01 / Fund Management in Co-Op Command
Co-op and MDF funds only work when the money is trusted. That means accrual math you can explain, claims that move fast, and payouts backed by real proof — automatically, not by chasing paperwork.
Corporate defines the accrual formula, tier structure, spend caps, and eligibility windows a single time. From there, balances post on their own as qualifying activity happens — no manual spreadsheet updates per location, per cycle.
Whether a brand's fund accrues per unit sold, as a percentage of purchases, or on a flat per-period basis, the formula is configured once and applied consistently across every location on that tier.
Set accrual windows that roll forward automatically, and cap how much of a balance can be spent in a given period or against a given media category, without a manual check every cycle.
Operators who run more than one location under the same brand can draw from a pooled balance across their locations, instead of managing separate funds that don't talk to each other.
Media type, spend cap, and claim window verified before submission
Routed to the regional manager for sign-off
Final approval — claim moves to paid status
A guided submission flow checks eligibility before a claim is even filed — media type, spend caps, claim windows — cutting the back-and-forth that usually slows down reimbursement.
Claims that would be rejected for exceeding a cap or falling outside a claim window get flagged before submission, not after weeks of waiting.
Route claims through the sign-off chain that reflects how your organization actually works — rather than a single flat approval queue. Some brands configure lighter-touch or auto-approval paths for lower-risk claim types.
When a claim originates from spend made directly in-platform, there's no separate claim object to file at all. The transaction itself moves through approval.
The two things that make a fund credible: everyone can see what's actually available, and every payout is backed by real documentation.
Every location sees its live available balance before spending — not an estimate from last month's close, but the actual number after pending claims are accounted for.
Tearsheets, ad screenshots, and delivery confirmations attach directly to the claim they support as part of submission — audits don't mean digging through email threads.
See total fund utilization across the entire network or drill into a single location's activity — the same underlying data, whether you need the summary or the detail.
Payout and reimbursement records are structured to flow into your existing accounting workflow, so fund activity doesn't get stranded in a system finance can't touch.
Run consumer rebate programs and sales incentive or reward programs in the same platform as standard co-op fund management, without standing up a separate tool for either.
Some brands run a standard accruing fund alongside a separate prepaid-credit balance — for example, a launch-specific budget that isn't tied to ongoing accrual. Both live in the same ledger.
We read 1,286 published manufacturer co-op plans. The eligibility and funding rules below appear in most of them. Every one is a configurable parameter in Co-Op Command, checked before a dollar moves.
Minimum annual purchase, dealer tier (Gold, Preferred, Level II), authorized or stocking status. Set per program; a location that does not qualify sees no balance to spend. Accrual can run on a current-year or prior-year purchase basis.
Programs that withhold co-op from accounts that are past due or off terms flag the location as on hold. The flag comes from your receivables feed or a manual toggle by an administrator, and spending stops until it clears.
Where a program requires a signed participation agreement, locations accept the terms electronically at onboarding. The signed record is stored with the location and the program version, and can be re-triggered when terms change.
Two-tier channels are a first-class structure, not a workaround. The manufacturer funds the distributor tier, the distributor allocates to its dealers, and each level sees its own balances and approvals. Indirect dealers prove purchases with the distributor invoice already on record, or a distributor purchase feed.
Where the participation split does not settle at checkout, approved reimbursements are paid by ACH to the location, issued as a credit memo against the account, or exported as a structured file for your accounting system. One method per program, chosen at setup.
Standard accruing co-op, discretionary MDF, consumer rebates, sales incentive and SPIFF programs, and fixed launch allocations each run as a program type with their own rules, against the same locations and the same reporting.
Role-based access means the right person sees the right balance, and nothing moves without the sign-off your organization actually requires.
Corporate can act on behalf of any location; a location login is scoped to its own balance and activity. Both paths run through the same governed system underneath.
This is the piece most platforms fake. The same engine that manages contribution and spend tracking covers full corporate funding, full local funding, or any blend — with credits, invoicing, and reconciliation built in.
Corporate covers the full cost. Common for national programs or tiers with no local funding obligation.
Any ratio corporate sets — by tier, program, or campaign type. The split applies automatically at checkout.
The location covers the cost directly, drawing against its own balance or a linked payment method.
