Creating funds
Manage them from the Funds page in the Finances section. Give each one a clear name and, if it helps, a short description. Names must be unique, and the check ignores capitalisation, so you cannot end up with “Building” and “building” as two separate funds collecting the same money.
Archiving a fund
When a fund is finished, for example a capital campaign that has closed, archive it rather than deleting it. Archiving takes it out of the lists people choose from when recording new donations, while keeping every historical donation intact and still attributed to it. Your past years still add up correctly. Deleting a fund that has donations against it would leave those donations uncategorised, which is why archiving is the right move almost every time.Funds and dues are different
Worth being clear about, because it is the most common mix-up. Dues are what a household committed for the year. A dues payment is linked to that commitment. A fund donation is a gift, linked to a fund. A payment is one or the other. If a family sends a single cheque covering their dues and a building fund gift, record it as two contributions: one linked to their dues commitment, one linked to the building fund. That way both figures are right.Recording a dues payment against a fund instead of the commitment is the most common cause of “this family says they paid but the page shows them owing”. Check the ledger entry and see what it is linked to.