Foundation Features
An operating platform for private and community foundations: incoming grants, donations, disbursement approvals, and QuickBooks reconciliation.
Muin’s foundation features provide private foundations, community foundations, and donor-advised fund sponsors with a complete operating platform that manages the full money flow — from receiving grants, donations, and event revenue through to approving disbursements and tracking them to completion. Incoming grants flow through a state-machine pipeline. Donors split gifts across multiple funds on giving pages. Fundraising Campaigns target contacts with personalized outreach. Events collect registration fees with capacity enforcement. On the outbound side, approved disbursements are pushed as Bills to your QuickBooks, then auto-reconciled when you pay from your bank. Finance officers approve with maker-checker separation, OFAC screening runs before every disbursement approval, and batch processing handles dozens of disbursements at once. All foundation features are part of the Non-Profit module and integrate with the platform’s donor management, accounting, and compliance infrastructure.
Grant Disbursement Management
Outbound grant disbursements follow a structured lifecycle from initial recommendation through completion.
Lifecycle Statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Recommended | Grant proposed by program officer or submitted via the application portal |
| Under Review | Assigned to reviewers for evaluation and scoring |
| Approved | Authorized by the board or designated approver |
| Declined | Not funded; reason recorded for institutional memory |
| Scheduled | Payment date(s) set and linked to a source fund |
| Disbursed | Payment processed and deducted from the source fund |
| Completed | All payments made and all reporting requirements met |
Each grant receives a unique identifier (format: GD-YYYY-NNNNNN) for tracking across all stages. Multi-installment grants support quarterly, semi-annual, or custom payment schedules with individual tracking per installment.
Payment Security Controls
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| QuickBooks Bill Push | Approved disbursements are pushed as Bills to your connected accounting software. You pay the grantee from your own bank account, and Muin auto-reconciles when the payment clears. Disbursement data encrypted with AES-256-GCM using per-tenant keys. |
| Maker-Checker Separation | The person who creates a disbursement cannot also approve it. Prevents self-dealing and unauthorized payments. |
| OFAC Screening | Automated screening against the OFAC sanctions list before every payment is initiated. |
| Fund Balance Locking | Row-level locking on fund balances during disbursement prevents concurrent overdrafts when multiple payments process simultaneously. |
| Batch Disbursements | Process dozens of approved disbursements in a single run with consolidated compliance validation. |
| Invitation Token Security | Grantee invitation tokens are SHA-256 hashed. Cross-tenant token acceptance is blocked by tenant ID validation. |
Compliance Tracking
Every grant can carry reporting requirements with specific due dates:
- Interim reports – Progress updates required during the grant period
- Final reports – Summary of outcomes and expenditures at grant close
- Financial statements – Audited or unaudited financials from the grantee
- Outcome metrics – Quantitative impact data tied to the grant’s stated purpose
Overdue items are flagged automatically. Program officers see a compliance dashboard showing which grants are current and which need follow-up.
Grantee Profiles
Grantee profiles store organizational information and relationship history for every organization the foundation has funded or evaluated.
Profile Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Legal Name | Official name matching IRS records |
| EIN | Employer Identification Number, validated on entry |
| Mission | Organization’s stated mission |
| Program Areas | Categories of work (education, health, environment, etc.) |
| Geographic Focus | Service area or target geography |
| Budget Size | Annual operating budget |
| Leadership Contacts | Key staff and board contacts |
| Compliance Status | Current reporting status across all active grants |
Relationship Stages
Grantees move through a defined lifecycle:
- Prospect – Identified as a potential grantee but not yet funded
- Active – Currently receiving one or more grants
- Stewardship – Grant period complete, relationship maintained
- Alumni – Formerly funded, no active relationship
Grant History
Each profile includes a complete funding record: total amount awarded, number of grants, success rate (completed vs. compliance issues), average award size, and funding trend over time. This history supports informed decision-making across grant cycles.
Grant Application Portal
The Grant Application Portal lets foundations accept applications online using a public-facing form built on Muin’s Smart Forms engine.
How It Works
- Create a form from a template or from scratch with custom fields
- Publish a public URL – applicants do not need a Muin account
- Receive submissions that automatically create “Recommended” disbursement records
- Match applicants to existing grantee profiles by EIN, or auto-create new profiles
Form Capabilities
- Custom fields per grant program (scholarships, capital grants, operating support)
- Document upload support (budgets, financials, letters of support)
- Application window configuration (open and close dates)
- Foundation branding (logo, welcome message, confirmation email)
- Program area self-categorization by applicants
Pipeline Integration
Applications flow directly into the Grant Disbursement pipeline. No manual data entry, no spreadsheet imports. Reviewers see the application alongside the grantee’s history and can begin scoring immediately.
Endowment Operations
Endowment management tracks each fund’s principal, investment earnings, spending policy, and distributions with audit-grade precision.
