Funds

A Fund represents a specific purpose or cause for which donations are collected in an organization. Funds help you organize and track donations by categorizing them based on how the money is intended to be used, such as programs, projects, or operational activities.

Each organization can create multiple funds to reflect different initiatives or objectives. This allows you to manage donations, reporting, and financial tracking separately for each fund while maintaining a unified system of records.

Why Use Funds?

Non-profit organizations often receive donations for different purposes. Funds allow you to clearly segregate and manage these contributions, ensuring transparency and accurate tracking of how donations are utilized.

Using funds helps you:

Track donations received for specific causes or programs.
Associate donations with the appropriate purpose during billing.
Generate fund-level reports for auditing and compliance.
Maintain clarity in donor communication and financial records.

Scenario: An NGO runs separate initiatives for education, healthcare, and disaster relief. Instead of tracking all donations together, the organization creates individual funds for each initiative. When a donor contributes, the donation is recorded against the relevant fund, allowing the NGO to monitor collections and usage independently for each cause.

How Funds Work in the ERP

In the ERP system, funds form the basis for organizing donation records. When a donor makes a contribution, a donation entry is created and associated with both the donor and the selected fund. This ensures that all donation transactions are properly categorized and can be tracked accurately.

Once a fund is created, you can:

Associate donations with the fund.
Track donor contributions fund-wise.
Generate reports to analyze fund performance and utilization.

This helps ensure transparency, accountability, and efficient financial management for non-profit operations.

Key Points to Note

Each fund represents a specific purpose or cause for collecting donations.
An organization can have multiple funds.
Donations are always associated with a fund.
Fund-wise reports help track and analyze contributions effectively.

Creating Funds

Funds allow NGOs to define and manage specific purposes for which donations are collected. Each fund can be configured with its own type, amount, and accounting details to ensure accurate tracking and reporting.

Here’s how to create a fund:

Log in to your Zoho ERP organization.
Go to Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Click + New.

Enter the required details in the following fields.

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name for the fund. The name must be under 100 characters.
Fund Type	Select the fund type from the dropdown.
Fund Amount	Enter the amount of this fund.
Minimum Fund Amount	Enter the lowest amount accepted for online donations to this fund.
Fund Purpose	Select the purpose of the fund from the dropdown. This field is mandatory.
Suggested Fund Amounts	Add suggested donation amounts that donors can choose on hosted payment pages.
Account	Select the account in which this contribution has to be accounted.
Description	Enter a description for the fund. The description can be up to 2000 characters.

Once created, the fund will be available for use within your organization, helping you categorize and manage NGO funds efficiently while maintaining clear and accurate financial records.

Understanding Fund Fields

Name

Use a clear and specific name so donors and internal teams can identify the fund easily.

Fund Types

Fund types help classify NGO funds based on the nature of the contribution and its intended use. Assigning the correct fund type ensures accurate accounting, reporting, and compliance with organizational and regulatory requirements. These are the various fund types in Zoho ERP.

Fund Type	Description
Revenue	Funds received for regular operational activities and day-to-day expenses of the NGO.
Corpus	Funds intended to be retained permanently, where only the income generated from the fund is typically utilized.
In Kind	Non-monetary contributions such as goods, services, or materials received by the NGO.
Grant - Government	Funds received from government bodies for specific programs or initiatives.
Grant - Private	Funds received from private organizations, trusts, or individuals for designated purposes.

Fund Amount

Fund Amount is the default amount associated with the fund. This amount can appear as the pre-filled donation amount when the fund is shared through a hosted payment page.

Minimum Fund Amount

You can set the minimum fund amount to limit the lowest donation accepted for this fund online. If a donor enters a lower amount, they cannot proceed to payment until it meets the configured amount.

Fund Purpose

The Fund Purpose specifies how a fund will be used. For organizations that receive foreign contributions, selecting a Fund Purpose helps ensure compliance with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), which requires such contributions to be used only for the purposes for which they were received.

Fund Purpose	Description
Social	Funds intended for social welfare activities such as healthcare, livelihood support, or community development.
Cultural	Funds designated for the promotion or preservation of cultural activities, arts, or heritage.
Educational	Funds used for educational programs, scholarships, or academic initiatives.
Economic	Funds directed towards economic development activities such as skill building or entrepreneurship support.
Religious	Funds used for religious purposes or activities associated with a religious organization.

Account

Whenever a donor donates to a fund, the corresponding fund amount will be mapped into the account that you choose from the dropdown. The dropdown displays the list of Fund accounts. To get an account listed in the dropdown, you’ll have to create an Fund account. Refer Accounting to learn more about how to create accounts in Zoho ERP.

Suggested Fund Amounts

Suggested Fund Amounts lets you add amounts that donors can choose from when donating to a fund. These amounts are displayed as suggestions on the hosted page. Donors can select one of the suggested amounts or enter a custom amount before proceeding with the payment.

