Every database comes pre-configured with a standard set of transaction types — for both Endowment and Expendable funds — each with default settings that control how transactions impact key fund values. These settings can be reviewed in the Transaction Settings view and customized during implementation or post-implementation.

This article explains:

• What the Transaction Settings view shows

• What each impact field means

• How unit settings work and why they matter

• How to request changes

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The Transaction Settings View

The Transaction Settings view gives you a complete picture of how each transaction type is configured in your database. For every transaction, you can see:

Transaction Type	The name of the transaction (e.g., Gift, Distribution, Income)
Activity Type	The category the transaction belongs to (e.g., Gifts, Transfers, Distributions, Expenses)
Impacts Historical Gift?	Whether the transaction affects the fund's Historical Gift / Corpus / Principal balance
Impacts Book Value?	Whether the transaction affects the fund's Book Value
Impacts MV / Cash / Pool Reconciliation?	Whether the transaction affects Market Value and the Cash/Pool Reconciliation
Impacts Units?	Whether the transaction changes the number of units held by a fund

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What Each Impact Field Means

Impacts Historical Gift / Corpus / Principal

Marks whether a transaction adds to or adjusts the permanent gift balance of an endowed fund. Transaction types like Gift, Pledge Payment, Cash Historical Gift Transfer, and Income to Principal carry this flag because they represent actual additions to (or corrections of) a fund's permanent corpus.

Impacts Book Value

Marks whether a transaction affects the recorded book value of the fund. Most transactions that move real money into or out of a fund — gifts, transfers, distributions, expenses, and earnings  impact book value. Note, customers that do not track ‘book value’ are able to use this field to track another balance and create reports within User Defined Reporting. 

Impacts Market Value / Cash / Pool Reconciliation

Marks whether a transaction affects the fund's market value and appears in the pool reconciliation. Transactions that do not carry this flag (such as Book Value adjustments or Pledges) are accounting-only entries that don't move cash or change market value.

Impacts Units

Marks whether a transaction changes the number of units a fund holds in the investment pool. This is the setting with the most nuance — see the section below.

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Understanding the Units Setting

Units represent a fund's proportional ownership share in the investment pool. When a transaction impacts units, it changes how many shares of the pool the fund owns. When it does not impact units, the fund's unit count stays the same but the unit price may be adjusted instead (for investment activity entries).

For Transaction-Level Entries

When you enter investment activity (Income, Investment Fees, Realized Gains, Unrealized Gains) directly as a fund-level transaction, it always changes units, regardless of the settings below. The settings only apply to investment activity entered at the investment pool level and allocated to funds automatically by the system.

Spending Activity Processing

Do distributions change the units for your endowment funds?

• Typically this is Yes and makes it easier to have multiple spending rules for a single pool and/or funds that do not have any spending rule setup or organizations that do not take a spending distribution/reinvestment for unseasoned funds that need to meet donor or organization level thresholds for date/amounts.  

• If the setting is unit price then it’s important that all funds participate in the spending rule to avoid rebalancing using unrealized gains & losses to keep a fund's units × unit price = market value. Note, the unit price setting only applies to the standard “distribution” transaction rather than any transaction with the activity type “distribution”. If you have questions on options with the configuration, please submit a ticket to support.  

Fee Activity Processing

Do fees change the units for your endowment funds?

• Typically this is Yes and makes it easier to have multiple fee rules for a single pool and/or funds that do not have any fee rules set up or organizations that have different rates that apply. 

• If the setting is unit price then it’s important that all funds participate in the fee rule to avoid rebalancing using unrealized gains & losses to keep a fund's units × unit price = market value. Note, the unit price setting only applies to the standard “expense” transaction rather than any transaction with the activity type “expenses”. If you have questions on options with the configuration, please submit a ticket to support. 

Investment Activity Processing

Do income and investment fees change unit price? Do realized gains and losses change unit price? Do unrealized gains and losses change unit price?

 

These three settings control whether pool-level investment activity (allocated automatically to funds) is reflected as a change to the unit price rather than a change in the number of units. Setting these to Yes (the standard configuration) means investment performance flows through as unit price movement, which is the most common approach for unitized pools.

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Customizing Your Transaction Settings

During Implementation

Transaction settings — including which balances that a transaction type impacts and how units are handled — can be configured during your implementation process in coordination with your implementation team.

Post-Implementation Changes

After go-live, changes to transaction settings or requests to add new custom transaction types require a support ticket. Custom transaction types (such as Gifts, Transfers, Distribution, Expense Types) can be added to accommodate your organization's specific accounting needs.

 

To request a change, contact support with:

• The transaction type(s) you'd like to modify or add

• The desired impact field settings (Historical Gift, Book Value, MV/Cash, Units)

• The activity type and how it should appear in donor reports (if applicable)

 

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Key Reminders

• Positive entry, negative impact: Distribution-type transactions (Distribution, Administrative Fees, Expenses, and Investment Expenses) are always entered as positive amounts but automatically reduce the fund balance or pool reconciliation.

• Units vs. unit price: Pool-level investment activity is typically set-up to be a change in unit price and any fund-level investment activity transaction entries entered will always change units. The Distribution and Fee Settings for Unit Price will only work with the standard transaction types: Distribution and Expense. 

• DTDF Funds: Only use the Due To/From Transfer transaction type for Due To/Due From funds. No other transaction types should be used with a DTDF fund.

• Closing a fund: Use the Deactivate Fund feature in the Fund Profile — do not use External Transfer Out or Internal Transfer to close funds. The system will automatically generate the necessary transactions.

• Pledges: Pledge activity (Pledge, Pledge Payment, Pledge Write-Off) is tracked separately on the Pledge Balances Report.

 

For a breakdown of the different transactions you can find in each transaction type category, please see Transaction Type Categories