AlumFinance — Restoring Trust in Community & Alumni Finances

Why I Built This: When Good Intentions Meet Bad Spreadsheets

Anyone who has ever volunteered as a treasurer for an alumni chapter or community group knows it's a thankless job. You spend your weekends chasing bank alerts, trying to match names to mystery bank transfers, and saving screenshots of crumpled receipts.

Then comes the group chat debate:

• The Missing Receipt Frustration

  'Why did the reunion cost $3,000 when the budget was $2,000? Did anyone ever see the receipt for the sound system rental?'

• The Reporting Blackout

  'Why hasn't a financial update been shared in six months? Is someone holding onto the money or hiding something?'

• The Wrong Software Trap

  Traditional tools like QuickBooks or Xero treat members like commercial customers who owe invoices. But in alumni groups, donations are voluntary gifts—not forced debt.

What volunteer organizations need isn't aggressive invoicing software—they need a simple, bulletproof way to prove every single currency was spent honestly. That is why I built AlumFinance.

How AlumFinance Protects Association Funds

• Permanent Ink: Numbers Can Never Be Quietly Erased

  In normal spreadsheets or basic apps, someone with admin access can easily change $1,000 to $700 or delete a row with no trace. In AlumFinance, records are written in permanent ink. If an honest mistake happens, you can't just hit delete—you have to post a clear, documented correction entry explaining what happened. Every donation and expense has an unbroken paper trail.

• No Single Person Has Unchecked Access to the Money

  Suspicions and embezzlement happen when one person holds all the keys. In AlumFinance, any expense over a set amount requires a chain of approvals—for example, the Committee Lead submits it, the Treasurer reviews the receipts, and the President gives final sign-off. Every signature is permanently stamped with the date and time.

• AI That Reads 40-Page Bank Statements in Seconds (With Humans in Charge)

  Manually typing out hundreds of bank transactions is miserable work that leads to typos. AlumFinance lets the treasurer simply drop in a PDF bank statement. The AI reads each line and suggests matches: "This looks like Sarah's annual dues, and that looks like the venue deposit." But the AI is strictly an assistant: it can never post or change financial records by itself. The treasurer reviews each suggestion, makes any tweaks, and clicks approve.

• Members Get Instant Answers Without Bothering the Treasurer

  Members shouldn't have to wait six months for an annual general meeting just to find out how a project is going. Any member can open the app and ask: 'How much did our class raise for the scholarship fund this quarter?' The AI responds immediately using verified, server-calculated numbers, linking directly to the approved reports.

• Measuring Leadership Openness, Not Member Guilt

  Most accounting tools send aggressive payment reminders that make members feel like debtors. But alumni contributions are voluntary! AlumFinance turns that dynamic on its head: it rates the leadership's transparency instead. Do the executives post monthly updates? Are expenses supported by real receipts? Do multiple leaders sign off? This creates an open 'Trust Score' that proves to donors their money is in safe hands.

How the Pieces Fit Together

Cleanly designed for high reliability, data protection, and smooth performance:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            Member and Executive Portal (React + Vite)   │
│  A clean, simple dashboard designed for transparency    │
│  - Member dashboard and voluntary contributions         │
│  - Multi-person expense approval queues                 │
│  - Clear financial reports and conversational AI help   │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │ Fast, secure connection (HTTPS + JWT)
                             ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             The Core Engine (Python + FastAPI)          │
│  - Checks user roles and association permissions        │
│  - Enforces multi-signer approval rules before payout   │
│  - Keeps each association's records strictly isolated   │
└────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬──────────────┘
             │                             │
     (Permanent records)          (Background workers)
             ▼                             ▼
┌──────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────┐
│  PostgreSQL 16 Database  │ │ Background Workers (Celery)│
│  - Permanent, uneditable │ │ - Automatic virus checks   │
│    accounting ledger     │ │ - AI bank statement reader │
│  - Complete audit trail  │ │ - Secure payment webhooks  │
│  - Zero ghost records    │ │ - SMS and email alerts     │
└──────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────────┘

Why AI Safety Matters in Finance

• The AI Never Does the Math

  Large language models are notoriously prone to math hallucinations. In AlumFinance, the AI is completely forbidden from calculating totals or balances. Every number you see is calculated directly by PostgreSQL; the AI's only job is to wrap those verified facts in plain, friendly English.

• Keeping Member Documents Safe

  Bank statements and scanned receipts contain sensitive account details. Every upload is automatically scanned for malware and stored behind private, expiring links so only authorized executives can view them.

• Respecting Voluntary Donors

  Because alumni donations are gifts, the system never invents fake debt or penalizes members who haven't given. It keeps the relationship positive and encouraging.

Practical Engineering Decisions

• FastAPI for Speed & Safety

  Python's FastAPI provides asynchronous speed and automatic data validation with Pydantic, meaning corrupt or malformed payment entries are caught before they ever touch the database.

• Background Workers with Celery & Redis

  Parsing a 50-page PDF or verifying an online Paystack payment shouldn't freeze the screen. Celery handles heavy processing in the background, keeping the user interface snappy.

• Tamper-Proof Audit Logs

  Direct edits to audit tables are blocked at the database engine level. If an executive logs in, reviews a receipt, or approves a payout, that action is recorded forever.

• Tested from Top to Bottom

  Built with automated tests covering backend API routes, frontend React components, and end-to-end browser workflows using Vitest and Playwright.