Setup

Overview

Setup is a state-level feature where you build the foundational pieces that the rest of FutureFund Connect relies on. Everything you create here — Positions, Triggers, Document Types, and Document Generators (with Addendums) — is defined once at the state level and made available to your districts, councils, and units.

Setup is only available at the state level. District, council, and unit volunteers use what you configure here, but they cannot change these settings. This keeps your whole state consistent and helps your PTAs stay compliant without guesswork.

Open Setup from the navigation bar under your state PTA’s name. The page has two groups:

Configure — Document Generators, Triggers, Positions, Document Types.
Import — Import Districts, Import Councils, Import Units, Import Historical Memberships.

You can work on them in any order. Below is what each one does and how to set it up.

Positions

Positions are the board roles your PTAs use, like President, Treasurer, and Secretary. They appear when entities build their board rosters, and they drive board-member imports, roster warnings, and the Contact Report.

Each position has both an English name and a Spanish name, plus a few options that control how it behaves.

Add or edit a position

Open Positions from Setup.
Click Add Position (or open an existing one to edit it).
Enter the English name and the Spanish name. Both are required, and each can be up to 50 characters.
Set the options you want:
- Term limits — the number of consecutive terms allowed for this role (the default is 2). Exceeding it produces a warning on the board roster, not a hard block.
- Require address — turn this on if board members in this role must provide a mailing address.
- Require phone — turn this on if board members in this role must provide a phone number.
- Restrict entries — restricts this position to one board member per term.
- Archive — see below.
Save. Positions are sorted by their position order and are available across your hierarchy.

Volunteers see the position name in their own language, so fill in both names carefully.

Archive a position

If a role is no longer used, archive it instead of deleting it. Archived positions stay attached to past board members but are no longer offered when adding new ones.

Import and export positions

You can manage positions in bulk with a spreadsheet.

Export: from the Positions list, download the CSV. It includes the columns name_en, name_es, position, archive, require_address, and require_phone.
Import: open Import Positions, then upload a CSV or XLSX file with those same columns. A position is matched by its English name, so importing updates an existing position with the same name_en or creates a new one.

Triggers

Triggers automatically create tasks (called activities) for your PTAs. A background job processes them every morning, creating whatever is due that day. Triggers are an advanced feature — if you would like a hand setting them up, please reach out to FutureFund Support.

Each trigger does three things: it decides which level it applies to, when the task is created, and when the task is due.

Choose the level

A trigger targets a single level — either units, councils, or districts. It does not apply to a combination of levels. Pick the one this trigger is meant for.

Choose when the task is created

The creation date uses one of these strategies:

Manual — the task is only created on demand. Nothing is scheduled automatically.
Calendar — created each year on a specific month and day (for example, June 15).
Fiscal — created a set number of days relative to the entity’s fiscal year end. Use a negative number for before, positive for after.
Fiscal Year Start — created a set number of days relative to the entity’s fiscal year start.
Anniversary — created on an anniversary of an entity date (for example, every few years on the anniversary of when the unit was organized).

Choose when the task is due

The due date uses one of these strategies:

Relative — due a number of days after the task is created.
Calendar — due on a specific month and day.
Fiscal — due a set number of days relative to the entity’s fiscal year end.
Tax Deadline — due on the entity’s federal filing deadline for the fiscal year the task covers.

Other trigger options

Allow manual creation — lets users create a task from this trigger themselves, even when it is also scheduled.
Starts on — a floor date, so a new trigger doesn’t backfill into the current year.
Inclusion / exclusion criteria — Liquid expressions that scope which entities the trigger applies to.
Completion message — a “What’s Next” message shown on the task once it’s completed.
A trigger can attach a Document Generator or a Document Type so the task asks for the right submission.

There is no monthly/quarterly/annual setting. Schedules are built from the creation and due strategies above, which gives you the flexibility to match almost any compliance calendar. For full detail and worked examples, see the Triggers article.

Document Types

Document Types define the kinds of documents your PTAs submit, such as an annual financial report or an insurance certificate.

Create a Document Type

Open Document Types from Setup.
Click Add Document (or open an existing type to edit it).
Enter a Name.
Add a Description using the rich-text editor. This is where you explain what the document is and any guidance for the people submitting it — it’s shown to the volunteer right on the upload screen.
Optionally attach a sample to help people understand the type. The sample can be a PDF or an image (PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP), up to 25 MB. Volunteers get a View Sample button when one is attached.
Save.

