The board report and exports
Pulling a board-ready PDF for the monthly business meeting — choosing the reporting period, what the report contains, how it differs from a giver's tax statement, and exporting your expenses as a CSV for your treasurer.
When the monthly business meeting rolls around, the numbers your board wants — what came in, what went out, what's left in each fund — are one click away. The Export menu at the top of your Finances page offers two things: a board report as a PDF, and your expenses as a CSV spreadsheet.
Picking the period
Both exports follow the date range selected at the top of the page: This month (the default), Last month, This year, or a custom range you pick on the calendar. Choose the period first, then export — a report pulled for June covers June 1 through June 30, wherever today happens to fall.
What's in the board report
The report opens with a preview so you can look it over before downloading. Inside:
- Totals for the period — money in, money out, and the net. The money-in figure also shows its split between online giving and recorded cash & checks. A negative net is printed plainly — a deficit month is information for your board, not an alarm.
- Giving by fund — where the period's giving was directed.
- Expenses by category — where the money went, grouped by the same categories you pick when recording.
- Fund balances as of the period's end — each fund's opening balance, what came in, what was spent, and the resulting balance, so the board sees where things stood at the close of the period (not where they drift to later).
Two honest notes printed on the report itself: online giving figures are shown net of processing fees (what your church actually keeps), and the footer reminds readers that this is a record-keeping aid prepared by your church, not a certified financial statement.
A board report is not a tax statement
These are two different documents for two different readers, and it's worth keeping them straight:
- The board report is a whole-church summary of money in, out, and on hand — for your leadership. It never lists individual givers.
- A giving statement is a per-person, year-end record of one giver's own gifts — for them and their tax return. Members download their own; see Receipts and tax statements.
The report even says so on its first page, so a copy that ends up in the wrong hands can't be mistaken for something it isn't.
The CSV export
Download CSV gives you every expense in the selected range as a plain spreadsheet — date, vendor, category, fund, payment method, amount, and note — ready for your treasurer, your accountant, or any tool they prefer. However long the ledger, the export includes all of it.
If what you need instead is a spreadsheet of gifts, that lives on the Giving page; see Tracking gifts, refunds, and reports.
Getting good numbers out
The report is only as complete as what's recorded, so two habits keep it trustworthy: log the plate each week (see Recording cash and check gifts) and set your opening balances once so the fund figures are anchored to the bank (see Fund balances and opening balances). Do those two things and the monthly report becomes a one-click job.