PROJECT PROPOSAL

Prepared by: Robin Jolin — Jolin Books

Website: robinjolin.com | robin@robinjolin.com

Circle Game - Evelyn Wallace, Board Chair

October 26, 2026

OVERVIEW

After our call, I went through your transaction sheet line by line. Your notes on each purchase are detailed. That makes this work faster.

The gap is structure. Money moves through six places right now, and the sheet can't show the board one clear picture.

This project gets your books into QuickBooks, matches every entry to the bank, and hands your board a clean report in December. Then you choose how much of the ongoing work you want to keep.

WHAT I FOUND

  • About 205 entries from March 2025 to now. Your sheet starts 3/15/2025. Please confirm that's your true start date.

  • Six places money moves: the CGI account, Venmo, cash, your personal Ally account, your personal credit card, and "Evy's Local."

  • About 40 "ghost donations." These are expenses you paid personally and logged as gifts. Each needs a receipt and the same treatment.

  • Gift labels. Your sheet marks Arie Trouw's $8,000 and Beth Bailey's $1,600 as "restriction." We need to confirm whether these gifts were restricted before recording them.

  • A loan logged as a donation. Beth's $5,000 on 5/21/25 was repaid on 8/5/25.

  • Possible duplicates. Harvard shows four payments on a three-payment plan. A $415.99 plumbing charge appears twice under two names. The entries from 7/6/26 to 8/3/26 are listed twice.

  • Small fixes. One date reads 2024 instead of 2026. Some income lines carry a program or fundraising tag, which should only apply to expenses.

SCOPE OF WORK

  • QuickBooks Setup: Build a chart of accounts around your income streams: retreat donations, webinar donations, memberships, PAC Heroes tuition, and PDF sales. Tag every expense as Program, Management & General, or Fundraising. Connect your bank accounts.

  • Cleanup & Reconciliation: Move every entry from March 2025 to now into QuickBooks. Match each one to your bank statements. Sort Zeffy deposits into donations, memberships, tuition, and sales. Set up tracking for expenses you pay personally on the org's behalf, with receipts attached.

  • Donor Records from Zeffy: Zeffy deposits are sorted into donations, memberships, tuition, and sales, and each one is matched to the bank deposit it came from. Your Zeffy donor and member list comes into QuickBooks as contacts, so every gift ties to a name.

  • December Board Report: One clear report showing money in, money out, and the split by Program, Admin, and Fundraising. Ready for your early December meeting.

NOTES

I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA. I don't give tax or legal advice. Here's how I'll record two items, and the questions I recommend you ask your CPA.

How I'll record it:

  • Record in-kind property use as in-kind revenue with a matching in-kind expense at the $9,642 your board approved. I keep a copy of the board minutes with the entry.”

  • Memberships will be tracked in their own income account, separate from donations, so they're easy to classify later.

Questions for a CPA:

  • How the property-use arrangement between you and the org is reported on your annual filing.

  • The barter with your tenant.

  • Whether memberships and PDF sales count as donations or earned income.

  • Your annual federal and state filings.

INVESTMENT

Option 1: Full Care — $2,500 one-time + $350/month
I'll handle the setup, cleanup, and monthly books. You get the December board report, a second set of eyes on every entry, and one person who knows the money from start to finish.

Includes: setup, cleanup, reconciliation, December report, monthly bookkeeping, monthly board report.
Doesn’t include: training. You don’t run the system yourself.

Option 2: Set Up & Train — $3,300 one-time + $150/quarter
I build the system and teach you to run it. You get three hands-on sessions, the December report, and a quarterly review to catch anything that slips.

Includes: setup, cleanup, reconciliation, December report, three training sessions, quarterly review.
Doesn’t include: monthly bookkeeping. You keep the books yourself between reviews.

Option 3: Set Up & Hand Off — $3,000 one-time
I set up the system, clean up the past year, and hand you a checklist. You take it from there.

Includes: setup, cleanup, reconciliation, December report, handoff meeting, one-page monthly checklist.
Doesn’t include: training, ongoing support, or any review after handoff.

QuickBooks Online Subscription

Non-profit functional expense tracking requires QuickBooks Online Plus.

  • Retail Rate: $140 / month (if purchased directly)

  • ProAdvisor Wholesale Rate: $98 / month (billed through Jolin Books)

Software fees are separate pass-through costs. Billing through my account saves Circle Game $42/month (504 / year)

Payment Schedule

  • 50% Deposit: Required up front to begin work.

  • 50% Final Balance: Due upon final delivery and walkthrough.

  • Ongoing fees are billed at the start of each month or quarter

Next Step