Budget tracking for grants is one of the most common manual workflows we see from organizations coming from QuickBooks or Excel. It’s also one of the easiest places to:
Misalign language between your chart of accounts and the funder’s budget
Lose track of line-item variance (e.g., “no more than 10% deviation per category”)
Leave restricted dollars unused, forcing you to backfill with unrestricted funds
This guide will help you automate budget vs. actuals reporting and show funders exactly how their money is being used.
What Funding Source Budget tracking does
Shows budget categories exactly as defined by the funder (e.g., “Personnel Services,” “Contract Labor,” etc.)
Maps each budget category to one or more of your ledger accounts
Pulls in actuals from those ledger accounts as you code transactions to the funding source
Shows budget, actuals, amount remaining, and % used for the selected period
Mirrors the grant’s payment schedule and time periods (e.g., Year 1 vs Year 2)
Lets you export a full report to Excel or PDF to share directly with funders
If you need help mapping your budget to your chart of accounts or want support setting up your first funding source budgets, email us at [email protected]
How to create a budget
Go to Funding Sources in the left navigation
Open a specific funding source
Click on the Budget tab at the bottom of the page
Click Create Budget in the top right of the box
Category: The name for each line on your grant budget. Tip: Use the same language from your grant agreement here.
Chart of Accounts: specify which ledger account you want to map to this budget line. You can map multiple ledger accounts on the same line, and you can also use the same ledger account for multiple lines.
+ Add Period: Adds another time period (e.g. another year for a multiyear grant). You can click on the dates to specify a custom time dimension but we choose year by default.
+ Add Category: Add another budget line
Make sure you click Save at the end to save your budget!
How to manage a Budget (example)
Once you've created a budget, you'll see a widget like this:
Budget categories (funder language)
Example: The funder calls a line “Personnel Services.”
In your ledger, that might mean multiple accounts (e.g., “Salaries,” “Fringe Benefits”, "Payroll", etc).
Mapped ledger accounts
Each budget category is mapped to one or more of your ImpactGraph ledger accounts.
When you code a transaction to those accounts and to this funding source, the actuals roll up to the funder’s category.
Time period and payment alignment
Budget periods (e.g., Year 1, Year 2) align with the payment schedule on the funding source
You can toggle between budget periods to see variance by year or period.
Budget vs Actuals vs Remaining
For each category, you’ll see:
Budget amount
Actuals to date
Amount remaining
% of budget used for the selected time period
Coding transactions so they show up in the budget
As you code transactions correctly to both the funding source and the right ledger account(s), ImpactGraph updates your budget vs. actual reports!
From your transactions table:
Find the relevant transaction (e.g., a contractor payment).
Upload any supporting documents (e.g., invoice, contract), if not already uploaded.
Set the ledger account to the appropriate account (e.g., “Contract Labor”).
Set the Funding Source to the grant you’re tracking.
Add any internal notes for context (e.g., “Contractors for [Grant Name]”).
Click Save changes.
Now, when you return to:
Funding Sources → [That funding source] → Budget,
you’ll see the actuals updated and the % used adjusted accordingly (e.g., from 6.7% to 13.3% used).
To learn more about coding transactions, check out our guide here!
Exporting and sharing reports with funders
From the Budget widget:
Click View full report.
Choose your time period (e.g., Year 1, Year 2, full grant).
Export:
Excel – if you want to do deeper analysis or combine with other data
PDF – if you want to send a clean, ready-to-share report to the funder
This helps simplify compliance with budget and variance rules later (e.g., not exceeding 10% per line item)
FAQ
Q: How does the mapping between budget categories and ledger accounts work?
A: For each funder budget line (e.g., “Personnel Services”), we map it to one or more of your ledger accounts (e.g., salaries, benefits). When a transaction is coded to those accounts and the funding source, the actuals are rolled up into that funder category.
If you want to attach the same ledger account to multiple budget lines, this is supported! You will be prompted with an additional step to reconcile these transactions the next time you pull the report.
Q: How often are the budget actuals updated?
A: Actuals update in real time as you save transactions coded to the relevant ledger accounts and funding source.
Q: Can I track multi-year or multi-period grants?
A: Yes. The budget widget supports multiple budget periods (e.g., multiple years on a grant agreement) that align with the grant’s payment schedule, and you can toggle between them to view variance by period.
Q: Can I export the budget report to share with my funder?
A: Yes. From View full report, you can export to Excel for further analysis or to PDF for a shareable, funder-ready report.