Donation → Beneficiaries → Amount allocation → Report

Why allocation matters and why you should not duplicate the donation

In a nonprofit supporting several people, one incoming payment can have several operational destinations. A donor might send RON 5,000 for a shared project and the organization may decide, based on the stated purpose and its internal rules, to track RON 2,000 for Ana’s case and RON 3,000 for Radu’s case. The bank statement still shows one incoming payment of RON 5,000. If you create two separate income records of RON 2,000 and RON 3,000 when there was only one bank transaction, the beneficiary totals may look convenient but the master financial record no longer mirrors the original movement.

Allocation solves that problem. The original transaction remains intact while TidyOne stores the parts assigned to individual beneficiaries and, optionally, their cases. A project report can therefore keep the full original amount, while a beneficiary report can show only the portion assigned to that person when the scope is used correctly.

First choose the right donation scenario

Before completing the form, decide what the source evidence actually says. Three situations require different treatment.

If money arrived for a shared project but has not yet been assigned individually, keeping it at project level is better than inventing percentages. Create an allocation once the organization has a real basis for doing so. TidyOne does not decide automatically who should receive a share.

Before recording: prepare beneficiaries, cases and the shared project

Open the Association / nonprofit workspace in the multiple beneficiaries / cases mode. Confirm each person in Beneficiaries & Cases. If an allocation needs case-level tracking, the selected case must belong to the selected beneficiary. TidyOne validates this relationship when saving and rejects an allocation where the case belongs to another person.

Prepare the project as well when the donation funds a shared program. In Projects & Funds, check the project currency, target and associated beneficiaries. A fund is optional and should only be used when it genuinely represents the purpose of the money. One current limitation matters here: project and fund belong to the whole transaction, not to each allocation row. If a single incoming payment has different contractual destinations that would require different funds for different beneficiaries, the current allocation model cannot represent that distinction perfectly within one transaction.

Step 1 — Open Finance and add the income

In the nonprofit workspace, open Finance (the current interface title is Financiar) and choose + Income / donation (“+ Venit / donație”). The form represents one financial movement. Use Name / merchant for a clear description such as “Recovery campaign donation — bank transfer 24 Sep”. If you already have a donor or sponsor contact, select it under Donor / sponsor / contact. The contact is optional. A transaction with no contact still counts in income totals, but it does not appear in the Donors and sponsors table.

Enter the exact amount, currency, category and date. Preserve the original currency. TidyOne reports amounts by currency and does not automatically convert RON, EUR, CHF or other currencies.

Step 2 — For one person, use Beneficiary + Case

If the entire donation belongs to one person, select Beneficiary and then the appropriate Case. The case list updates according to the chosen person. Do not enable the split option. In this scenario, the transaction stores the beneficiary and case directly, and the beneficiary or case report can include the full amount.

Use a case only when that level is real and useful. A general donation for the person does not need to be forced into one case merely to fill every field.

Step 3 — For several people, enable split allocation

For a shared donation, enable “Split the amount between multiple beneficiaries”. TidyOne opens the Amount allocation area. Each row contains a beneficiary, an optional case and an amount. Use + Beneficiary to add more rows.

Once split allocation is enabled, the direct Beneficiary and Case fields are no longer stored as the destination of the transaction; destination is represented by the allocation rows. This avoids making the same donation simultaneously “100% for Ana” and also divided between Ana and Radu.

The allocation summary shows the allocated amount, the transaction total and any difference. Saving succeeds only when the difference is effectively zero. For a RON 5,000 donation, RON 2,000 + RON 3,000 is valid; RON 2,000 + RON 2,900 is not.

Step 4 — Link a project and fund only when they apply to the entire transaction

Select a Project when the donation genuinely belongs to that project. A selected fund can determine the effective project if that fund is already linked to one. Verify the relationship before saving.

In the current version, every allocation in one transaction shares the same project and fund. Allocation rows do not have individual Project or Fund fields. A RON 5,000 donation split between two people can therefore be linked cleanly to one shared project. It cannot say within the same record that RON 2,000 belongs to Fund A and RON 3,000 to Fund B. If the bank statement shows only one incoming payment, do not create fictional bank movements merely to simulate multiple funds.

For complex restricted funding, keep the original transaction, explain the split in the Note, attach the source evidence and reconcile the result with the accounting ledger or funder record. Accurate source data is more important than making every internal field look complete.

Step 5 — Attach evidence and save only once

Under Evidence / document, you can attach an image or PDF such as a bank confirmation, sponsorship agreement or another source record that your organization is permitted to keep. The file also appears in Documents. The attachment is optional in the form, but a clear link between the transaction and its source improves internal verification.

