A donor does not want your trial balance. A donor wants to know three things: how much of our grant have you spent, was it spent on what we agreed, and how much is left. This guide explains the reports that answer those questions, how to build them, and how to get them from your accounting records without retyping.
The questions every donor asks
| Donor's question | The report that answers it |
|---|---|
| How much have you spent against the budget? | Budget vs actual by activity |
| Are you overspending anywhere? | An overspent list, by project or line |
| How much is left to spend? | Remaining funds by project |
| What exactly was the money spent on? | Spending detail, down to the voucher |
| Can you show your supporting records? | Drill-down from the report to the entry and the document |
1. Budget vs actual
This is the core donor report. For each activity (and location, if the donor asks) it shows:
- the budget approved by the donor,
- the actual spending to date,
- the variance, which is budget minus actual,
- and the percentage used.
A good budget vs actual has subtotals by activity and a grand total that agrees with the project budget. It must also use the same lines as the approved budget. If your ledger groups costs differently from the donor's budget, you will spend hours mapping them every quarter.
For a worked example, read NGO budget vs actual reporting.
2. Overspent projects and lines
Do not wait for the donor to find an overspend. A short list of the projects or lines where actual spending has passed the budget lets you ask for a revision or move costs while it can still be discussed. The cheapest time to deal with an overspend is before the bill is entered, which is why a budget check at data entry matters.
3. Remaining funds
Project managers ask one question every week: "how much can I still spend?" A remaining-funds report answers it per project. It is also the quickest way to see which projects are running out of budget before their end date.
4. Spending detail
When a donor questions a figure, you need to go from the total to the individual expense lines. A spending detail report lists every expense line for a project, donor, activity and location and links it to the journal entry behind it. Then "show me what makes up the Rs 1.2 million on travel" takes a minute, not a day.
5. The rest: ledger, trial balance and statements
Donors and auditors will also ask for the general ledger, the trial balance, and the income and expenditure statement. These should come from the same records as the donor reports, so the totals always agree. If the donor report and the trial balance disagree, someone will ask why, and the answer is usually that the reports came from different spreadsheets.
For the full list of reports an NGO should know, read financial reporting for NGOs.
How to build donor reports without retyping
The secret is to tag each expense once, at entry, with everything a report will need:
- Donor
- Project
- Activity
- Location
- Account
Every report is then a different view of the same tagged lines. Without the tags, someone has to sort and re-total in Excel at every reporting date, which is where mistakes come in.
A quarterly reporting routine
- Make sure every bill for the period is entered and approved.
- Run budget vs actual for each donor and project.
- Check each total against the ledger.
- Check the overspent list and the remaining funds report.
- Export to Excel and fit the donor's template, if the donor has one.
- Keep a dated copy of what you sent.
A note on donor templates
Donors have their own formats, and many want figures in their template, not in yours. No accounting package can hold every donor's layout. What it can do is give you correct, tagged figures in Excel so that filling in the donor's template is copying, not calculating. Always confirm what a donor requires before you decide that software "supports" it.
How OneAccounts does it
In OneAccounts, every NGO bill line carries its activity and location, which tie it to a project, and the donor comes from the matching budget line. The NGO reports are:
- Budget summary: all budget lines by project, donor, activity, location and account
- Budget vs Actual: for a chosen donor and project, by activity, with subtotals, and a drill-through to the entries
- Overspent projects
- Remaining funds by project
- Spending detail by project, donor, activity and location, linked to the journal entry
These come as PDF and Excel. A project profit and loss by account comes as Excel. They sit beside the trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet and general ledger, which come from the same records.
OneAccounts tracks spending by donor and project budget. It is not a fund-accounting module with restricted and unrestricted fund statements; if a donor needs those, ask us to show your scenario first.
See the NGO accounting software page for the full list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important report for a donor?
Budget vs actual. It shows what was approved, what was spent and what is left, by activity.
How often should I prepare donor reports?
As often as the agreement says, usually quarterly. Run budget vs actual and the overspent list monthly for your own control.
Can I give a donor access to the software?
That is a decision for your organisation. Most NGOs send reports in PDF or Excel instead.
What if the donor's template is different from my report?
Export your figures to Excel and copy them across. Because every line is tagged, the totals will match your records.
Do donor reports need supporting documents?
Often yes. Keep every voucher and attach or reference it, so you can go from the total to the document.