How Chariot Fits Into Your Workflow
See how Chariot changes day-to-day workflows for your gift entry and accounting teams.
Chariot brings two teams closer to their ideal state. Gift entry shifts from gathering and reconciling gift data across multiple payer portals to reviewing, coding, and syncing gifts from a single source. Accounting gains a cleaner reconciliation path with Deposit IDs and date-matched statements.
This article walks through the new workflow for each team.
Before Chariot vs. With Chariot
Before Chariot, every offline gift arrived through disconnected channels: the data (a CSV from Fidelity, a portal export from Benevity, checks arriving by mail) and the payment (an ACH lump sum to your bank account). They arrived at different times and in different formats — requiring manual coordination between gift processing and accounting before anything could be entered into your CRM or reconciled.
With Chariot, payments and donor data from Fidelity, Benevity, YourCause, Ren, PayPal Grant Payments, DAFgiving360, and others arrive together in one place — already matched, already formatted consistently. AI auto-applies your campaign codes and generates CRM-ready exports. Your team shifts from hunting for data across dozens of locations to reviewing deposits and donations in one centralized place.
For the Gift Entry Team
With Chariot, your job becomes reviewing and coding gifts rather than hunting for data across email and payer portals. Payments from all connected payers land directly in your Chariot account with donor data already attached and formatted consistently.
Your New Workflow
Step 1 — Payments arrive and donations are matched automatically. Payments settle in your Chariot account and appear in the Deposits view. Each deposit has a unique Deposit ID. Donations within that deposit are automatically matched using this Deposit ID. You can view individual donations on the Donations page, or click into any deposit to see only the donations it contains.
Step 2 — Review incoming gifts and apply coding.
Use Policies to auto-code gifts based on your rules. For example, if a donation's purpose note contains "membership," the policy can automatically assign source code MBRSH. You review and approve what the AI assigned — rather than entering codes manually.
Step 3 — Export coded gifts to your CRM. Set up Export Templates to map Chariot fields to your CRM's exact column names and expected data format to eliminate manual reformatting after export. This becomes especially valuable if you're taking advantage of bulk import tools (e.g. ImportOmatic).
Step 4 — Use the Chariot deposit date and Deposit ID in your CRM records. When entering records, always include the deposit date and Deposit ID from Chariot. These are the fields accounting uses to reconcile, so consistency here matters.
Key Things to Know
You no longer need to wait for a notification from finance. Deposits are visible in real time the moment they settle in your Chariot account.
Some payment sources are auto-linked when your Chariot account is created — funds and data start flowing automatically. Others require a one-time linking step.
Use custom filtered views to separate workflows — for example, you can build a filtered view to only show individual DAF gifts and another view to only show matching gifts and workplace giving. This can be especially helpful if different team members handle each type. Learn more in Page & View Customization.
If a payer charges a platform fee (e.g., Benevity), the deposit reflects what was received net. Gross, fee, and net amounts are all visible at the donation level and exportable.
Video Tutorial
For the Accounting & Finance Team
Before Chariot, payer ACH payments arrived directly in your primary bank account.
With Chariot, those same deposits land in your Chariot Deposit Account first — a dedicated FDIC-insured bank account in your organization's legal name. When you transfer funds to the linked operating account, you will see an ACH deposit from your Chariot account. This is an internal transfer between two bank accounts owned by your organization.
Key mental model: Think of your Chariot Deposit Account as a bank account — not another payer portal. Reconcile individual gifts against your Chariot account statement using Deposit ID and deposit date. Once funds land in Chariot, they are legally your organization's — you don't need to wait for a transfer to your operating account to post journal entries or record revenue.
Your New Workflow
The following workflow is what we recommend and find best streamlines the accounting process. There are other ways of accounting for donations arriving to Chariot that vary from this workflow.
Step 1 — Add the Chariot account to your chart of accounts. In your ERP (Oracle, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, etc.), add the Chariot Deposit Account alongside your other bank accounts.
