Disbursements are payments your organization makes to vendors, staff, or other recipients that may need to be reported to regulatory agencies. Properly tracking these expenses is essential for accurate disclosure reporting and financial compliance. When you record disbursements with complete information—including the recipient, purpose, date, and appropriate campaign finance categories—you ensure your reports will contain all required details. This systematic approach helps you maintain compliance while also providing clear records of your organization's spending for internal tracking purposes.
Step 1: Access the disbursements section
Navigate to the Compliance or Disclosure section of EveryAction by selecting it from the main menu. Look for a subsection labeled "Disbursements," "Expenditures," or "Payments" and click to access it. This area displays your existing disbursements and provides options to add new ones. Depending on your permissions and system configuration, you might also access disbursements through the Finance section. If you don't see these options, check with your administrator as you may need specific permissions to work with financial transactions in the system.
Step 2: Create a new disbursement
Once in the disbursements section, click the "Add Disbursement," "New Disbursement," or similarly named button to begin recording a payment. This opens a form where you'll enter details about the transaction. Start by selecting the vendor who received the payment—you can choose an existing vendor from the dropdown menu or create a new one by clicking an "Add Vendor" option and providing their name, address, and other required information. Then enter the payment date, amount, check number (if applicable), and payment method. Be precise with these details as they will appear on disclosure reports and should match your financial records.
Step 3: Categorize the disbursement properly
Proper categorization is crucial for compliance reporting. In the disbursement form, you'll need to select appropriate categories that determine how the expense appears on disclosure reports. Look for fields like "Disbursement Type," "Expense Category," or "Report Code" and select the option that best describes your payment. Common categories include administrative expenses, fundraising costs, advertising, consulting fees, or direct candidate support. You may also need to specify whether the expense relates to a specific election or campaign by selecting the relevant election from a dropdown menu. These classifications ensure your expenses are reported correctly according to regulatory requirements.
Step 4: Add required details and documentation
Enter a clear, specific description of the purpose of the disbursement in the designated field. Vague descriptions like "consulting" or "services" are generally insufficient for compliance purposes—instead, provide details like "fundraising event catering" or "website design services." If the disbursement needs to be allocated across multiple campaigns or funds, use the allocation feature to specify how the amount should be divided. Some organizations also attach digital copies of invoices or receipts to disbursement records—look for an "Attachments" or "Documents" section if your system supports this feature. Finally, if this payment relates to a previously recorded debt, connect it to that debt record using the relevant selection option.
Step 5: Save and verify the disbursement
Review all information for accuracy before saving the disbursement. Check that the vendor information, amount, date, category, and purpose are all correct and complete. Click "Save" or "Create" to add the disbursement to your records. After saving, the system will typically return you to the disbursements list where you can view your new entry. To make changes to a saved disbursement, find it in the list and click "Edit" or a similar option. For complex organizations, consider running a disbursement report periodically to verify that all expenses have been properly recorded and categorized before your reporting deadlines approach.
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