Use Case

Coaching program spend, tracked from request to approval

A philanthropic collective's Finance team manages reimbursement requests from its coaches through Airtable. Submissions come in through a structured form, internal staff review each one, and Finance has a single tracked queue for coaching program spend instead of email threads.

The problem

Coaches submitted reimbursement requests by email with no consistent format, and Finance had no centralized way to see what had come in, what needed review, or what was still outstanding for the coaching program.

Manual tracking meant every status check required searching an inbox, and there was no shared record that both Finance and program staff could reference at the same time.

What they built

Finance set up a structured Airtable form so coaches submit reimbursement requests directly into the base, with the amount and supporting detail captured on the record itself.

Internal staff review each submission and route it through approval before Finance processes it, so every coaching reimbursement has a visible status from the moment it is submitted.

The outcome

Coaching reimbursement requests now move through a centralized intake and review process instead of email. Finance can see the full queue at any time.

The review and approval process is faster and more consistent, and both Finance and Fellowship Programs work from the same set of tracked records rather than reconstructing status from correspondence.

Inside the solution

Coaching Time Tracking and ROI Quantification

Finance & Procurement

  • Reimbursement request form intake
  • Internal review and approval
  • Manual reimbursement tracking through email
  • Lack of centralized request intake
  • No shared record between Finance and program staff
  • Centralized request intake
  • Improved review and approval process
  • Reduced manual work
  • Finance
  • Fellowship Programs
  • Google Sheets
  • Slack
Build out this use case

Coaching time tracking and ROI quantification

Take coaching program reimbursement requests from a structured intake into one tracked queue, where program staff and Finance review each request against the coaching hours, coach rate, and program budget it draws on. Automations open a review step the moment a request lands, return a request to the coach when a reviewer needs more information, and email Finance a weekly digest of everything still open, while native AI fields summarize each request and flag missing detail before review starts.

Use this template
Coaching time tracking and ROI quantification - Overview dashboard
How it works

From email submissions to a tracked review queue

Copy the template

Start from the expense tracking template above, then rename expense categories to coaching reimbursement types and add a field for the submitting coach.

Publish the intake form

Turn the base into a form view so coaches submit requests directly into Airtable instead of by email.

Route review and approval

Add a status field so internal staff can move each request from submitted to reviewed to approved without leaving the base.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Through a structured Airtable form. Each submission becomes a record that internal staff can review directly, instead of an email that needs to be manually logged.

Internal staff review requests inside the base and route them through approval before Finance processes payment.

This workflow is scoped specifically to the coaching program, but it runs on the same form and review pattern Finance uses for other reimbursement intake at the organization.

It replaced manual email tracking. Coaching reimbursement requests that used to live in scattered messages now live in one linked base Finance can query directly.

No. This is a structured intake and review workflow. AI adoption at this organization is currently paused pending workspace-level data controls.

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