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Allocating applications to funds

Allocate an application to one or more funds for a year, use its matching funds, suggest allocations for a grant, and plan a fund's year on its annual sheet.

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An allocation says how much of an application a fund pays for in a given year. One application can be allocated to several funds, and one fund can be allocated to many applications. An application is linked to a fund only by its allocations: until one is saved, the application has no fund.

You allocate from two places, and both show the same allocations: an application's Funds tab, and a fund's Annual sheet tab. A fund's Allocations tab lists every allocation made from it.

This appears only when it is turned on for your organisation. It needs both the Payments and Funds modules, and you need the Can access Payments permission. Labels that name Fund or Application use your organisation's own terms if you've renamed them.

Before you start

The funds must exist. See Add or edit a fund. Funding rounds, application templates and application forms never ask for a fund: you allocate an application after it arrives.

Allocate an application

  1. Open the application and choose its Funds tab. It is the last tab.
  2. Select Add Fund, type part of the fund's name or External ID, then select the fund.
  3. Check the Year. A new row starts at the current year in your organisation's time zone; any year from 2000 to 2100 is allowed.
  4. Enter the Amount, in the fund's own currency. It must be more than 0.
  5. Add another fund the same way if more than one fund pays for the application.
  6. Select Save.

To change an allocation, change its year or amount and select Save. To remove one, select Remove on its row, then Save. To move an allocation to another fund, remove it and add the other fund.

Under the rows you see what is Allocated in each currency and the application's Approved amount, or Not approved yet.

An application can have only one allocation from a fund for a year. If you add the same fund twice for one year, Save says so and keeps nothing. A fund's own rules can also refuse an allocation; the message says why.

If saving takes a fund past its annual amount for the year, the allocation is still saved, and a warning names the fund, the year and the amount it is over by.

If you can see the allocations but not change them, the tab says so and shows no Save.

Matching funds

Under the allocations, Matching Funds lists the funds that can pay for this application, in name order. A fund is listed only when its rules accept the application, and only while it has a balance to distribute or is linked to the application's grant. A fund earmarked for another recipient is never listed. Each fund shows its Distributable balance, and Linked to this Grant when the grant draws on it. Below the list is what is still Unallocated of the application's Approved Amount this year: the approved amount less this year's allocations.

To allocate in one step, select Allocate to Matching Funds. Each fund, in the list's order, is allocated the smaller of its distributable balance and what is left of the approved amount, for the current year. A fund the application already has an allocation from this year has the amount added to it. A fund with no balance left gets nothing. The allocations show in the rows straight away; a change you typed but did not save is replaced by them.

Allocate to Matching Funds is unavailable, with the reason under it, while the application has no Approved Amount, while its approved amount is already allocated in full for the year, or while no fund matches. If you can't change funds, you see the list but not the button.

Suggest allocations for a grant

A grant's Applications tab has Suggest Allocations at the top while Funds is turned on and you can change funds. It proposes allocations for the current year from the funds linked to the grant, and saves nothing until you accept them.

  1. Select Suggest Allocations. The assessed applications come first by score, highest first. Each is proposed its Approved Amount, or its Requested Amount when none is approved, less what it already has allocated this year. Each linked fund is drawn on until its balance runs out.
  2. Check each row: the application, its score, the fund, the Proposed amount and the fund's Balance after. Change an amount, with at most two decimal places and more than 0, and the balances after it change to match.
  3. Untick any row you don't want. Every row starts ticked, up to 2,000 rows: Accept Selected saves at most 2,000 at once, so with more proposals only the first 2,000 are ticked and the dialog says so.
  4. Select Accept Selected. The ticked rows are saved as allocations for the current year. A row for an application that already has an allocation from that fund this year is added to it.
  5. If rows are left over, because there were more than 2,000 proposals, the dialog stays open with them, says how many were saved, and ticks the next 2,000 at the amounts you set. Select Accept Selected again. They come from the same suggestions, so each stays on the fund it was proposed from. Rows you unticked are not offered again. The dialog closes when no rows are left.

Not suggested lists the assessed applications that got no proposal, and why: no approved or requested amount, already allocated in full for the year, or no linked fund that accepts it has a balance left.

Select Cancel, or close the dialog, and nothing is saved. If accepting takes a fund past its annual amount, the allocations are still saved, and the dialog names the fund, the year and the amount it is over by.

When the suggestions are out of date

The suggestions are made against the allocations as they stood when you opened the dialog. If any ticked application's allocation from its fund has changed since, because someone saved one, or you accepted already and are trying again after losing your connection, Accept Selected saves nothing and says These allocations changed since the suggestions were made. Suggest Allocations again. The same happens when the year has turned since the suggestions were made, so nothing is saved twice or into the wrong year.

Select Suggest Allocations again in the message. The dialog stays open and the proposals are made afresh from the allocations as they now stand. Any amounts you changed and rows you unticked are discarded, so check the rows again before you select Accept Selected.

A fund's Allocations tab

On a fund's record, the Allocations tab lists each allocation from the fund: the application (select it to open it), the year and the amount. Choose a Year to see one year only, or All years. Fifty allocations are shown at a time; select Load more to see the next fifty.

The tab lists allocations to applications in rounds you can see. It reads the allocations again each time you open it, so a change saved on an application shows the next time you choose the tab.

The annual sheet

A fund's Annual sheet tab plans one year of the fund at a time.

  1. Choose the Year. It starts at the current year in your organisation's time zone, and offers five years either side.
  2. Enter the Annual Amount: what the fund has to allocate in that year. It can be 0.
  3. Change an application's amount, or select Remove on its row.
  4. Select Add Application, search by title or number, then select the application. Enter its amount.
  5. Select Save. The year's allocations become exactly the rows on the sheet.

Under the rows, Allocated is the total of the year's allocations and Unallocated is the Annual Amount less that total. Both show the sheet as last saved.

The sheet's subscription shows one of three words:

  • Under-subscribed: less is allocated than the Annual Amount.
  • Fully subscribed: exactly the Annual Amount is allocated.
  • Over-subscribed: more is allocated than the Annual Amount. A warning says how much it is over by, such as Over-subscribed by AUD 500.00.

Being over-subscribed never stops you saving.

An allocation added on the sheet is the same allocation the application's Funds tab shows, with the same year and amount.

If you can't change funds, the sheet is read only.

Recalculate Allocations

When you lower a fund's Distribution Amount on its edit form, a Recalculate Allocations tick appears under the amount. Tick it to scale this year's allocations from the fund down in proportion to the new amount. Leave it unticked to keep the allocations as they are. The tick appears only while the amount you have typed is below the saved one.

On a phone, each allocation, each sheet row and each suggested allocation is shown as a card, and the Suggest Allocations dialog fills the screen.

See also

This page uses Backed's default terms, such as Funding Round and Application Template. An organisation may rename them, so read each as your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.