Archive a Document Type

Use Archive to hide a Document Type from the list of available types. Archiving does not delete any documents that were already submitted under it — it simply removes the type from the choices going forward.

Merge Document Types

If you end up with two types that mean the same thing, use Merge Document Types to combine them.

Open Merge Document Types.
Choose a Target Document Type (the one you keep) and a Source Document Type (the one that will be deleted).
Enter a new name for the merged type.
Confirm the merge. All documents, tasks, and document generators tied to the source are reassigned to the target, and the source is then deleted.

This action cannot be undone, so double-check your selections before confirming.

Document Generators

Document Generators turn a real PDF into a guided form. You start with a base PDF, then place fields directly onto the page so that answers print in exactly the right spot.

A Document Generator is created for a single language — English or Spanish — and the list shows English and Spanish generators in separate sections.

Create a Document Generator

Open Document Generators from Setup.
Click Add Generator.
Enter a Name, the Filename of the base PDF (it must end in .pdf), and the Language.
Optionally add a Description.
Save.

Place fields with the visual editor

Open Edit Fields to open the visual editor. Here you see the actual PDF, and you draw boxes where each field belongs.

Draw a box to create a field.
Double-click a field to edit its settings.
Press Delete to remove a selected field.
Press Esc to deselect.

Each field has a name, a data type (such as text, number, amount, date, checkbox, or a select list), and a data source. The data source controls where the value comes from — a question you ask the user, or information pulled automatically from the unit, council, or district record. Fields can also be calculated or use a fixed value. See Attributes for how those values resolve.

Liquid is used only inside individual fields — for example, to calculate a value, build a list of options, or decide when a field should appear or hide. The overall PDF itself is your uploaded file, not a Liquid-built page.

Import fields from a spreadsheet

If you have many fields, you can add or update them in bulk by importing a CSV or XLSX file instead of drawing each one by hand. Fields are matched by their import reference, so importing updates existing fields or creates new ones.

Copy a generator to another state

Admins can copy a Document Generator — along with all of its fields and addendums — to another state. Use Copy on the generator, choose the destination state, and confirm. This is helpful when states share similar forms and you do not want to rebuild everything from scratch. (Copying to another state is limited to admins.)

Addendums

Addendums are extra PDF pages that are added to a generated document only when a condition is met. They are managed from inside a Document Generator.

Add an addendum

Open the Document Generator, then choose Add Addendum.
Enter the Filename of the addendum PDF.
Enter a Formula — a Liquid condition that evaluates to true or false. The addendum is included only when it evaluates to true (or “yes” or “1”).
Set Insert After Page — the page number the addendum should be inserted after. Leave it blank to add the pages at the end.
Set the Position to control the order when there are multiple addendums.
Save.

Like the main generator, an addendum has its own Edit Fields visual editor so you can place fields on the addendum pages.

Import

The Import group on the Setup page is how you load and update your hierarchy in bulk. Each import works the same way: the page lists the exact columns required, gives you a Download Template button, and takes a CSV upload.

Import Districts (Import/Update Districts) — create or update districts.
Import Councils (Import/Update Councils) — create or update councils. Each row names its district by reference code.
Import Units (Import/Update Units) — create or update units. Each row names its district and council by reference code, and can carry the unit’s legal name, address, fiscal start month, type, organization date, state and national reference codes, corporate number, EIN, FTB, ROC, status, last bylaw date, and grades.
Import Historical Memberships — load prior-year membership totals per unit. See Importing Historical Membership Counts.

These are import or update tools, not just create: a row whose reference code already exists updates that record rather than creating a duplicate. That makes them the fastest way to push a state-wide change — a new fiscal start month, a batch of status changes, a round of EIN corrections — without opening each record.

Every import validates before it saves. If a row has a problem, the page tells you which row and why, so you can correct your file and upload it again.

Because these imports can rewrite records across your entire state, work from the downloaded template, start with a handful of rows to confirm the shape is right, and keep a copy of your file before each run.

Tips

Plan your Positions list before your PTAs build their rosters. Renaming a role later can be confusing once it is in use — archive instead of delete when a role is retired.
Build your Triggers around your real compliance calendar using the creation and due strategies, and use Starts on or inclusion criteria to pilot a new one before it goes state-wide.
Use a clear Description and a sample on each Document Type so the right files come in the first time.
For Document Generators, start by uploading the correct base PDF, then place a few fields and preview before filling in the whole form.
Remember that everything in Setup flows downstream and Setup is state-level only, so coordinate with your team before making big changes.