The Ramp Manual

Open the transaction

Ramp notifies you seconds after you pay. Tap the notification and you're there. Otherwise open the app or your transactions list and select the charge.

Set the Class

Which ministry or fund does this belong to? It defaults to your department, which is usually right. Change it when the spend belongs to a specific event, a different fund, or a shared cost. Pick the most specific line: Youth Night spend goes to 420.1 Youth Night, not 420 Youth. Your ministry's full class list is in Your classes and categories.

Unsure? Ask in #help-finance rather than guess. A wrong class quietly distorts a ministry's budget.

Set the Category

What kind of expense is this? Meals, supplies, travel, outsourced labor. Ramp suggests one from the merchant; check it rather than accept it. A coffee shop charge might be 8115 Food & Refreshments for a staff meeting, 8440 Gifts Given for a volunteer thank-you, or 8110 Supplies.

Write the Memo

Say what it was for, plainly, so someone who wasn't there understands. Name the event, the purpose, or the people.

• Good: "Lunch with 3 Alpha volunteers, spring training"
• Good: "Barbier Security, Sunday services, June"
• Not enough: "lunch" / "supplies" / "security"

Attach the Receipt

Snap it before you leave the counter. The three ways to send one are in Task 02.

No receipt and can't get one? Task 04 covers the affidavit. It's the exception, not a routine substitute.

Confirm it's clear

Once all four are done, the transaction stops showing as needing action. If Ramp still flags it, something is missing, usually the receipt.

Option A: text it (fastest)

Ramp texts you right after you pay. Reply with a photo of the receipt and Ramp matches it automatically. Nothing to open, nothing to find.

This works because your mobile number is on your profile. Not getting texts? That's why. See Quick Start.

Screenshot coming soon

Option B: email it

Forward an emailed receipt from your @realitysf.com address to receipts@ramp.com. Ramp reads it and matches it to the right charge. Ideal for online orders.

A forward from a personal address won't be recognized.

Option C: upload in the app

Open the transaction in the app or on the web and add the receipt directly. Use this when you're coding anyway or cleaning up something older.

Screenshot coming soon

Make sure it's itemized

We need the receipt that shows what you bought, not the card slip showing the total. For a restaurant, that's the itemized bill, not the signature copy.

Check it matched

Ramp matches receipts automatically and is very good at it. Glance at the transaction to confirm it landed on the right charge. Wrong one? Detach and re-attach.

Open the transaction

Find the charge in your transactions and open it.

Add a comment

Use the comment field on the transaction. Type your question or context. To get someone's attention, type @ and their name.

Tag the right person

Tag @Michael Morris for coding, category, or receipt questions. Tag @Tarik for approvals, policy, or anything unusual. If an approver has a question for you, they'll do the same, and you'll get a notification.

Why this and not Slack

Try to recover it first

Check your email for a digital copy, look at the vendor's order history, or ask the merchant for a reprint. Most "lost" receipts are found in two minutes.

Fastest: reply by text

When Ramp texts you asking for the receipt, reply OOPS. Ramp texts back a link to a short guided affidavit. Complete it and submit.

Screenshot coming soon

In the mobile app

Tap the transaction, tap Actions at the bottom of the screen, then choose I don't have a receipt. Fill in the fields, add your signature, submit.

Screenshot coming soon

On the web

Go to Expenses and open the transaction. Select Options, then I don't have a receipt. Complete the form and submit.

What to write

Say what was bought, why, and why there's no receipt. Be specific: "Parking meter at Civic Center for youth group outing, no receipt option at the meter" is enough. "Lost it" is not.

Expect a check-in

Only the person who made the transaction can submit the affidavit, and it goes to your approver. Ramp tracks how often this happens per person.

Open the transaction

Choose Split

Select the split option on the transaction. Choose whether to split by amount or by percentage.

Add a line for each piece

Give each line its own Class, Category, and Memo. The lines must add up to the total. Example: a Costco run that was 60% children's snacks and 40% office supplies becomes two lines, 410 Children / 8115 Food & Refreshments and 805 Operations - General / 8110 Supplies.

Attach one receipt

The single itemized receipt covers all lines. You don't need to duplicate it.

