a transaction split between two people. Beneficiary/case allocations store the distribution, while the fund remains on the original transaction.
For the fund total, the original transaction should be counted once. For one person's portion, use the Beneficiary / case report. Remember the current allocation limitation already documented elsewhere: to make the beneficiary/case report apply allocated amounts, leave Project → All projects. You can still use the Fund filter to narrow the report to the relevant fund.
Closing, archiving and internal control
A fund can be Active, Closed or Archived. The current finance form loads funds that are not archived, which means a Closed fund can remain selectable. In other words, Closed is not currently a technical block on new transactions. If you need to prevent accidental use, archiving is stricter in the present interface, but it should only be used when it matches the nonprofit's process.
Before closing or archiving a fund, review transactions, documents, currencies, beneficiary allocations and external balances. Document what happens to any remaining amount: carry-forward, return, permitted reallocation or another treatment required by the applicable rules.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Restricted-fund reconciliation checklist
Frequently asked questions
Does TidyOne prevent an expense that does not match the fund purpose?
No. The Purpose text and Restricted type are stored for organization and reporting, but the finance form does not perform a legal or contractual eligibility check.
If I select the fund, must I also select the project?
If the fund belongs to a project and Project is left blank, saving uses the fund's project. Still verify both fields visibly to reduce mistakes.
Why can the monthly report show the fund as negative while Projects & Funds shows money available?
Because the report calculates movements only inside the selected period. Projects & Funds does not apply the same report date-range filter.
Can I use an EUR fund inside a RON project?
The data can be stored, but TidyOne does not automatically convert currencies. Track currencies separately and do not combine them without a documented external method.
Can a Closed fund still be used in a transaction?
In the current UI, non-archived funds are loaded into the finance form, so a Closed fund can remain selectable. Review the status manually or archive it when your process permits.
Can one transaction be split across two funds?
The current transaction model has one fund relationship. For an operation that must be allocated between funds for accounting purposes, agree the correct representation with your accountant instead of duplicating the same payment.
Does Available tell me how much I am legally allowed to spend?
No. It is a calculation from recorded transactions. Spending permission depends on the applicable agreements, donor restrictions and organizational rules.
Read next
Keep currency, project, evidence and reporting period clear. Use TidyOne for traceability, and bank statements, accounting records and funding documents for validation.
Open Projects & FundsThis tutorial describes observable TidyOne behavior in the V13.5.27 package, reviewed for V13.5.28 on 24 September 2026. Application runtime is unchanged by this editorial release. Examples are fictional. This guide does not replace statutory accounting, bank reconciliation, funding agreements or legal/tax advice.