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Funds Management for Organizations

Use Budget Categories and Reimbursement Request features to classify and organize your awards and payments.

Pam English avatar
Written by Pam English
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Submittable’s Funds Management enables organizations to structure and track awards and payments using:

  • Funds — pools of money set aside for disbursement

  • Awards — amounts assigned to applicants from a Fund

  • Payments — disbursements corresponding to Awards

  • Budget Categories — labels to classify award and payment amounts by expense type (e.g., travel, equipment)

  • Reimbursement Requests — for grantees to submit expenses tied to their Awards

These tools enable transparent, trackable, and compliant fund delivery with real-time visibility into fund usage at both project and award levels.

Steps to Set Up

A. Create Budget Categories

  1. As a Level 5, go to More>Configurations>Budget Categories:

  2. Click + Create New Budget Category:

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  3. Add a Name (required) and an optional Accounting Code.
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  4. Click the checkmark to Save. Repeat until complete.

Please note: Category Names cannot be deleted; they can only be deactivated. To see only Active or Inactive categories, use the selector at the end of the list:

Deactivating a category means it can no longer be used. Existing awards will not be affected.

B. Assign Categories to a Project

  1. Open your Project and navigate to the Awards & Payments tab:

  2. Toggle on Award and Payment Visibility so applicants can view breakdowns.
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  3. Use the dropdown to choose relevant Budget Categories for that project:

    Click the Save Project button to save your selections.

  4. If you plan to allow reimbursement requests, toggle on Reimbursement Process:

  5. Click the Save Project button to save your selections.

C. Create a Fund

  1. On your organization’s page, select Funds and then + New Fund.
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  2. Enter Fund Name, Amount, and Description, then save.
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  3. Monitor fund totals—awarded/paid amounts and reimbursements—in the Funds dashboard.

Award & Payment Workflow

A. Create an Award

  1. From a submission's details, open the Awards pane:

  2. Click + New Award.

  3. Fill in the Award Name, choose the Fund, and enter the Total Award Amount.

  4. Distribute the award into Budget Categories (if enabled). All category amounts must add up to the total Award:

  5. Add internal notes or applicant-facing memos as desired.

  6. Save the Award record.

B. Issue Payments

  1. In the Awards pane, click + New Payment:

  2. Choose whether to pay the remaining balance or enter a custom amount.
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  3. Ensure category-level payment amounts do not exceed award balances:

  4. Set the Payment Status:

  5. Add internal/recipient memos if needed, then review and submit the payment:

The payment links to the award and reimbursement request for auditability.

Reimbursement Requests

(Grantee Perspective)

  1. On the submission’s Awards & Payments tab, grantees can view their Award and the Budget Category summaries:
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  2. They click to submit a reimbursement request for eligible expenses:

If Budget Categories are in use, requests will be restricted to those categories and the remaining budget limits.

(Admin Perspective)

  1. Admins receive an email notification when a reimbursement request is submitted.
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  2. In the submission details, navigate to Award Details>Reimbursement Requests and choose View Award Details:

  3. Assign Level 5 reviewers, if desired; approval or decline is required. If unassigned, any Level 5 can approve or decline:

  4. If approved, admins can click through and issue a payment.

Please note: Declining a reimbursement requires a given reason. Requests cannot be edited or resubmitted once submitted.

Visibility & Reporting

  • Admins can monitor:
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    • Fund balances (allocated, awarded, and paid)

    • Award & payment breakdowns by category

    • Reimbursement request statuses (In‑Progress, Approved, Declined)
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  • Applicants see their own Award and Payment summaries, plus category-level breakdowns and remaining budgets.
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  • Data can be exported as CSV from Payments, Reimbursements, or All Activity tabs for reporting or auditing:

Using structured Funds Management allows your organization to:

  • Maintain comprehensive oversight of how grants are structured and spent.

  • Ensure consistent categorization, compliance, and budget visibility in all stages.

  • Streamline communication and auditing with applicants and internal teams.

  • Improve the grantee experience by enabling clear, actionable reimbursement workflows.

Do you need Funds Management for your organization? Contact your account manager.

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