What is Merging Funds?
Merging combines two or more funds into one. This is helpful when your local ends up with duplicate funds, for example after data was brought in from another system and created a second "Building Fund" alongside the one you already had.
When you merge funds, you choose one fund to survive and one or more other funds to be absorbed into it. Every payment, expense, transfer, and adjustment that was recorded against an absorbed fund is moved to the surviving fund, so no history is lost. The absorbed funds themselves are then removed.
Before You Begin
You need local financial write access to merge funds. Merging cannot be undone, so review the confirmation screen carefully before you confirm.
Getting Started / How to Access
- Go to your local's dashboard.
- Click the Income & Expenses tab.
- In the Funds card, click the open-in-browser icon to see the full Funds list.
Merging Funds
- Find the fund you want to keep — this will be the surviving fund. In its row, click the merge icon (two arrows joining).
- On the Merge Funds into [fund name] page, you'll see every other fund in your local listed with its name, description, current balance, and active/inactive status.
- Check the box next to each fund you want to absorb into the surviving fund. You can select more than one.
- Click Review Merge.
-
The confirmation page shows:
-
The surviving fund's name and current balance.
- A list of the funds being absorbed, with their balances.
- A summary of what will move to the surviving fund: the number of payment line items, expense line items, fund adjustments, fund transfers, and income/expense accounts that use an absorbed fund as their default.
-
If any of the funds being merged had transfers between each other, a note telling you how many of those transfers will be removed, since a fund can't hold a transfer to or from itself.
-
Review the summary. If it looks right, click Confirm Merge. If you want to change your selection instead, click the back arrow at the top of the page, or Cancel, to return to the fund selection screen.
- Confirm again when M2 asks "Are you sure?"
You'll see a message that the funds were merged successfully, and you're returned to the Funds list. The absorbed funds no longer appear there.
What Happens to History, Balances, and Default Settings
- History moves, it isn't lost. Every payment, expense, adjustment, and transfer that was recorded against an absorbed fund now shows up in the surviving fund's ledger instead.
- Starting balances combine. The surviving fund's starting balance becomes the sum of its own starting balance and the starting balances of every fund absorbed into it. The starting balance date becomes the earliest of the dates involved.
- Active status. If any absorbed fund was active, the surviving fund is set to active (in case the fund you kept had been deactivated).
- Default fund setting. If one of the absorbed funds was your local's default fund, the surviving fund becomes the default fund in its place.
- Accounts that pointed to an absorbed fund as their default fund are updated to point to the surviving fund instead.
- The absorbed funds are removed entirely, not just deactivated. This is different from deleting a single fund with recorded activity, which M2 normally deactivates instead of removing to protect its history. A merge is safe to remove the absorbed fund outright because its history has already been moved to the survivor first.
Tips
- Double-check which fund is the survivor before you start. You choose the survivor by clicking the merge icon in that fund's row, so make sure you're starting from the fund you want to keep.
- Review the confirmation page's balance numbers. The surviving fund's balance shown there is its balance before the merge; after confirming, its starting balance grows to include the absorbed funds' starting balances, and its ledger will include their history.
- This cannot be undone. There is no unmerge option. If you're unsure two funds are truly duplicates, check both fund ledgers first (see "How to View a Fund Ledger").
Troubleshooting
Q: I clicked Review Merge without selecting any funds. A: M2 shows an alert asking you to select at least one fund to merge, and returns you to the selection screen.
Q: Can I merge a fund into itself? A: No. The fund you're merging into (the survivor) doesn't appear in its own list of funds to absorb.
Q: I don't see the merge icon. A: You need local financial write access to merge funds. Contact whoever manages permissions for your local.
Q: What if two funds being merged had transferred money to each other? A: The confirmation page warns you and tells you how many such transfers will be removed. Once both funds become the same fund, a transfer between them no longer means anything, so M2 removes it rather than leaving a transfer from a fund to itself.
Related Guides
- How to Create and Manage Funds
- How to View a Fund Ledger
- How to Transfer Between 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.
Fund — An internal designation for tracking money set aside for a purpose, separate from the bank account it may sit in.
Surviving Fund — In a merge, the fund that remains after the merge is complete.
Absorbed Fund — In a merge, a fund whose history and balance are moved into the surviving fund, after which it is removed.