Managing Giving Funds
Funds are designated categories for donations. They let donors choose where their gift is directed and help your church track income by purpose. Examples include General Fund, Building Fund, Missions, Youth Ministry, and Benevolence.
Note: Funds are part of the Giving & Finance tools, which are available on the Pro plan. On the Starter and Growth plans, Funds appears in the sidebar as a locked item with an upgrade prompt. Upgrade to Pro to manage funds.
Accessing Funds
- From the admin sidebar, navigate to Finances > Funds.
- The Funds page displays all your funds with summary statistics and filtering options.
Who Can Manage Funds
Funds have their own permission, separate from Giving & Donations. In Administration → Roles & Permissions, the Funds row (under Finances) decides what a role can do here:
| To... | The Funds row needs |
|---|---|
| Open the Funds page | View |
| Create a fund or load the fund template | Create |
| Edit a fund, set the default fund, restore an archived fund | Edit |
| Archive or delete a fund | Delete (included in Full Access) |
Someone without the Delete action who tries to archive a fund sees "Archiving a fund needs Manage access in Accounting. Ask your church administrator if you need it." -- what they need is Full Access on the Funds row.
Loading the Fund Template
If your church has no funds set up yet, TimelyChurch can create a starter set of eight common church fund categories:
- On the Funds page, click Load Template. (When you have no funds yet, an empty-state screen also offers a Load Template (Recommended) button.)
- The following funds are created automatically:
| Fund Name | Description | Color |
|---|---|---|
| General Fund (Default) | Main operating fund for tithes, offerings, and general donations | Indigo |
| Building Fund | Building projects, facility improvements, renovations, and repairs | Purple |
| Missions | Local and global missionaries, mission trips, and outreach | Blue |
| Benevolence | Assistance for members and community in financial need | Green |
| Youth Ministry | Youth programs, camps, retreats, and activities | Orange |
| Children's Ministry | Sunday School supplies, VBS, and children's events | Pink |
| Special Offerings | Seasonal offerings, special campaigns, and one-time initiatives | Yellow |
| Memorial Gifts | Gifts given in memory or honor of loved ones | Gray |
All template funds are created as tax-deductible and online-giving-enabled. You can customize them after creation.
Note: The template can only be loaded if no funds exist yet. If you already have funds, delete them first or create new ones manually.
Creating a Fund
- On the Funds page, click New Fund. A "Create New Fund" panel opens.
- Fill in the following fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fund Name | Yes | The display name for the fund (must be unique within your church). |
| Description | No | A brief description of the fund's purpose (up to 1,000 characters). |
| Color | No | A color used for visual identification in charts and reports. Choose from: Indigo, Purple, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Cyan, Blue, or Gray. |
| Tax Deductible | No | Whether donations to this fund are tax-deductible. Enabled by default. |
| Enable Online Giving | No | Whether this fund appears on the public online giving page. Enabled by default. |
- Click Create Fund. The first fund you create is automatically set as the default fund.
Editing a Fund
- On the Funds list, click the actions menu (the ⋮ icon) at the end of the fund's row.
- Choose Edit. An "Edit Fund" panel opens.
- Update the name, description, color, tax-deductible status, or online giving setting.
- Click Save.
Fund names must remain unique within your church. You cannot give two funds the same name.
Setting a Default Fund
The default fund is used when:
- A donor gives online without selecting a specific fund.
- A donation is recorded without specifying a fund allocation.
To change the default fund:
- Open the actions menu (⋮) on the fund you want to make the default.
- Click Set as Default.
- The previous default is automatically unset.
Only active (non-archived) funds can be set as default.
Archiving and Restoring Funds
When a fund is no longer in use but you want to preserve its donation history, archive it instead of deleting it.
To Archive a Fund
- Open the actions menu (⋮) on the fund and click Archive.
- Archived funds no longer appear in donation forms or the online giving page.
Note: You cannot archive the default fund. Set a different fund as default first.
To Restore a Fund
- Filter the fund list by Archived status.
- Open the actions menu (⋮) on the archived fund and click Restore.
- The fund returns to active status and becomes available for donations again.
Deleting a Fund
- Open the actions menu (⋮) on a non-default fund and click Delete.
- Confirm the deletion.
Note: You cannot delete the default fund. You also cannot delete a fund that has linked donations or transactions -- archive it instead to preserve giving history. Deletion is a permanent action.
Fund Statistics
The Funds page shows financial statistics for each fund, including:
- Total Collected -- Sum of all donation allocations to this fund (filtered by date range).
- In-Person -- Cash, check, envelope, and direct deposit donations.
- Online -- Card, online, Cash App, Zelle, Venmo, and PayPal donations.
Use the Period: dropdown at the top of the page to view statistics for different time periods:
- Today
- This Week
- This Month (default)
- This Quarter
- This Year
- All Time
- Custom Range (pick the start and end dates, then click Apply)
Four cards at the top of the page show overall figures across all funds for the period: Total giving, In-person, Online, and Recurring. Refunded donations are excluded from these totals.
The fund list has the columns Fund name, Status (Active or Archived, with a Default badge on the default fund), Total collected, In-person, and Online. Use Search funds... and the All Status / Active / Archived filter to narrow the list.