---
title: "Bookkeeping for foundations & grantmakers"
description: "Bookkeeping for foundations: grants tracked from board approval to final payment, investment accounts reconciled monthly, and books that make your 990-PF preparer's job straightforward."
url: "https://rationara.com/use-cases/foundations"
source: "https://rationara.com/use-cases/foundations.md"
route: "/use-cases/foundations"
site: "Rationara"
updated: "2026-08-26"
---

# Bookkeeping for foundations & grantmakers

*Use case — private 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](https://rationara.com/what-we-handle) and [How it works](https://rationara.com/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](https://rationara.com/portal)

## 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.

## 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.