Lesson 11.1 – Integration with FastFund Accounting

Welcome to Module 11! Throughout this course, we have focused primarily on the tools and workflows within the FastFund Raising module. However, FastFund Online is designed as a comprehensive, cloud-based system that seamlessly provides all the tools you need to manage your fiscal, development, and payroll responsibilities in one place.

When FastFund Raising is fully integrated with FastFund Accounting, it eliminates the need for double data entry, reduces errors, and ensures that your development team and your fiscal team are always looking at the exact same financial numbers. In this lesson, we will explore how data flows between the two modules and how certain administrative controls shift when the systems are linked.

1. The Shared Entity Database

One of the most powerful features of FastFund’s integration is its common names database. All names entered into the system—whether they are Vendors, Clients, Employees, Other Names, or Constituents (Donors)—are collectively referred to as “Entities” and are stored in a single, shared table across all applications.

Because the database is shared, a single company or individual can easily be classified as more than one entity type. For example, the law firm that provides your organization with legal services (a Vendor) can also write a check to your annual gala (a Constituent/Donor). In FastFund, there is only one entity record for that law firm, sharing the same contact names, addresses, and phone numbers across both modules. If you update the mailing address in the Constituent record, the linked Vendor record in Accounting is automatically updated.

2. Centralized Chart of Accounts

In a stand-alone fundraising system, you must build your own accounts to track cash and revenue. However, if your FastFund Raising system is integrated with FastFund Accounting, the setup and control of your Chart of Accounts is managed entirely by the Accounting module.

This ensures strict adherence to your organization’s general ledger structure. When you are setting up new Gifts or Appeals in the Fundraising module, you will simply select the appropriate revenue or receivable accounts from a drop-down list that pulls directly from your live Accounting chart of accounts.

3. Automated General Ledger Posting

Because the chart of accounts is linked, transaction posting is completely automated. When you record a donation to a specific appeal and gift in FastFund Raising, the system automatically credits the proper fund and general ledger revenue account in FastFund Accounting.

Similarly, when you record a pledge, the system automatically posts the debit to the Pledge Receivable control account that was created in the Accounting system. This seamless data flow means there are no separate, tedious batch export/import processes required to move your daily fundraising totals into your accounting software.

4. Workflows Managed by Accounting

When the modules are integrated, certain periodic processing tasks that impact the general ledger are handed over to the fiscal team in the Accounting module to maintain proper segregation of duties:

• Bank Deposits: While your development team enters cash gifts and pledge payments (which automatically sit in the “Undeposited Funds” holding account), the actual Bank Deposit function to move those funds into the live cash checking accounts is controlled from the Accounting system.
• Closing the Books: The crucial internal control of closing accounting periods (both Soft Closes and Permanent Closes) is entirely managed through the Accounting module when the systems are integrated.
• Note on Appeal Expenses: While revenue flows automatically, if you choose to manually track the costs of a fundraising event (like printing or postage) using the “Expenses” tab within an Appeal setup in the Fundraising module, those specific memo entries are not linked to the actual expenses posted in the Accounting general ledger.