Goals

Overview

Goals is the financial target-tracking module in Holy Resource. It is designed for churches that want to set a clear target amount, define the window in which giving should count toward that target, and monitor progress without maintaining a spreadsheet on the side.

The module is intentionally lightweight on data entry and heavy on live progress visibility. Staff create the goal once, optionally link it to one or more donation categories, and Holy Resource recalculates progress from donation records automatically.

For non-technical users, the easiest way to think about Goals is: define the target, connect the right giving categories, then keep watching the progress bar as donations come in.

What The Goals Page Is Built For

The Goals page is not trying to be a full accounting system or grant-tracking workspace. Its purpose is narrower and more operational:

• Set financial targets for campaigns, projects, missions, equipment purchases, or building work.
• Tie those targets to the donation categories that should fund them.
• Watch current progress in real time.
• Give leaders a simple answer to the question, "How close are we?"

Because this module reads live donation activity, it works best when the branch is already using Donations consistently and categories are named clearly.

Page Layout

The main Goals page is card-driven rather than table-driven. Each goal is presented as a quick operational summary with the most important facts visible without opening a detail screen first.

Common information shown on the goal cards includes:

• Goal name
• Target amount
• Current amount
• Percentage complete
• Linked category or categories
• Active or completed status
• Date window when configured

The card layout is useful because leaders often want a quick read across multiple goals at once instead of scanning rows one by one.

Creating A Financial Goal

When a user creates a goal, the page asks for the values that actually affect progress calculations.

Core fields

• Goal name: the operational label used by staff and leaders.
• Target amount: the total amount the branch wants to reach.
• Start date: the first date from which donations should count.
• End date: the last date that should count toward progress.

Optional linkage

• Donation categories: the categories that should feed this goal automatically.

If the category linkage is configured carefully, the goal becomes mostly self-maintaining. If the categories are vague or inconsistent, the progress number will only be as clean as the donation data feeding it.

How Linked Categories Matter

Category linkage is the most important behavior to understand in Goals. The system does not just store a target and wait for staff to type in progress manually. Instead, it reads donation activity and totals qualifying donations against the goal.

That means goal tracking depends on two things:

• Donation records must exist in the branch.
• Those donations must use the categories that the goal expects.

This is why good category discipline in the Donations module improves the Goals module immediately.

Good examples of category linkage

• A building fund goal linked to Building Fund
• A missions goal linked to Missions
• A youth camp goal linked to Youth Camp or another dedicated campaign category

Poor examples of category linkage

• Using a broad General Offering category when the goal is for a specific project
• Creating duplicate categories for the same campaign and splitting progress across both

Progress Calculation And Status

The backend calculates current progress instead of trusting manual edits. This keeps the goal number aligned with real giving records and reduces the chance that one staff member updates a spreadsheet while another person records donations elsewhere.

The progress logic typically reflects:

• The goal target amount
• Donations linked by category
• The configured goal date window
• The current total accumulated toward the target

When the total reaches or exceeds the target, the goal displays as completed. If it is below the target, it remains active unless the date window has already ended.

Dashboard Integration

Goals also appears outside the main finance page. Holy Resource includes a dashboard widget that surfaces top active goals so leaders can see progress without opening the full module first.

That dashboard view is useful for:

• Pastoral or finance-team quick checks
• Front-office visibility
• Weekly review meetings
• Monitoring campaigns that are still in motion

Because the widget pulls from the same progress source, it reflects the same live totals as the main Goals page instead of maintaining a separate cached number.

Editing And Deleting Goals

Goal maintenance is straightforward. Staff can update the goal if the target, time window, or linked categories need to change. They can also remove the goal when it is no longer needed.

Common reasons to edit a goal include:

• Extending a campaign deadline
• Adjusting the target upward or downward
• Correcting the linked donation categories
• Renaming the goal to match current church wording

Common reasons to delete a goal include:

• It was created by mistake
• A duplicate goal exists
• The branch no longer wants to track that target in-app

Because progress is computed from donation data, editing the linkage or date window can materially change the visible total. That is expected behavior.

Operational Habits That Make Goals Work Well

Goals performs best when the finance workflows around it are clean.

• Use dedicated donation categories for dedicated campaigns.
• Keep date windows accurate if the goal is time-bound.
• Avoid creating multiple overlapping goals against the same category unless that overlap is intentional.
• Review completed goals periodically so the page stays focused on active priorities.

Advanced Rules Behind The Scenes

Some behaviors in Goals are easy to miss because they look simple on the page.

• Goals are branch-scoped, so one branch cannot read or update another branch's goals.
• Goal records use the finance command layer and participate in normal sync behavior.
• Sensitive goal text fields can be encrypted at rest depending on the stored fields and branch protection settings.
• Current progress is calculated from donation data rather than being treated as a freeform editable field.
• The dashboard widget and module page read from the same goal-progress logic.

What Leaders Usually Need From This Module

• How much have we raised for this campaign?
• Which goals are still active?
• Which goals already reached their target?
• Are our category links accurate enough to trust the progress amount?
• Which goals should stay on the dashboard and which should be retired?

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