Lesson 3.3 – Chart of Accounts Structure for Fundraising

Welcome to Lesson 3.3! In FastFund Raising, the Chart of Accounts is the financial backbone that helps you classify the money you have raised, track the amounts owed to you for pledges, and monitor how much your organization has spent on fundraising activities.

Note: If your FastFund Raising system is integrated with FastFund Accounting, the setup of your accounts is controlled by the fiscal office and automatically linked to your fundraising data. However, understanding this structure is critical for accurate donation entry.

In this lesson, we will explore the account number format, the specific segments that make up an account, and the key accounts required for fundraising.

1. The Account Number Format

FastFund provides a highly flexible, table-driven account structure. You can define an account number with up to six independent segments, allowing for highly detailed tracking.

At a minimum, your FastFund Chart of Accounts format must contain a three-segment structure:

• Fund: Minimum 1 digit (e.g., 0)
• Cost Center: Minimum 1 digit (e.g., 0)
• Object Code: Minimum 4 digits (e.g., 0000)

Your final account number format might look like this: 1-2-6000.

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: Display the ‘Account Number Preview’ screen in Account Settings, showing the Segment Digits drop-downs for Fund, Cost Center 1, and Object Code.]

2. Breaking Down the Account Segments

To understand how a donation reaches the correct bucket in your general ledger, you must understand the individual segments that make up a linked account string:

• Funds (Net Asset Classes): The first segment identifies the overarching fund. A fund is a self-balancing group of accounts (assets, liabilities, net assets, revenue, and expenses). At fiscal year-end, the excess or deficiency of revenue over expenses is closed out to this fund’s net assets. Common examples include Unrestricted or Temporarily Restricted funds.
• Cost Centers: These middle segments identify a specific program, grant, funding source, or department. FastFund requires at least one cost center, but allows up to three tiers. You can customize the labels for these segments (e.g., identifying Cost Center 1 as “Program” and Cost Center 2 as “Funding Source”).
• Object Codes: The final required segment identifies the actual general ledger account type (asset, liability, revenue, or expense). Because FastFund uses a table-driven linker, you only set up an object code once (e.g., 6000 for Postage) and can link it across multiple different funds and cost centers.
• Sub-Accounts (Optional): You can add a sub-account segment off of the object code for more granular tracking without cluttering the primary object code. For example, a “Travel” object code could have sub-accounts for “01 – Mileage” and “02 – Airfare.”

3. Key Accounts for Fundraising

When configuring FastFund Raising, there are specific Object Codes you must establish to process development transactions accurately:

• Revenue Accounts: Used to classify the donations you receive. Each donation (Gift) is linked to a revenue account to track different revenue streams, such as Cash Donations, Ticket Sales, or Memorials.
• Pledge Accounts: Used to record promises to give. You must set up a Pledge Receivable control account to track outstanding pledge balances.
• In-Kind Transfer: A holding account used to record non-cash contributions, such as donated goods or professional services.
• Expense Accounts: Used to track the direct costs of your appeals, such as printing, mailing, and advertising, allowing you to measure the net success of an event.
• System Accounts (Undeposited Funds): FastFund utilizes a mandatory system account called Undeposited Funds. All cash gifts, cash receipts, and pledge payments are automatically posted to this holding account. They remain here until they are grouped together and officially deposited into your bank account.

4. Defining and Linking Accounts

Creating a valid account in FastFund is a multi-step process that relies on linking your segments together. You cannot post a donation to a segment; you can only post to a fully linked account number.

Steps to Create and Link Accounts:

1. Define Segments: Navigate to Lists > Chart of Accounts > Segments. Use the drop-down to individually add your Funds, Cost Centers, and Object Codes.
2. Access the Linker: Navigate to Lists > Chart of Accounts > Accounts and click the Link/Unlink text link.
3. Select Account Type: Choose whether you are linking Balance Sheet or Revenue/Expense accounts.
4. Select Segments: Check the boxes for the specific Funds and Cost Centers you wish to use. The available Object Codes will populate in the Unselected Accounts box.
5. Link: Highlight the desired Object Codes, click the Right Pointing Arrow to move them to the Selected Accounts box, and click LINK SELECTED ACCOUNTS.

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: Display the ‘Link/Unlink’ screen showing the Action radio buttons, the Unselected Accounts box on the left, the directional arrows in the middle, and the Selected Accounts box on the right.]