Use case — private foundations & grantmakers

Bookkeeping for foundations & grantmakers

A grantmaker's books flip the usual nonprofit problem: the hard part isn't money coming in with strings — it's money going out with commitments. The board approves grants that pay over years, investment custodians send statements the ledger has to agree with, and the payout requirement at year-end depends on numbers being right all year.

Rationara tracks every grant from approval to final payment, reconciles investment and operating accounts monthly against statements, and closes the books on a schedule — so outstanding commitments, grants paid, and assets are facts you look up, not figures you assemble.

What makes these books different

  • Commitments outlive the checks

    A three-year grant is approved once but pays six times. The ledger has to know both what's been paid and what's still owed — per grantee.

  • The custodian's numbers are the truth

    Investment accounts move monthly with fees, income, and market changes. Books that don't reconcile to custodian statements aren't books.

  • Board minutes and the ledger drift apart

    Grants get approved in meetings and recorded later, or differently — and eventually nobody is sure which list is authoritative.

  • Year-end depends on year-round accuracy

    Distribution requirements and the 990-PF are computed from grants paid, expenses, and assets. Cleanup-driven numbers make every filing harder.

How Rationara handles it

  • Grants tracked award to payment
    Each grant carries its approval, schedule, payments made, and balance outstanding — so total commitments are one report, per-grantee history another.
  • Statement-based reconciliation
    Operating and investment accounts are reconciled monthly against bank and custodian statements, with activity posted from the statements themselves.
  • One authoritative record
    Approved grants live on the ledger with documentation attached, so the board list and the books are the same list.
  • A close your preparer will thank you for
    Monthly, locked, with an audit trail on every entry. Grants paid, expenses, and asset balances are ready when 990-PF season arrives.

The mechanics behind all of this — funds, grants, classes, the monthly close — are on What we handle and How it works.

What your board sees

Your board sees grants paid by program area, commitments outstanding, and asset balances reconciled to the custodian — every month, as of a locked period. The annual payout conversation starts from numbers everyone already trusts.

See the full portal walkthrough

Common questions

Do you prepare the 990-PF or compute our required distribution?
No — those stay with your tax preparer. Our job is making their job easy: grants paid, qualifying expenses, and asset balances come off a reconciled, closed ledger instead of a spreadsheet archaeology project.
How do multi-year grants show up in reports?
Both ways you need: as payments made (what actually went out this period) and as commitments outstanding (what's still owed and when). Per-grantee history keeps the whole arc of a grant in one place.
We make grants and run a small program. Can the books do both?
Yes — grantmaking and direct programs each carry their own classes, so program costs and grant dollars stay distinct in every report.

Other organizations we work with

Talk to us about your foundation's books

Bring your grant list and your latest custodian statement. We'll show you what commitment tracking and a monthly close look like for a grantmaker.

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