Fund Tracking
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Principal | Protected corpus that cannot be invaded without board action |
| Accumulated Earnings | Investment returns above principal, available for distribution |
| Spending Rate | Configurable per fund (e.g., 4% of trailing 12-quarter average) |
| Distributable Amount | Real-time calculation of available funds given spending policy |
| Management Fees | Administrative and investment fees tracked separately |
Operations
- Investment returns and losses recorded per period with full transaction detail
- Distributions deducted from the appropriate fund with an auditable paper trail
- Multi-fund dashboard with aggregate views for foundations managing many funds
- Spending compliance monitoring to ensure distributions stay within policy limits
Every transaction posts to a full ledger. Endowment balances, distributable amounts, and transaction histories are always current and consistent with accounting records.
Form 990-PF Data Export
Private foundations file IRS Form 990-PF annually. Muin compiles the required data from your disbursement and endowment records throughout the year.
Sections Covered
| Section | Data Provided |
|---|---|
| Part XV | Every grant paid: grantee name, EIN, address, purpose, amount, date |
| Endowment Summary | Beginning balance, contributions, earnings, distributions, fees, ending balance |
| Spending Compliance | Distributable amount, actual distributions, minimum distribution calculation |
CSV Download
The export produces a structured CSV file with column headers mapped to IRS field names:
- Grantee legal name and validated EIN
- Full address (street, city, state, ZIP)
- Grant purpose matching the approved record
- Amount paid and payment date
- Disclosed relationships between foundation and grantee
The CSV imports directly into tax preparation software or can be provided to your CPA without translation.
Year-Round Data Quality
Because applications, approvals, payments, and grantee profiles are all maintained in one system, the year-end export is a snapshot of data that was validated as it was entered. No spring-time scramble to compile Part XV from disparate spreadsheets and bank statements.
Document Intelligence
Muin’s Document Intelligence platform automatically processes documents uploaded during the grant lifecycle – applications, financial statements, compliance reports, and tax documents.
How It Works
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Classification | Incoming documents are classified by type (application, financial statement, compliance report, tax determination letter) |
| Extraction | Structured data is extracted: organization name, EIN, budget totals, program areas, and custom fields |
| Validation | Extracted data is validated against grantee profiles and application records |
| Audit | Every extraction logged with confidence scores for staff verification |
Foundation-Specific Schemas
Define custom extraction schemas for foundation document types:
- Grant proposal schema – Extract purpose, requested amount, budget breakdown, program area, geographic focus
- Financial statement schema – Extract revenue, expenses, net assets, program expenses ratio
- Compliance report schema – Extract outcome metrics, expenditure details, narrative summaries
- Tax determination letter – Extract EIN, tax-exempt status, public charity classification
Integration
Document Intelligence integrates with the grant pipeline. When an applicant uploads attachments, data is extracted automatically and linked to the grant record. Staff review extracted data rather than manually entering it.
AI Agents
Foundation-specific AI agents assist with grant evaluation and fund management.
| Agent | Function |
|---|---|
| Grant Recommender | Scores applications on mission alignment, organizational capacity, and historical funding patterns. Flags duplicates and identifies high-potential applicants. |
| Compliance Monitor | Tracks grantee reporting obligations. Alerts program officers when reports are approaching due dates or overdue. Flags grantees with repeated compliance issues. |
| Fund Health | Monitors endowment performance against spending policy. Alerts when distributable amounts are low, when spending rates are exceeded, or when investment returns deviate from projections. |
| Impact Reporter | Aggregates program outcomes across the grantmaking portfolio and generates funder, board, and 990 reports. |
All AI recommendations are advisory. Human staff make final decisions on grant approvals, compliance actions, and communications.
Notification Sequences
Automated notification sequences keep staff and grantees informed throughout the grant lifecycle.
Staff Notifications
| Trigger | Recipients | Content |
|---|---|---|
| New application received | Program officers | Application summary and link to review |
| Review deadline approaching | Assigned reviewers | Reminder with days remaining |
| Approval required | Board members or approvers | Grant summary and approval link |
| Payment due | Finance staff | Installment details and fund balance |
| Report overdue | Program officer | Grantee name, report type, days overdue |
Grantee Notifications
| Trigger | Content |
|---|---|
| Application received | Confirmation with reference number |
| Decision made | Approval or decline notification with next steps |
| Grant onboarding | Welcome message with reporting schedule and contacts |
| Report reminder | 30-day, 14-day, and 7-day reminders before due date |
| Disbursement approved | Confirmation of approval with amount, reference, and QuickBooks Bill status |
Notification templates are customizable per foundation. Sequences can be adjusted or disabled for specific grant programs.
Next Steps
- Foundation Endowment Management – Detailed walkthrough of endowment, grant intake, disbursements, 990-PF export, and the foundation AI agents
- Smart Forms – The form engine powering the application portal
- Smart Payments – Payment processing for inbound and outbound transactions
- Muin vs Foundant – How Muin compares for grantmaking
- Muin vs SmartSimple – How Muin compares for form-driven grant management