What is a Fund?
A fund tracks money set aside for a particular purpose — a scholarship fund, a building fund, a charity fund — separately from your bank accounts. Where a bank account represents an actual account at a bank, a fund is an internal designation: money for a scholarship fund might sit in the very same checking account as your general operating money, but M2 lets you track how much of that checking balance is "spoken for" by tracking it as its own fund.
Every local starts with a general fund for money that isn't earmarked for anything more specific. You can create additional funds as your local needs to track money for particular purposes.
Before You Begin
You must have local financial write access to add, edit, or deactivate funds.
Getting Started / How to Access
- Go to your local's dashboard.
- Click the Income & Expenses tab.
- Find the Funds card. It lists your active funds and their current balances.
Click the menu icon in the card for quick actions, or the open-in-browser icon to see the full list of funds, including inactive ones.
Adding a Fund
- From the Funds card, click the menu icon and select Add Fund. (Or, from the full Funds list, click the + button in the card header.)
- Fill out the form:
| Field | What to Enter |
|---|---|
| Name | A name that identifies this fund, such as "Scholarship Fund" or "Building Fund." Required, and must be unique among your local's funds. |
| Description | A note about what this fund is for. Optional. |
| Starting Balance | The balance to start tracking from in M2. Leave at 0.00 if this fund has no history to bring in. |
| Starting Balance As Of | The date the starting balance was accurate. Required if you enter a starting balance other than zero. |
- Click Save.
Editing a Fund
- Go to the Funds list.
- Click the pencil icon in the fund's row, or open the fund and click the pencil icon next to its name.
- Update the fields as needed.
- Click Update.
As with bank accounts, if you change the starting balance or its date after activity has already been recorded, M2 automatically recalculates so the fund's balance stays accurate.
Setting a Default Fund
The default fund is used automatically wherever M2 needs a fund and none has been specified for an income or expense account — for example, on a receipt or disbursement line item that isn't tied to a more specific fund.
- Open the fund you want to make the default.
- Click Make Default Fund. This button only appears if the fund isn't already the default.
Only one fund per local can be the default at a time.
Deactivating or Removing a Fund
- Go to the Funds list.
- Click the trash icon in the fund's row.
-
Confirm when asked "Are you sure you want to delete this?"
-
No recorded activity (no income, expenses, transfers, or adjustments): the fund is removed completely.
- Has recorded activity: M2 marks the fund inactive instead, to preserve the history attached to it.
Inactive funds drop off the Funds card on the Income & Expenses page but remain visible, grayed out, in the full Funds list. Reactivate a fund at any time by editing it and turning the Active switch back on.
Tips
- Keep the general fund as your catch-all. You don't need a fund for every income and expense account — use dedicated funds only for money you specifically want to track apart from general operations.
- A negative fund balance is worth watching. Fund balances are shown in red when negative, which usually means more has been spent from a fund than has come into it.
- Use the description field. A short description helps other officers understand what a fund is for without asking.
Troubleshooting
Q: I don't see the option to add or edit funds. A: You need local financial write access. Contact whoever manages permissions for your local.
Q: Can two funds have the same name? A: No. Fund names must be unique within your local (M2 isn't case-sensitive when checking this, so "Scholarship" and "scholarship" would conflict).
Q: What's the difference between a fund and a bank account? A: A bank account represents money at an actual bank. A fund represents an internal designation for a purpose, which may or may not correspond to a separate bank account. Many locals keep several funds inside a single bank account.
Related Guides
- How to Manage Bank Accounts
- How to View a Fund Ledger
- How to Transfer Between Funds
- How to Record a Dues Payment
- How to Merge Duplicate Funds
- How to Reconcile Funds Against Bank Accounts
Glossary
Local — The individual unit within your organization where members hold their primary membership. Depending on your organization, this might correspond to a lodge, chapter, local committee, or similar body.