If the split is more than three or four lines, ask yourself whether separate purchases next time would be cleaner.

Open your inbox

Ramp keeps a running list of things waiting on you: missing receipts, missing memos, transactions needing review, requests to approve.

Work the list, oldest first

Each item tells you what's missing. Add the receipt, fix the memo, or approve the request. Items disappear as you resolve them.

Watch for flagged transactions

A flagged item means an approver or Ramp's policy check wants something from you: a better memo, an itemized receipt, or an explanation. Open it, read the comment, respond in the comment thread.

Ignoring a flag holds up month-end close for everyone. Two minutes now saves a chase later.

Aim for zero by the 5th

Read the decline reason

Ramp shows the reason for every decline in the app, usually within seconds: over your limit, blocked merchant category, card locked, or vendor mismatch on a single-use card.

Screenshot coming soon

Over limit

Your card has a monthly or per-transaction limit. If this purchase is legitimate and expected, request a temporary increase (Task 12). Don't split a purchase across days to get around a limit; that's the kind of thing auditors look for.

Blocked category

Some merchant types are restricted by policy (cash advances, certain online services). If you believe the purchase is appropriate, comment on the decline explaining why, and tag @Tarik.

Locked card

Either you locked it, or finance did. Check the card's status in the app. If finance locked it, there'll be a comment explaining why.

Still stuck

Post in #help-finance with the decline reason you see in the app. That one detail lets us fix it in one reply instead of three.

Check your bank details first

If you haven't added your bank account, do that before you submit. Otherwise the reimbursement is approved and then sits, waiting for somewhere to go.

Start a new reimbursement

Go to Reimbursements and choose new. On mobile, this is the fastest path: photo the receipt and Ramp pre-fills the amount, merchant, and date.

Fill in the details

• Amount and date, from the receipt
• Class and Category, same as a card transaction
• Memo, what it was for and why you paid personally

Attach the itemized receipt

Same standard as card purchases. Total-only slips don't qualify.

Submit

It goes to your approver, then to finance for payment. ACH lands in a few business days after approval.

Submit within 30 days of the purchase. Older items may not be reimbursable.

Start a mileage reimbursement

In Reimbursements, choose the mileage type rather than an expense.

Enter the trip

Enter start and end addresses and Ramp calculates the distance and the amount at the current rate. Add the date and a memo naming the purpose: "Hospital visit, congregant, Kaiser SF."

What counts

• Yes: visits, errands for an event, travel between sites, driving to a conference
• No: your commute to and from the church
• No: personal errands combined with a work trip (deduct that portion)

Submit

Same approval path as any reimbursement. Batch a month of trips into one submission if that's easier.

Open your personal settings

Add a bank account

Link through Ramp's secure bank connection, or enter the routing number, account number, and account type manually. Use a checking account.

Verify

If you entered numbers manually, Ramp may make a small test deposit to confirm. Watch for it and confirm the amount.

Keep it current

Open Reimbursements

Read the status

• Draft: you haven't submitted it yet
• Pending approval: waiting on your approver
• Approved: queued for payment
• Paid: ACH sent; allow 2 to 3 business days to land
• Rejected: read the comment, fix, and resubmit

If it's stuck in pending

Comment on the reimbursement and tag your approver. Don't DM; the comment is the record.

If it's paid but not in your account

Check that your bank details in Ramp are correct. That is the cause nine times out of ten.

Open your card

Request a limit change

Choose the option to request a higher limit. Enter the amount you need, the date range, and why: "Youth retreat lodging deposit, $2,400, Oct 3 to 5."

Screenshot coming soon

Be specific about the window

Ask for the amount and dates you actually need. A temporary increase reverts automatically, which is the point.

Wait for approval

Your approver gets a notification. Once approved, the card works at the new limit. If the purchase is happening today, comment on the request and tag @Tarik.

A pattern of last-minute requests usually means the base limit is wrong. Say so and we'll fix the base.

Decide which kind

• Physical: in-person purchases, travel
• Virtual: online purchases, immediate
• Single-vendor virtual: one subscription or vendor only, so a compromised number can't be used elsewhere

Request it

From Cards, choose new card. Enter the purpose, the limit you need, and for a virtual card, the vendor it's for.