Step 2 — Post journal entries as deposits settle in Chariot. If you plan on manually creating journal entries, record one entry per deposit per payer. Consider adding a column on your Deposits page to track recorded deposits, providing team-wide visibility into what has and has not yet been booked.
If you have a CRM integration in place, there's no need for manual recording. In both scenarios, use the deposit settled date from Chariot rather than the funds transfer date from the account.
Step 3 — Transfer funds to your operating account. You can transfer funds from Chariot into your primary bank account at any time. You can initiate an ACH transfer by clicking on the Move Funds button from the Overview page. Once the transfer settles into your externally linked financial account, the chosen deposit amount will appear on your statement as a single lump sum. This amount is not tied to any deposit. Learn more about Transfers & Disbursements.
Step 4 — Reconcile at month-end or your preferred cadence. Download the Chariot bank statement and match against your ERP entries using Deposit ID and deposit date. Statements can be found on the Ledger page and are available as PDF, BAI2, or CSV. Learn more about Statements & Reconciliation.
Key Things to Know
The Chariot Deposit Account is FDIC-insured. It is a Demand Deposit Account provided by Column N.A., Member FDIC. Deposits are eligible for FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per depositor.
Transfer timing is independent of reconciliation. Post journal entries when deposits arrive in Chariot — then transfer funds to your operating account at whatever cadence works for your team.
When funds transfer to your primary bank, they appear as a single lump sum from Chariot. Your primary bank statement won't show individual payer breakdowns — that detail lives in your Chariot account.
Deposit amounts reflect what was received net of any payer fees. Gross, fee, and net are all available at the donation level via CSV export for organizations that book revenue gross.
Best Practices at a Glance
Gift Entry Team
Customize the Donations page with filtered views for different gift types or workflow stages.
Create Export Templates for each destination you plan on bulk uploading data to (your CRM for example) so every export is import-ready.
Set up Policies to auto-code gifts and reduce manual entry.
Always include deposit date and Deposit ID when entering records in your CRM.
You don't need to wait for finance — funds are yours from the moment they settle.
Accounting & Finance Team
Add Chariot to your chart of accounts and cash module alongside your other bank accounts.
Reconcile on your decided cadence against the Chariot bank statement using Deposit ID and deposit settled date.
Confirm your transfer cadence with your team (daily, weekly, or monthly).
Coordinate with the gift entry team on which CRM fields map to Chariot's deposit date and Deposit ID so you can reconcile and import data into your ERP appropriately.
Navigating between the two views:
From Deposits → Donations: Click any deposit to see all donations within it.
From Donations → Deposits: The Deposit ID column on the Donations page links back to the parent deposit.
Filter Donations by Deposit ID: If accounting asks "what's in deposit XYZ?", filter the Donations page by that Deposit ID.
Common Workflows
Gift Entry: Daily Review
Open the Donations page.
Use a view filtered to only show recent unprocessed donations (e.g., "Needs Review").
Review donations — check that Policies assigned the right codes and make any manual additions needed
Update the status of the all donations you have reviewed so they move out of your "Needs Review" tab and into your "Ready for CRM" view (see image below for how to bulk update a selected batch of donations).
Export or manually enter all donations reviewed (i.e. all donations in "Ready for CRM" view) into your CRM. This view can be filtered to only show donations where Review Status = Reviewed).
Accounting: Posting Journal Entries
Open the Deposits page.
Look for deposits not yet recorded in your ERP
For each new deposit: take note of the Deposit ID, deposit settled date, payer, and amount.
Post a journal entry in your ERP (one entry per deposit, per payer) if you don't have an integration with your CRM that does this for you.
Reconciliation: Month-End
Download your Chariot bank statement (PDF, BAI2, or CSV) from the Ledger.
Match each line item against your ERP entries using Deposit ID and deposit settled date.
Verify totals and investigate any discrepancies at the donation level.
Last updated