Before choosing Save, verify the total, currency, date, donor contact, project, fund and every allocation row. If TidyOne rejects the transaction because allocations do not equal the total, correct the allocation rows rather than changing the original amount.

Worked example: one RON 5,000 donation for two cases

The nonprofit receives one bank transfer of RON 5,000 for a fictional shared project called “Support 2026”. The donor allows the nonprofit to distribute the money between two cases. The team approves RON 2,000 for Ana — case “Recovery” — and RON 3,000 for Radu — case “Adaptive equipment”.

Do not record RON 5,000 at project level and then add separate RON 2,000 and RON 3,000 income transactions for the two people. That would produce RON 10,000 from a RON 5,000 receipt. Likewise, do not assign the full RON 5,000 to both beneficiaries.

Step 6 — Verify the allocation in Beneficiary / case report

Open Reports and choose Beneficiary / case report. Select the beneficiary or case, choose a period that includes the donation, and press Update report. For transactions with allocations, TidyOne can replace the original amount with the matching allocated amount in a beneficiary/case-scoped report. The CSV export includes Reported amount, Original amount and Beneficiary allocation columns to make this distinction visible.

In the example, Ana’s report should be able to show RON 2,000 for that donation and Radu’s report RON 3,000, while the project report keeps the original RON 5,000 transaction.

If you need both project and beneficiary context, compare the beneficiary/case report without a project filter against the original transaction in Finance and the project linked to that transaction. Do not publish an external total until those levels agree.

How donors and sponsorships appear in reports

The Donors and sponsors section is calculated only from transactions in the chosen period that have an associated contact. An anonymous donation, or one where you have not created the donor contact, still appears in total income but not in the donor table. That difference is expected.

Do not create a fictional donor simply to populate the table. If your organization uses an anonymous or aggregated convention, document it and make sure it fits your own privacy and accounting procedures.

Donations in several currencies

If a campaign receives RON 5,000 and EUR 300, keep them as separate transactions in their original currencies. TidyOne does not automatically convert them to one base currency. Allocation happens within the currency of each transaction; do not combine different currencies in one allocation.

Reports should be reviewed currency by currency. If the organization publishes one converted total, the exchange-rate source and conversion date should be established outside TidyOne and documented.

What happens when the nonprofit starts spending the money

Allocating income does not automatically consume that allocation. When an invoice or payment occurs, record the expense once. If one expense supports several beneficiaries, the same split allocation feature can be used for the expense, with allocation rows that exactly equal the expense total. This allows a beneficiary report to reflect both allocated income and that person’s share of shared costs.

Do not assume that allocated income minus allocated expenses is the person’s bank balance. There may be unrecorded payments, fees, different currencies, restricted funds or timing differences. Bank and accounting reconciliation remains a separate check.

Eight common mistakes

1. Recording the same donation several times. Keep one original transaction and use allocations.
2. Allocating RON 5,100 from a RON 5,000 donation. TidyOne blocks saving; correct the rows.
3. Selecting a case that belongs to another person. Beneficiary and case must match in each row.
4. Assuming project and fund are separate for every allocation. They currently belong to the whole transaction.
5. Turning a general donation into an individual donation without evidence. Keep it at nonprofit/project level until a real allocation exists.
6. Treating an allocation as money transferred. Allocation is an internal record.
7. Combining beneficiary + project filters and assuming the amount was prorated. Verify individual allocation with the beneficiary/case report and no project filter.
8. Adding RON and EUR together. Keep currencies separate or document an external conversion.

Checklist before treating the donation as allocated

Frequently asked questions

Can I split one donation between three or more beneficiaries?

Yes. Add rows with + Beneficiary. Every row needs a beneficiary and a positive amount, and all rows must equal the original transaction.

Do I have to select a case?

No. Case is optional in an allocation. Use it when the money must be tracked against a specific need and that case belongs to the beneficiary.

Can I split one donation between two different funds?

Not within the current allocation rows. Project and fund are common transaction fields. Do not create fictional bank movements to simulate a structure the application does not yet support.

If I do not associate a donor, does the donation disappear?

No. It remains in income totals. Only the Donors and sponsors table depends on an associated contact.

Can I change an allocation later?

Yes. Editing a transaction can replace its allocation rows, but make changes only for a real correction and keep internal evidence explaining why.

Can AI decide how we divide a donation?

No. Allocation decisions must be made by authorized people using donor intent, contracts, internal procedures and applicable obligations. AI can help organize data, not make that decision.

What to read next

This tutorial describes the TidyOne interface and logic reviewed on 24 September 2026. Examples are fictional. TidyOne is an operational organization and reporting tool; it does not replace statutory accounting, bank reconciliation, funding agreements or legal advice.