In Springly, you can enable allocation management. This helps you optimize your budget tracking by clearly identifying your main cost centers.
You can now create forecast funds in Springly. Learn more: Using forecast funds (video included)
This article covers the following topics:
- What is allocation management?
- How allocation management works
- Enabling allocation management
- Creating and managing funds and budget items
- Allocating entries to a fund
- Canceling an allocation
Our comprehensive guide on the topic (11 pages) combines theory and practice to walk you through setting up allocation management for your nonprofit. 👉 ACCESS THE GUIDE
What is allocation management?
It aims to explain the financial results of an organization.
- General accounting provides a high-level view of the organization's accounts;
- Allocation management provides a detailed breakdown by fund, project, or expenditure item.
By creating specific funds, you can easily identify how revenue is distributed. This produces an allocation result (gain or loss) for each item.
Allocation management analyzes expenditures and revenues by fund:
- It does not analyze results by accounting accounts;
- Only expenditure entries (class 6) and revenue entries (class 7) can be allocated.
How allocation management works
Each expenditure or revenue entry can be allocated to one or more funds. For example:
- An operating fund (training costs, administrative expenses, etc.);
- A product sales fund (clothing, merchandise, etc.).
For example, you could allocate a t-shirt order as follows:
- An amount of $X to the "clothing" budget item under the product sales fund;
- An amount of $Y to the "shipping costs" budget item under the operating fund.
Once an entry is allocated, it automatically feeds into the funds, which you can find in your Expenditures & Revenues report or your Profit and Loss statement.
Enabling allocation management in Springly
To enable this feature, go to Settings > Accounting and turn on "Funds & Allocation".
Optionally, you can also enable "Direct Allocation". This lets you assign an entry (Expenditure / Revenue) directly to one or more funds — though it's never required.
Creating funds and budget items
Here are the steps in writing.
Once allocation management is enabled, you can access your fund management page by going to Accounting > Funds & Allocation, then clicking the Fund Management tab.
Start by creating your first fund. You can then add:
- the budget items linked to that fund;
- additional funds and their related budget items.
Your page might end up looking something like this:
If needed, you can edit, archive, or delete funds or budget items by clicking the three vertical dots next to the fund or budget item.
Archiving funds or budget items reduces the number of options shown during allocation and keeps your "Fund Management" page tidy, while preserving the historical allocation data in your accounting records. Archived funds will no longer appear as options when allocating entries.
To view archived funds and budget items — and unarchive them if needed — simply click the button in the top right corner of the page:
Allocating entries to a fund
Here is the step-by-step breakdown.
Once your funds are set up, you can allocate your expenditure and revenue entries by going to Accounting > Funds & Allocation, then clicking the Entries to Allocate tab.
All unallocated expenditure and revenue entries (classes 6 and 7) appear here. This means entries from a closed accounting period can still be allocated after the period has been closed.
To allocate entries, simply:
- Select one or more entries — use the filters to find them quickly if needed;
- Click the "Allocate X entry(ies)" button that appears;
- Choose the budget items and enter the amount to assign to each, either as a value or a percentage.
If the full amount hasn't been allocated, a warning message will appear. You must allocate the entire amount — across one or more budget items — before you can save.
Once an entry has been allocated to a fund, the allocation appears in your accounting reports: Expenditures & Revenues and Profit and Loss.
How do I cancel an allocation?
To view allocated entries or remove an allocation, go to the Allocation History tab on the Accounting > Funds & Allocation page.
Here you'll find all your past allocations, which you can view, edit, and cancel.
To remove an allocation, use the available filters to find the entry, then click the trash icon on the right side of the row. Once the allocation is deleted, the entry will reappear in the "Entries to Allocate" tab.
To go further:
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