Flow provides two options for sending capital calls - an automated option that autogenerates a capital call notice and adds it to investors' onboarding workflows, as well as a manual option that allows you to easily upload your own PDF capital call documents and assign them to investors. The article below walks through how to complete a capital call using the automated capital call option.
For a walkthrough on how to use the manual capital call option, click here: How to Send a Capital Call: PDF Upload.
Automated Capital Calls
The automated capital call workflow allows GPs to generate capital call notices through the Flow platform that are added to investors' onboarding workflows.
When to use the automated capital call process
The automated capital call workflow can only be used if your capital call meets the following criteria:
- You are calling investors' full commitment amounts.
- The Fund's management fees are not pro-rated and the management fee percentage entered for each investor matches the amount that you will be calling at the time of the capital call.
- If you will be calling investors' pro-rated portion of an Expense Reserve, all investors have been added to the Fund and their commitment amounts have been finalized.
How to use the automated capital call workflow
Before beginning this process, ensure that the Calculation Method for your Fund matches the method you will be using to call capital and calculate ownership.
Please see the following article for more information: Investment Capital Calculations.
1. Select "Send Capital Call" from Investors Tab.
2. In the pop-up modal, select "Autogenerate Notices".
3. Enter the due date for the capital call in the Capital Due Date field, if needed. The due date can also be updated outside of the Capital Call workflow from the Fund's "Details" page by clicking "Edit Details" and scrolling down to the "Fund Terms" section.
4. To review the amounts that will be sent to each investor, click on the "Review Capital Call Amounts" link. This will download a CSV export that shows the name of each selected investor, their email addresses, the names and emails of all members of the investors' account, the investors' commitment amounts, their management fee and expense reserve amounts and the amount of capital that is currently being called (i.e. "Capital Due").
Carefully review these amounts to ensure the capital call notices reflect the correct amounts. If the amounts in the CSV export are not correct, review our Troubleshooting section below to ensure the details have been entered correctly.
5. Once you've reviewed the amounts in the CSV, the capital calls are ready to be sent! Notifications are auto-selected to include all team members, but you can edit the Reply-to Address or CC emails at your discretion. Emails without a Reply-to address will come from Flow's no-reply inbox.
Additionally, unselecting "Include All Team Members" will send the notices only to the primary contact on the user's investment account.
6. When you are ready to send, click "Create Capital Call Notifications".
7. If you left "Notify via Email" toggled on, each investor and any team members (if this option was selected) will receive an email with a button that will direct them to their deal dashboard for the Fund.
8. On the deal dashboard, investors will see a task called "View Capital Call Notice". Note: if you chose not to send an email when you initiated the capital call, investors will simply see this task the next time they log into the deal dashboard.
9. Clicking on the "View Capital Call Notice" task opens the capital call notice form that includes a breakdown of the amount being called, as well as the wire instructions for the Fund. Investors can print out the capital call notice (or print to PDF using their print settings) by clicking the "Print" button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. They can also reaccess the capital call notice anytime within the "View Capital Call Notice" task.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
IF your calculations in the CSV sample aren't correct, check that you're using the correct capital call methodology.
Double-check that the management fees that you are calling, if you are using the gross or investment calculation methods, reflect the percentage you’re currently calling (2% for the first three years in the flow system would reflect as 6%).
Still have questions? Reach out to support@flowinc.com for more insight!