4 min read
A school year without the spreadsheet
How one class fund runs from September to June with ClassFund.Club — setting up, matching payments, splitting costs and handing over at the end.
Every class has one: the parent who collects money for trips, tickets and the teacher's gift, keeps a spreadsheet at the kitchen table, and answers "have I paid?" twenty times a month. Here's what the same year looks like when the spreadsheet isn't needed.
September: set the class up
Create the class and upload the class list the school already has. Invite the parents and the teacher, and give each the right role. If the class already has money when you start, bring in each child's opening balance, so the books begin where the class really is.
Every month: let the statement do the work
Upload the statement your bank gives you, or connect the class account with read-only access and let new transactions arrive every morning. Transfers from an account ClassFund.Club already knows go to the right child by themselves.
- Unclear transfer? Choose the child once, and that sender is recognised from then on.
- One transfer for two brothers or sisters? Split it between them.
- Somebody paid in cash? Take it for their child, and the cash box keeps count.
Whenever the class spends: record it once
The teacher or the chair notes what it was, what it cost and which children took part, then chooses how to split it: equally across the class, only among those who went, or a set amount per child. Photograph the receipt and attach it. Every child's balance updates on the spot, and every family can open the receipt.
When money runs low: ask everyone at once
Tick the families, say how much each child should pay and what it's for, and each family gets its own email with the amount and the transfer details — including anything they still owe, or how much they're already in credit. Asking doesn't charge anybody: the balance only changes when the money arrives.
All year: nobody has to ask
Each parent can sign in and see their own child's balance whenever they like. The monthly report puts it in their inbox, and the charts show where the class's money went, without naming any other family.
In June: hand over with a clear conscience
When the job changes hands, the books stay with the class. Make the next parent a chair and they pick up exactly where you left off, with an audit trail that shows every change made along the way.