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Financial Aid

Financial Aid (sometimes called scholarships) lets families request help covering the cost of an event, with admin approval.

Enabling Financial Aid​

Financial Aid is a per-event feature, and it requires the event to be in Tracked payment mode. Free and Simple events cannot use aid.

  1. Open the event in Settings → Events.
  2. Confirm payment mode is Tracked.
  3. Toggle Financial Aid on under Features.
  4. Save.

A "Financial Aid" sidebar item appears in Sign Ups for any workspace with at least one event using it.

Funding buckets​

Financial aid is funded out of scholarship funds (also called buckets). Funds live at the workspace level, but each event decides how much of each fund is available for that event's applications.

Fund anatomy​

Each fund has:

  • A name (e.g. "General Scholarship Fund", "Memorial Camp Fund").
  • A yearly budget that caps the total awards the fund can give out in a calendar year.
  • A year (the budget cycle the fund is currently in).
  • An optional ministry, which scopes the fund to events from that ministry only.
  • A color for visual identification.

A fund tracks four amounts:

  • Yearly budget: the cap you set.
  • Allocated: the total dollars events have earmarked across the year.
  • Awarded: the total dollars approved out of the fund so far.
  • Remaining: allocated minus awarded.

Workspace-level: creating funds​

Configure funds under Sign Ups → Settings → Financial Aid. From there:

  1. Click Add Fund.
  2. Set the name, yearly budget, year, optional ministry, and color.
  3. Save.

Funds without a ministry are available to every event in the workspace. Funds tied to a ministry only show up on that ministry's events.

Event-level: allocating from funds​

Allocations earmark a slice of a fund's yearly budget for a specific event. This lets you say, for example, "We're setting aside $2,000 of the General Fund for Summer Camp 2026."

To allocate:

  1. Open the event in Settings → Events with payment mode set to Tracked and Financial Aid feature enabled.
  2. Scroll to the Financial Aid section.
  3. Pick a fund from the dropdown and enter the amount.
  4. Add more rows to draw from multiple funds for the same event.

Across all your events, the total allocated from a fund cannot exceed its yearly budget.

How approvals draw from funds​

When you approve an application, you pick which fund the award comes out of. Sign Ups draws from that fund's allocation for the event:

  • The awarded total on the fund increases by the approved amount.
  • The fund's remaining balance for that event decreases.
  • If the event hasn't allocated enough from that fund to cover the award, you'll see a warning before approving.

If you change or revoke an approval later, the awarded total updates accordingly. You can move an approval to a different fund if one runs low.

Sharing funds across events​

Because allocations are per-event but budgets are per-fund, the same fund can support multiple events at once. Common patterns:

  • One general fund, multiple events. Allocate $1,000 to Spring Retreat and $4,000 to Summer Camp from the same $5,000 yearly bucket.
  • Per-ministry funds. A "Youth Camp Fund" tied to the Youth ministry shows up on Youth events only; "Kids Camp Fund" shows up on Kids events. Keeps budgets cleanly separated.
  • Memorial or restricted funds. A small targeted fund (e.g. "Smith Family Memorial Fund") allocated only to specific events that match the donor's intent.

When a fund runs out​

If a fund's awarded total reaches its allocated amount on an event, you can't approve more applications from it for that event. You have a few options:

  • Move the approval to a different fund with budget left.
  • Increase the event's allocation from another fund.
  • Increase the fund's yearly budget if your church has added money to it.

How families apply​

When Financial Aid is enabled on an event:

  • Families see an option during registration to apply for aid, or they can apply later from their public portal.
  • The application asks about household situation, who's applying for help, and the amount requested. The questions are customizable.
  • Submitted applications go into a Pending queue for admin review.

Families can edit a submitted application up until it's approved or denied.

Reviewing applications​

Go to Sign Ups → Financial Aid. You'll see a list of applications across all events that have aid enabled.

Each application shows:

  • The applicant family
  • The event they're applying for
  • Amount requested
  • Their answers to the application form
  • Status (Pending, Approved, Denied)

:::note Screenshot needed financial-aid-list.png: the Financial Aid page with several pending and approved applications. :::

Click into an application to:

  • Approve in full, partial, or deny
  • Add internal notes
  • Set the approved amount, which automatically credits the registrant's balance

:::note Screenshot needed financial-aid-review.png: the application detail view with approve / partial / deny controls. :::

How approvals affect balances​

When you approve aid, the approved amount becomes a credit on the registrant's account. The remaining balance is what the family still owes. They'll see this on their Family Portal.

If you change or revoke an approval later, the credit updates accordingly.

Settings​

Under Settings → Financial Aid you can:

  • Customize the application form questions
  • Set a default per-registrant cap
  • Enable or disable email notifications when applications are submitted
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