Screenshot coming soon

Approval and delivery

Virtual cards appear in the app as soon as they're approved. Physical cards ship to the church office at 1325 Valencia St and take about a week.

Subscriptions

Open the app

Activate

Select the card and choose activate. Enter the last four digits from the physical card.

Add it to your phone wallet

Add the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay while you're there. It's the easiest way to always have it, and the receipt text arrives on the same phone.

Sign the back

Old advice, still good.

Lock it immediately

Open the card in the app and lock it. This stops all charges instantly. You can unlock it yourself if the card turns up in your other jacket.

Screenshot coming soon

Check recent charges

Look at the last few transactions. Anything you don't recognize, flag it (Task 16).

Report it and request a replacement

If it's truly gone, choose the option to report it lost or stolen. Ramp cancels the number and issues a replacement. Post in #help-finance so we know.

Update anything saved on the old number

Subscriptions and saved payment methods tied to the old card will start declining. This is one more reason each subscription should have its own virtual card.

Confirm it's really wrong

Merchant names on statements are often unrecognizable. Check the date and amount against your receipts and calendar first. "SQ *BLUE BOTTLE" is coffee, not fraud.

Fraud: lock the card first

If you didn't make the charge, lock the card before anything else (Task 15).

Open the transaction and dispute it

Choose the dispute option and pick the reason: not recognized, duplicate, wrong amount, item not received. Add any detail that helps.

Merchant errors: try the merchant first

For duplicates and wrong amounts, a call to the merchant is usually faster than a formal dispute. If they refund, cancel the dispute.

Track it

Ramp shows the dispute status on the transaction. Provisional credit typically posts while the dispute is investigated.

Guest or vendor? Decide this first

The two are not interchangeable, and choosing wrong puts a congregant into our 1099 reporting.

• Guest user: we are paying someone back for money they spent. A congregant reimbursed for childcare, a volunteer who bought supplies. Not income to them, no W-9, no 1099.
• Vendor: we are paying someone for work they did. A babysitter, musician, speaker, or contractor. Income to them, a W-9 requested through Ramp before the first payment, 1099 at year end.

Search People before you invite

Many congregants are already set up. Search People first; a duplicate account splits their history and their bank details.

Decide what they need

• Reimbursement only: they paid for something and need to be paid back. Most guests.
• A limited card: a volunteer buying supplies regularly. Needs a limit, a class, and an end date.

Invite them

Go to People and choose invite. Enter their name and personal email, choose the guest or employee-with-limited-access role, and set their department to your ministry so their spend lands in your budget.

Set the guardrails

If issuing a card: set a monthly limit, restrict to your class, and set an expiration date. Guest access should end when the need ends.

Tell them what to do next

Send them the link to this manual and tell them to start with the gold Quick Start card. Their bank details matter most; without them, their reimbursement has nowhere to go.

Close it out

When the project or season ends, deactivate the guest in People. Comment on their profile with the reason so the record is clean.

Path A: one-time, small amount

If this is a one-off, you can create a reimbursement on their behalf: in Reimbursements, choose new, enter the details and their receipt, and note in the memo who paid and that payment goes to them. Finance will pay by check or collect their ACH details securely.

Path B: they'll do this again

Invite them as a guest user (Task 17). They submit their own reimbursement with their own bank details, and ACH pays them directly. This is better for both of you after the first time.

Either way: the receipt

An itemized receipt is required regardless of who paid. Ask for a photo before you start.

Set expectations

Tell them the timeline: approval, then a few business days for ACH, or longer for a check. Most frustration comes from silence, not from the wait itself.

Set them up as a vendor

Search Vendors first; repeat guests are usually already set up. If they are new, select New vendor, then Create vendor manually, and enter their legal name, their country, and an email they actually check.

Request their bank details from them

Under Payment details, open Add payment and choose Securely request from vendor. Ramp emails them a secure link from communications@ramp.com, and they enter their own details.

• In the US: ACH, their routing and account number. ACH is preferred.
• Outside the US: an international wire, with their SWIFT/BIC code and IBAN or account number, in their own currency. See Task 24 for a UK example.

