# Spending approvals and declarations your board can trace

> A nonprofit approval workflow for purchases, expenses, budgets and annual declarations, with clear approvers, receipts on file and a timeline of every decision.

Nonprofits run on tight budgets and careful stewardship. Every purchase, reimbursement and invoice should be tied to a program or grant, approved by the right person and backed by a receipt.

In practice, a small staff juggles this with email, shared drives and a finance person who chases receipts every month. When the auditor, a funder or the board asks why something was approved, the answer is spread across inboxes, some of them belonging to people who have since left.

## Where the work gets stuck

### Spending without a budget line

Today: A purchase is approved by email without saying which program or grant pays for it, and finance sorts it out at month end.

With a process: Requests carry a cost center or budget line, and approval limits by amount send larger ones to the executive director or the treasurer.

### Receipts chased for weeks

Today: Staff pay out of pocket and send receipts later, or never, and the reimbursement waits in someone's inbox.

With a process: Expense reimbursement keeps the receipts on the same request as the line items, and finance records the payment with proof.

### Annual declarations on paper

Today: Conflict of interest statements and policy acknowledgments are collected once a year on paper and filed somewhere.

With a process: Each declaration and acknowledgment is signed with a typed name and kept with its date, ready to export when someone asks.

### History that leaves with people

Today: Staff and volunteers turn over, and the story behind a decision leaves with their inbox.

With a process: Every request keeps its full timeline in one place, regardless of who handled it, and can be exported to PDF or CSV.

## Processes to start with

- [Purchase request](https://easy.wf/templates/purchase-request.md): Ask for something to be bought with a justification and quotes, get it approved and track it until it arrives.
- [Expense reimbursement](https://easy.wf/templates/expense-reimbursement.md): Staff submit what they paid out of pocket with receipts, a manager approves and finance pays it back.
- [Budget request](https://easy.wf/templates/budget-request.md): A program asks for extra budget, finance analyzes it and leadership decides the amount to release.
- [Invoice approval](https://easy.wf/templates/invoice-approval.md): Confirm that what a vendor billed was delivered and budgeted before the invoice is scheduled for payment.
- [Conflict of interest declaration](https://easy.wf/templates/conflict-of-interest-declaration.md): Staff declare relationships or interests that may conflict with their role, and only compliance sees the details.
- [Policy acknowledgement](https://easy.wf/templates/policy-acknowledgement.md): Send a policy to each employee and keep the signed acknowledgment as the receipt.
- [Event participation](https://easy.wf/templates/event-participation.md): Propose a fundraising event or conference with its budget, and the amount decides who approves.
- [Travel advance and expense report](https://easy.wf/templates/travel-advance-and-expense-report.md): Give an advance before a field visit and settle the difference after the traveler reports the expenses.

## What matters most

- Approval limits by amount: The amount decides who approves, so small purchases do not wait for the executive director and large ones never skip them.
- Files and attachments: Receipts, quotes and invoices are attached to the request they support, not lost in an inbox.
- Signatures: Declarations and acknowledgments are signed with a typed name and acceptance, dated in the timeline.
- Full timeline: Every request keeps a tamper-evident history of who did what and when, which stays after staff move on.
- CSV, PDF and webhooks: Requests export to CSV, and each one can be exported to PDF with its timeline.

## Questions

### Is Easyflow accounting or grant management software?

No. It does not keep the books, track grant balances or prepare filings. It runs the approvals that happen before something reaches accounting, and exports to CSV.

### Can volunteers or board members take part without a paid seat?

People outside the workspace can fill guest steps from an email link or use public forms, and they do not count as users. Anyone who approves inside the workspace is a user.

### Will it satisfy our auditor or funders?

Easyflow cannot promise that. It keeps who approved what and when, with the documents attached and a tamper-evident timeline. Which records your auditor or funders require is up to them and your own policies.

Page: https://easy.wf/industries/nonprofits