Editing Funds

Editing a fund allows you to update its details when requirements change. You can modify information such as the fund name, type, amount, or description while retaining existing configurations.

Here’s how to edit a fund:

Log in to your Zoho ERP organization.
Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund which you want to edit.
Click the Edit icon.
Make the required changes.
Click Save to save changes.

Once saved, the updated details will be reflected in the fund configuration.

You can share a hosted payment page for a single fund or for multiple funds. Donors can use this page to contribute to the funds you include.

Note:

A payment gateway must be configured before you can generate a hosted payment page URL.
You can only add revenue funds to the hosted payment page.

You can share a hosted payment page for a specific fund directly from the fund’s detail page. Donors who access this page can contribute only to the selected fund.

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund for which you want to share a hosted payment page.
Click Share Hosted Payment Page.
Select the Location from the dropdown.
Share the page using any of the available sharing modes.

Instead of sharing separate links for each fund, you can combine multiple funds on a single hosted payment page and share it as one link. Donors can see all the listed funds in one place, select the fund they want to contribute to, and complete their donation from the same page.

Scenario:

Patricia, a fundraising manager at Zylker Foundation, wants to collect donations for education, medical aid, and disaster relief during an upcoming campaign. Instead of sharing three separate links, she clicks Share Hosted Payment Page in the Funds module, adds all three funds to a single payment page, and generates a QR code. She prints the code on the campaign posters, and donors scan it to choose the fund they want to support.

Here’s how to share multiple funds from the Funds list page:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Click the More icon at the top right of the page.
Select Share Hosted Payment Page.
Select the Location from the dropdown.
Click + Add Funds to add a fund to the payment page.
- In each fund row, select the fund name from the Name dropdown.
- Mark the Mandatory checkbox next to a fund to make it a required selection for donors.
- Click the Delete icon to remove a fund from the list.
- Repeat to add more funds. All selected funds will appear on the same hosted payment page.
Share the page using any of the available sharing modes.

Whether you are sharing a single fund or multiple funds, the Share Hosted Payment Page panel provides the same options for sharing the page.

Option	Description
URL	* Navigate to the URL tab. * Click Generate Now to create the URL. * Click Copy to copy the link and share it with your donors so they can access the hosted payment page directly.
QR Code	* Navigate to the QR Code tab. * Click Generate QR Code to create the QR code image and share it with your donors. * Donors can scan the code to reach the hosted payment page.
Embedded iframe	* Navigate to the Embedded iframe tab. * Click Generate Now to create the embed code and paste it into your website to display the hosted payment page as an inline frame.
HTML Button	* Navigate to the HTML Button tab. * Enter a label for the button in the Button Label field. * Click Generate Now to create the button code and add it to your website, which directs donors to the hosted payment page.

Once shared, donors can access the page through the selected mode, pick the fund they want to contribute to, and complete their donation.

Cloning Funds

Cloning a fund allows you to create a new fund by copying the configuration of an existing one. This helps save time when creating similar funds with minor differences.

Here’s how to clone a fund:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund which you want to clone.
Click the More icon at the top.
Select Clone Fund.
Make the required changes and click Save.

Once cloned, the new fund will retain the configuration of the original fund. You can make any necessary changes before saving, ensuring that the cloned fund meets your requirements.

Marking a Fund as Inactive or Active

Marking a fund as inactive prevents it from being used for donations, while keeping all its configuration details intact. You can reactivate the fund at any time when it is needed again.

Here’s how to mark a fund as inactive:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund which you want to mark as inactive.
Click Mark as Inactive.

The fund will be marked as inactive. Once marked as inactive, the fund cannot be used for donations until it is reactivated.

To mark an inactive fund as active again:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund which you want to mark as active.
Click Mark as Active.

The fund will be marked as active. Marking the fund as active again makes it available for use while preserving all the configuration data.

Viewing Funds

You can view and manage funds using predefined views. This helps you quickly access specific sets of funds and focus on the ones relevant to your current workflow. Here’s how to view funds:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Click the Funds dropdown at the top.
Select Funds to view all the funds.
To view funds based on the type:
- Click the Created By Me dropdown.
- Select the type of fund you want to view.
Insight: Using fund views makes it easier to navigate large fund lists. You can also mark a view as Favorite by clicking the Star icon next to it. Marking frequently used filters as favorites ensures quick access to the most relevant fund lists for your workflow.

Deleting Funds

You can delete a fund if it is no longer required. Here’s how to delete a fund:

Click Contributions on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Funds module at the top.
Select the fund which you want to delete.
Click the More icon at the top.
Select Delete.
Click OK to confirm the action.

Once deleted, the fund will be permanently removed and cannot be used for future donations.