Request their tax form in the same email

Under Tax details, request it from the vendor too. In the US they fill in or upload a W-9; outside the US they upload a W-8BEN. Ramp reads the form and fills in their tax details, so nobody at RSF handles a Social Security number.

Any individual paid $2,000 or more in a calendar year gets a 1099. The federal threshold rose from $600 to $2,000 for payments made in 2026, and is indexed for inflation after that. Request the tax form from every guest regardless of the fee: in January we cannot tell who will cross $2,000 by December.

Do it when you confirm the booking

Save the vendor as soon as the date is set, and tell the guest an email from communications@ramp.com is on its way so it does not land in spam. The bill cannot be paid until they finish their part, so starting at booking keeps the payment from slipping past the event.

Create a bill without an invoice

In Bill Pay, create a bill for the vendor and choose the no-invoice option. Enter the amount, the date of the event, and:

• Category: 7570 Honorarium
• Class: 812.1 Lectures for a lecture or teaching event; otherwise the class of the ministry hosting them
• Memo: "Honorarium, Dr. Jane Smith, Thursday lecture and Sunday teaching, Nov 12 and 15"

Submit for approval and payment

Submit the bill. Payment usually lands within a week of approval, once the guest has completed the Ramp request.

Gifts vs. honorariums

Forward the invoice to Ramp

The fastest way: email the invoice from your @realitysf.com address to:

realitysf@ap.ramp.com

Ramp reads the PDF and creates a draft bill, pulling the vendor, amount, invoice number, and dates.

Open the draft in Bill Pay

Go to Bill Pay. The forwarded invoice appears as a draft within a minute or two. Open it.

Confirm the vendor

Check the matched vendor. If blank or wrong, start typing and select the right one.

Verify the details Ramp pulled

• Amount matches the invoice total
• Invoice number matches, so we don't pay it twice
• Invoice date and due date; the due date sets when payment sends

OCR is accurate but not perfect. Read every field.

Code it: Class, Category, Memo

Set the payment account and create the bill

Confirm the paying account, then submit. It moves to For approval.

Track it to paid

For approval then For payment then History. In History with a paid status means the vendor has been paid and the record is stored for audit.

Only Admins can stop a bill after payment is initiated, and only until the transfer sends.

Search Vendors first

Before creating anyone, search. Most "new" vendors already exist under a slightly different name.

Create the vendor

Select New vendor, then Create vendor manually. Enter their legal name exactly as it should read in QuickBooks, since Ramp creates them there too, then their country and an email they check.

Request payment and tax details from them

Under Payment details, choose Securely request from vendor. Under Tax details, request it from the vendor as well. One email from communications@ramp.com asks for both, and the vendor enters everything themselves.

• In the US: ACH routing and account number, and a W-9.
• Outside the US: SWIFT/BIC code and IBAN or account number, and a W-8BEN. See Task 24.

Forward or upload the invoice

Forward to realitysf@ap.ramp.com from your church email, or upload it in Bill Pay. Then follow Task 20 from step 3.

Code and submit

Open the Recurring Bill setup page

Go to Bill Pay, click Recurring bills at the top right, then New recurring bill.

Select or create the vendor

Search by name. If they're new, create them (Task 21). QuickBooks stays in sync.

Choose "Create bill without an invoice"

This opens a blank draft you fill in manually.

Fill in the bill details

• Amount
• Memo: what the payment is for
• Accounting fields: the category and class, for example 8170 Subscriptions and 808 Administration for church-wide software
• Line items as needed

Set the recurring schedule

• Frequency: weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly
• Start date and end date
• Payment method: ACH preferred, check as fallback

Review and save the series

Ramp generates a new draft at each interval.

Submit each generated bill

Each cycle's draft is not paid automatically. Open it, review it, submit it.

Prefer vendor self-onboarding

Send the vendor Ramp's onboarding link from their vendor record. They enter their own bank details into Ramp directly; nobody at RSF handles the numbers.

Screenshot coming soon

If details arrive any other way, verify by phone

Record the verification

Comment on the vendor record: who you spoke to, when, and what you confirmed. That comment is what the auditor asks for.

Two people for changes

Bank detail changes on an existing vendor require a second person's review before the next payment goes out. Tag @Tarik on the vendor record.

