Understand my Budget
Before manipulating the Budget on a daily basis, it is useful to understand what a "Budget" really represents in Unisoft and how it connects with the other modules.
What is the Unisoft Budget?
The Budget is the internal accounting view of your community. It represents all the available cash flow, distributed across containers (main cash register and dedicated booklets).
Every time a payment arrives (online donation, manually entered check, received transfer) or an internal expense occurs (transfer to a project booklet), the Budget is updated automatically.
The Unisoft Budget is an operational steering tool, not a legal accounting ledger. For official accounting (balance sheet, income statement, declaration), you transmit your exports to your accountant. See Best practices.
Budget containers
Your Budget is made up of several distinct containers. Each container corresponds to a "pot" that isolates money by destination.
1. The Main cash register
This is the default pot. Any money that is not assigned to a particular container lands here.
| Characteristic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Always present | The Main cash register cannot be deleted |
| One per organization | Each association has its own main cash register |
| Fed by default | Any donation without a specific reason arrives here |
Example: Sarah Cohen makes a free donation of 100 € on your site, without choosing a campaign or a fund → the money goes to the Main cash register.
2. Dedicated Booklets
A booklet is a sub-container that you create yourself to isolate a budget specific to a project or a specific fund.
| Characteristic | Detail |
|---|---|
| You create it | You give it a name (label) and a description |
| You archive it | When the project is finished, you close the booklet without deleting it |
| Independent | Its balance evolves independently of the Main cash register |
Concrete examples:
- Booklet "Prayer hall renovation" — to isolate donations earmarked for works
- Booklet "Family assistance" — for social donations
- Booklet "Library" — for book purchases
- Booklet "Reserve fund" — for precautionary savings
See Create a booklet.
3. Funds
A fund is a targeted collection, generally with a financial goal displayed publicly ("10,000 € to renovate the hall").
A fund automatically generates a booklet in your Budget to track the donations it receives.
| Characteristic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created in the Funds module | Not directly in the Budget module |
| Appears in the Budget | Its booklet appears automatically |
| Optional goal | With or without a target amount |
See the Funds module for creation.
4. Campaigns
A campaign is a marketing operation (mailing, event, collection period). Like the fund, it generates its own booklet in the Budget.
| Characteristic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created in the Campaigns module | Not directly in the Budget module |
| Appears in the Budget | Its booklet appears automatically if it has received donations |
| Linked to a period | Often attached to a date (gala, holiday, end of year) |
See the Campaigns module.
5. Booklet groups (Event Journeys)
A booklet group brings together several linked sessions or events (holiday cycle, conference week, study program).
The group aggregates several child booklets in a parent view.
See the Event Journeys module.
How containers appear on the Budget page
On the Budget page, each container appears as a card:
Each card displays the container's balance and a preview of the latest operations. See Read a booklet card.
Accounting operations
An operation is any money movement that touches a container. There are four main types:
| Type | Direction | Where the money comes from / Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Entry | From a donor to a container |
| Income | Entry | From an external source not linked to a payment (rare in new_ui) |
| Expense | Outflow | From a container to the outside (supplier, expense) |
| Internal transfer | Transfer | From one container to another container |
See Understand operation types for details.
Currencies
Unisoft is multi-currency. A booklet can accumulate operations in several currencies (EUR, USD, ILS, GBP, etc.).
The total balance of a booklet is calculated in your main currency, and a detail per currency is viewable by clicking on "Balance detail" on the card.
Multi-organization
If your Unisoft account manages several associations (a main association and linked entities), each association has its own Main cash register and its own booklets.
The Budget page offers an association selector at the top right to filter the view.
See Filter by association and Understand Business Units and organizations.
Automatic links with other modules
A booklet is not an isolated silo: it receives relevant payments automatically and feeds the steering views.
- Payments: each payment goes to the booklet corresponding to its reason
- Funds & Campaigns: automatically generate a booklet
- Projected: uses balances to project
- Dashboard: displays key indicators
And now?
Now that you understand the structure of the Budget, you can: