Tracking restricted grants

When Free Geek receives a grant it will often have restrictions placed on it. For example, in 2008 we received a grant for $24,950 to purchase a truck with a lift gate. The grant covered several associated expenses as well. Because the grant was in support of certain types of purchases and not others, we need to account for where the money went. This page describes how to do that in our books.

When a grant comes in, we need to maintain a file of all documents related to the grant. This can be useful in determining whether a transaction meets or does not meet the restrictions put in place by the grant.

The grant must be recorded in an income as of the date we know (a) the amount of the grant, and (b) that there is an agreement that we will get the grant. A typical income account that this might appear in is numbered something like 423X-ZZZ, where 423X indicates the natural account (Foundation/trust grants) and ZZZ indicates the program the grant is associated with. If a grant is recorded on the day we receive the check, the transaction will look something like this:

• 3/18/2008
  • 1041 Cash:Petty Cash:Safe $24,950 Debit
    • 4231-230 Non-government grants:Truck grant $24,950 Credit
  • G-001: grant for truck, lift gate, etc.

Each grant should be assigned a G-code. In the above example the G-code is G-001. This code will need to be recorded in the memo field of each transaction related to the grant (for reporting purposes).