Solutions
Foundation or charitable fund
Money belonging to a charitable foundation, often invested to support a long-term mission.
No credit card. Nothing is charged until your first 30 days are over.
What this kind of fund is
Capital held in trust for a purpose, where the board and often the public need to see that it is being administered carefully and that costs are visible.
What the administration actually involves
A foundation's investment capital is held for a purpose, and the people who ask about it are usually trustees rather than analysts. They want two things a spreadsheet is bad at: confidence that the figures were prepared carefully, and a clear view of what the whole arrangement costs. Both are reporting problems more than they are accounting problems.
Management and performance fees here are computed per series from the rates you set, and one of the four checks that must pass before a month can be locked compares the fees calculated against the fees actually paid. Costs cannot end up buried in a net figure, because the net figure is derived from them. The board pack is composed once from blocks and sent per recipient with a PDF attached, in Dutch or English depending on the fund's reporting language.
What makes it hard
Costs that only appear as a net return
When fees and expenses are netted off before anyone sees them, the trustees are approving a number that hides the thing they are most often asked about.
A board pack rebuilt by hand every quarter
Copying figures into a document is where the errors are, and it is also why the pack looks slightly different every time.
Two languages, one set of figures
A Dutch foundation with an international trustee needs the same statement in two languages. Maintaining two documents means maintaining two chances to be wrong.
How FundFlow fits
Costs and fees that are never buried
Management and performance fees are computed per series and reconciled against what was actually paid, as one of the four checks that must pass before a month can be locked.
Reporting a board can read
Compose a report once from blocks (fund summary, series table, fee summary, your own commentary) and send it with a PDF attached, tracked per recipient.
Dutch and English throughout
Interface, emails and PDF statements, with the reporting language set per fund.
Questions managers ask
Can we show the trustees exactly what the fund costs?
Yes. Fees are computed per series from the rates on the series, and the fee summary block in a report lays out management and performance fees for the period. A check comparing calculated fees against fees paid has to pass before the month can be locked, so the figure in the pack is reconciled rather than asserted.
Can statements go out in Dutch and English?
The interface, the emails and the PDF statements are all available in both, with the reporting language set per fund. The figures are the same in either language because they come from the same calculation.
Read how these parts work
The parts of FundFlow this kind of fund leans on most.
Other kinds of fund
Pension fund
Money invested on behalf of employees and retirees.
How FundFlow fitsSovereign wealth fund
A government-owned investment fund, usually funded by national revenues or reserves.
How FundFlow fitsEndowment fund
Capital held by an institution such as a university, museum or foundation.
How FundFlow fits
Produce one board pack and see what the trustees say
Set the fund up, close a month, and compose the report from blocks. It takes a session, and it is the clearest way to judge whether this replaces what you do now.
In your first session
- Create the fund, set the fee rates on the series, and choose the reporting language.
- Anchor an opening position and close a month so the fee and cost figures are real.
- Compose the board report from blocks, preview it as a named trustee, and send it with the PDF attached.
No credit card. Nothing is charged until your first 30 days are over.