Search Vendors first

Search their name before creating anything. Repeat guests are often already set up.

Create the vendor

Select New vendor, then Create vendor manually. Type their legal name exactly as it appears on their bank account, then choose Create "Name" as a new vendor.

Set the country

Change Country from United States of America to United Kingdom. The country is what makes the international bank fields available. Set Vendor owners to yourself and Vendor department to your department.

Request their bank details, never type them

Enter the email address they actually check under Vendor contact. Then, under Payment details, open Add payment and choose Securely request from vendor. Ramp emails them a secure link from communications@ramp.com and they enter their own details.

For a UK bank account, the vendor enters:

• SWIFT/BIC: their bank's code, 8 or 11 letters and numbers
• IBAN: starts with GB, 22 characters, and already contains their sort code and account number
• Account holder name: as the bank has it
• Currency: GBP, so the money arrives in pounds

Request their tax form too

Under Tax details, request it from the vendor as well. Someone outside the US uploads a W-8BEN, not a W-9. Their tax classification is International, and Ramp does not mark International vendors for a 1099.

Save, and tell them the email is coming

Select Create vendor. Then let them know an email from communications@ramp.com is on its way, so it does not end up in spam.

Before you promise a person abroad a payment

Pay in their currency

Pay UK payees in pounds (GBP) when you can. If we send dollars, their bank converts them and usually charges a fee. The dollar cost of a pound bill can move a little between approval and payment.

When to do it

Any time we sign an agreement with a vendor: a venue, a software subscription, a service or maintenance contract, a lease. Forward the signed, final copy, not a draft.

Forward it

Email the signed contract to contracts@ramp.com from your church email. Or open Vendors > Contracts, select New contract, then Forward to contracts@ramp.com, which opens the email for you.

One contract per email

• Every attachment in an email must belong to the same contract. Two contracts means two emails.
• Up to 10 attachments per email: the agreement plus any order form, statement of work, or amendment.
• Attach the document itself, not a link to a shared folder. Signature-block images do not count.

Not the invoice address

Read Ramp's reply

Ramp reads the contract, pulls out the vendor, amount, and key dates, and replies by email from a no-reply address. If it says no contract was created, fix what it names and send a new email:

• Multiple contracts found: split them into separate emails.
• No contract found: attach the actual signed document.
• Vendor access unavailable or no forwarding option: post in #help-finance and we will check your access.

Check the dates and own it

Open the contract in Ramp and confirm the end date, whether it auto-renews, and the last date to act. Add yourself as an owner so the renewal reminder comes to you, not just to finance.

What the responsibility is

If you lead a department, you own two things every month: your own transactions, coded and receipted by the 5th, and a review of every transaction your staff submits. Your approval is the department's attestation that the spend was appropriate, in budget, and properly documented.

Open your approval queue

Screenshot coming soon

Review CCMR on every item

• Class: is it in your department's budget line, and the right one? A staff lunch coded to 410 Children instead of 310.1 Staff Meetings is a budget error you own.
• Category: does the expense type match what was bought? Ramp's suggestion is often wrong on coffee shops and Amazon.
• Memo: could you explain this purchase to a donor from the memo alone? "Supplies" fails. "Craft supplies for VBS week 2, 40 kids" passes.
• Receipt: is it itemized, legible, and does the total match?

Also check

• Is it within policy and within the person's spend limit?
• Should this have been a bill or an honorarium rather than a card purchase?
• Any pattern worth a conversation: repeated missing receipts, personal-looking purchases, splitting to stay under a limit?

Approve, or send it back with a comment

If anything is missing, don't approve and then DM them. Comment on the item stating exactly what you need. It goes back to them with the record intact, and they fix it in Ramp.

Your queue counts toward the 5th

Don't rubber-stamp

What must be done

• Every card transaction from last month coded: Class, Category, Memo, Receipt
• Every reimbursement submitted
• Every flag or comment answered
• CLT members: your department's approval queue cleared

When

No later than the 5th of the following month. After the 5th, finance reconciles, Jitasa closes the books, and the board and CLT dashboards are built from the result, all by the 20th. A missing memo on the 6th is either a hole in the reporting package or a delay to everyone's reporting.

What happens if you miss it

How to make it painless