Finance

Setting up budgets

Create a budget, set a goal, and see what is spent, committed and left

A budget in Greek Connect is a named pot of money with a goal, such as "Rush Week: $2,000" or "Formal: $5,000". Receipts and spend requests say which budget they belong to. Each budget shows how much is spent, how much is promised and how much is left, and you can run as many at once as you like.

What you'll need

A chapter Admin account, or a role with the Budget Creator or Admin permission.
Budget turned on for your chapter (see Step 1).

Step 1: Turn on Budget

A chapter admin turns Budget on:

1. Open Admin → Chapter setup → Features.

2. In the Finance section, turn on Budget.

Budgets then appears under Finance → Budget.

Step 2: Check who can do what

Budget has its own permission in Admin → Roles. Open a role, find Budget, and pick a level:

None: can't see budgets.
User: sees only the budgets they own. Give this to committee chairs you make budget owners.
Creator or Admin: creates, edits, archives and deletes budgets, and sees every budget.

Chapter Admins can always manage budgets.

Members don't need a Budget permission to use a budget. Anyone who can submit a receipt or a spend request sees each open budget's name and how much is left on it, so they can pick the right one.

Step 3: Create a budget

1. Open Finance → Budget and click New budget.

2. Fill in the details:

Name, for example "Rush Week". Required.
Goal: the amount you plan to spend. Required, and more than $0.
Start date and End date: optional. Use the quick picks (This year, Next year, This quarter, Next quarter), or pick Never for a budget with no end.
Owner (optional): a member responsible for this budget, such as the recruitment chair.

3. Click Create budget.

Dates are mostly for reference, but once a budget's end date passes, members can no longer pick it for new receipts or spend requests. It stays on the Budget page with everything already filed against it.

Step 4: Read the Budget page

The top of the page totals every budget:

Spent: approved receipts, whether or not they've been paid yet.
Committed: approved spend requests that haven't been spent yet.
Goals: the total of all your goals, how much is left, and how many budgets are over.

Each budget row shows how much has been spent out of its goal, and its dates. The bar fills solid for what's spent and lighter for what's committed. It turns red when the budget is over its goal. The right side says how much is left, or how much it is over.

How the numbers are worked out

Spent counts a receipt once it is approved. Pending receipts are listed on the budget but don't count yet.
Committed counts each approved spend request, minus the approved receipts already filed against it. A $300 request with a $250 receipt commits only $50 more, so the money is never counted twice.
Left is the goal minus spent minus committed.

Going over a goal never blocks anyone. Members and approvers see a warning, such as "This is more than the $120 left in Rush Week.", and can carry on.

Step 5: Open a budget

Click a budget to see:

Its spent, committed and left figures, its dates and its owner
Spending By category and By member
Its Spend requests, with how much each one still commits
Its Receipts

Use the pencil to edit the name, goal, dates or owner.

How receipts and requests get into a budget

Spend requests: a budget is required. The member picks it when they ask. See Spend requests.
Receipts linked to a spend request go to that request's budget automatically.
Other receipts: when your chapter has at least one open budget, New Receipt shows a Budget picker. It's optional, and "No budget" is always allowed.
Fixing a receipt: reimbursement admins can set or change the budget of a receipt that isn't linked to a request from the receipt's detail view.

A receipt with no budget doesn't count toward any budget.

Archiving and deleting

When a budget is finished, open it and click Archive. An archived budget:

Disappears from the Budget page unless you turn on Show archived
Can't be picked for new receipts or spend requests
Keeps every receipt and request already filed against it

Click Unarchive to bring it back.

Delete only appears when nothing has been filed against the budget yet. Deleting can't be undone. Once a budget has receipts or spend requests, archive it instead.

Common questions

A budget says "No goal set"

Some budgets carried over from the older Budget app have no goal. They show what's been spent, but no bar or over warning. On the Budget page, click Set goal on that row.

Can I stop members from overspending?

No. Budgets warn but never block. Approvers decide on each spend request, and the warning tells them when an approval would take a budget over.

Why can't a member pick a budget?

Members can only pick open budgets. A budget drops off the list when it's archived or its end date has passed. Edit the dates or unarchive it to put it back.

Can a budget track income?

No. Budgets track spending. Money coming in is tracked in Dues.