Source: the 2,171 manufacturer co-op plans listed on CoopConnect as of 2026, compared with the 7,489 plans in the 2018 RECAS export. Analysis by Co-Op Managers.
The administrators built for checks treat a program as a brand, a rate, and a deadline. Real plans are not that simple, and the 2,171 listed today prove it. Co-Op Command models each of these natively, per brand and per tier.
Participation and accrual set per qualifying product group, so the 2% line and the 5% line on the same brand each accrue correctly against the dealer’s purchases.
Prior-year or current-year accrual, with its own calendar, separate from the performance window the ad has to run in. Roughly half of today’s plans accrue on prior-year purchases.
Whatever the accrual rule, the dealer sees one number and one date every time they log in: what is available, and when it goes away. That is the promise. How purchase data reaches the ledger is set up per brand during onboarding.
Standard authorization or letterhead authorization collected once, at enrollment, stored against the dealer. Never requested again.
Credit memo, ACH, or check. Set per brand, or removed entirely when the program pays the vendor from the balance and nothing needs reimbursing.
267 plans say an outside party already holds the accrual dollars. That is the ledger Co-Op Command replaces, or reconciles against if the brand keeps it.
Source: the 865 active manufacturer co-op plans listed on CoopConnect, 2026. Analysis by Co-Op Managers.
Plans are full of sentences like “must sign manufacturer’s agreement prior to advertising,” “authorization required on retailer letterhead,” and “notarized invoice with every claim.” Today each one is a PDF, a printer, a signature, a scan, an email, and someone on your side checking that it arrived. On Co-Op Command none of it is manual, for the dealer or for you. The system knows which document each rule requires, asks the dealer for it at the moment it is needed, will not release funds or place an order until it is on file, and stores the executed copy against the dealer and the program version with a time-stamped audit trail your team can pull at any time. Your own forms are uploaded once and mapped, so the document the dealer signs is the document your legal team approved. No printing, scanning, mailing, chasing, or filing, on either end.
Signed at enrollment before the first dollar is available, exactly as the plan requires. Re-triggered automatically when you change the terms, so every dealer is on the current version.
Completed and signed in the portal. Where a plan wants the dealer’s letterhead, the dealer’s stored letterhead is applied to the form.
Generated from the order itself and signed on screen when the rule calls for it. The proof is attached automatically because the system placed the buy.
Presented and accepted once, recorded, and then enforced by the template rules so the acknowledgment never has to be checked by hand.
W-9 and payment details collected at enrollment and stored for reimbursement, never re-requested.
For most programs the signed system record replaces the notarized paper. Where a brand still requires a notary, the document routes to remote online notarization from inside the portal.
Booth space shared with other products reimbursed at 33% instead of 100%, trademark name used at least three times, registry symbol present: each becomes a setting on the program and a line on the dealer’s declaration, not a paragraph a reviewer has to remember.
The test is simple: if a rule in your plan ends in a signature, a form, or an acknowledgment, the portal collects it automatically and enforces it before a dollar moves. Nobody at your company, at ours, or at the dealership touches a piece of paper to make that happen.
Approval chains are configured to match how your organization actually works — local manager, regional, corporate, or any combination — rather than forcing every claim through one flat queue. Some franchise types can be configured to bypass approval entirely for pre-cleared, low-risk claim categories.
No. Documentation, whatever the medium produces (platform screenshots and delivery reports, station affidavits, USPS scans, vendor invoices and photos, tearsheets), attaches to the claim it supports as part of the submission flow, so it's already on file when a claim needs review or audit.
No — it's built to feed clean, reconciled fund and reimbursement data into your existing accounting workflow, not to replace it.
Yes. Configure the program with a distributor tier. The manufacturer funds the distributor, the distributor allocates to its dealers, and indirect dealers prove eligibility with the distributor invoice already in the system rather than mailing proof of purchase. Each tier sees its own balances, approvals, and reporting.
Yes. A credit-hold flag per location stops spending until it clears. It can be set from a receivables feed or by an administrator, and it is logged like any other change to the location.
Locations accept program terms electronically when they are onboarded, and the signed record is stored with the program version. When terms change, acceptance can be required again before the next spend.
Yes. Rebate programs and sales incentive programs run in the same platform as standard co-op fund management — no separate tool per program type.
Fund management is only half the story. The same balance is what local teams use to actually buy media and order goods.