How to Record Cheddar Up Payments in Your PTA Books

Cheddar Up collects online payments for PTAs and PTOs, from dues and spirit wear to field trips and donations. The simplest way to record that money in your books is to treat each withdrawal from Cheddar Up as one bank deposit and split it by budget category, using Cheddar Up’s reports as your backup.

I served as a PTA treasurer for three years across two school districts and trained the treasurers who came after me. In that time I’ve had to deal with many different platforms to collect ticket sales, auction income, donations, and more. Each one has varying degrees of difficulty when it comes to matching the money deposited into the bank with the income and expense categories.

The fees and report names below are as of October 2026. Cheddar Up’s help center has the current details, and your bylaws still say who records and reviews deposits.

How the money moves

1. People make donations, pay dues, buy tickets, or contribute money to one of your Cheddar Up collections, and all of those payments accumulate in that collection’s balance.
2. You withdraw some or all of the collection’s balance to your checking account. A standard withdrawal is free and arrives in one to three business days. An Instant Transfer, where available, arrives in 20 to 40 minutes for a fee.
3. Your bank shows the withdrawal as one deposit.

Cheddar Up keeps each collection’s money and reports separate, and you withdraw from one collection at a time. With one collection per budget category, such as Join the PTA, Spirit Wear, and the Fun Run, most withdrawals belong on a single line in your books.

Record each withdrawal as one deposit

Cheddar Up lists withdrawals in each collection’s Balance Summary, and for every collection at once in the withdrawals report. The account report has a tab for each collection with the total collected, fees, and every payment.

1. Find the withdrawal in the withdrawals report.
2. Record one deposit for that amount, dated the day it reached the bank.
3. Add a line for each budget category the collection covers.
4. Attach the collection’s tab from the account report as backup.

A Join the PTA collection that sells memberships with an optional donation, for example, might withdraw $1,150 as Memberships $900 and Donations $250.

Fees: who paid them?

By default, the payer covers Cheddar Up’s card and eCheck fees at checkout. You can cover them for your families instead, or let each payer decide. Cheddar Up’s pricing page lists the current rates, and the account report shows each collection’s fees.

• Payers covered the fees: the withdrawal equals what you sold, and there is no fee line.
• Your organization covered them: record each category at its full amount, then add a negative line for the fees.

For example, $1,150 of sales with $41.20 in fees arrives as $1,108.80. Record Memberships $900, Donations $250, and Processing Fees −$41.20. The deposit matches the bank, and each income category shows the full amount families paid.

A Cheddar Up withdrawal recorded in Volo Cash, with the fees your organization covered on their own line.

If payers could choose, the fee line is the difference between your sales and the withdrawal. The Instant Transfer fee, 1.95% with a $1.00 minimum, goes on the same line.

Cash and checks

Cheddar Up lets you mark a payment as paid by cash or check, at no charge, which keeps one list of everyone who has paid. The account report totals these as Cash or Check for each collection, apart from the balance you can withdraw.

Record that money as part of the bank deposit you make yourself, using the collection’s cash and check payments as the backup. That deposit is its only entry in your books.

If checks build up before you get to the bank, an Undeposited Funds account holds them in your books until then. Record each batch into it as it comes in, then record the bank deposit as a transfer out of it.

Refunds

A refund shows on the payment in Cheddar Up’s account report and comes out of the collection’s balance, making the next withdrawal smaller. Record it in that withdrawal’s deposit as a negative line under the category the item was sold in.

Another way: give Cheddar Up its own account

If you want your books to show money while it is still in Cheddar Up, such as a balance waiting at fiscal year end, track Cheddar Up as an account of its own. It takes more entries.

1. Add an asset account named Cheddar Up.
2. Record payments into it as deposits, split by category, with any fees your organization covered on their own line. One deposit per collection each week or month, from the account report, keeps the count down.
3. When a withdrawal reaches the bank, record it as a transfer from Cheddar Up to checking. The income is already in your books, so the transfer only moves the money.
4. Each month, compare the account’s balance with Cheddar Up’s balance report, which gives a starting and ending balance for any date range.

Cash and checks still go in with your own bank deposit, since they never pass through Cheddar Up.

Cheddar Up withdrawals in Volo Cash

With your bank connected, each Cheddar Up withdrawal arrives in Volo Cash with your other bank transactions. Choose Record as deposit, add a line per category (and a fee line if your organization covered fees), and attach the Cheddar Up report. Recording a deposit walks through splitting and fees.

If you give Cheddar Up its own account, add it as an Asset account and choose Record as transfer when a withdrawal reaches your bank feed. Volo Cash reconciles bank accounts against their statements, so check the Cheddar Up account’s balance against Cheddar Up’s report by hand.

The register lists the withdrawal as one line that matches your bank statement at reconciliation, and the budget report shows each category’s income.

You can try Volo Cash free for three months, connect your bank, and record your next Cheddar Up withdrawal with it.