Nonprofit Inventory Spreadsheet: Stock, Locations & Expiry

Stock sheets with a typed balance column look tidy until count day, when shelf and sheet disagree and nobody can say why.

The usual belief is that the balance column is the record. The real record is the movements: every receipt, distribution, transfer, adjustment, loss and disposal. The balance is only their sum. When stock on hand is calculated from that history, a gap found at a count can be traced to a row. When it's typed over, the history is gone. Two related habits help: issue the batch that expires first (FEFO) for food and health items, and never overwrite a balance after a count. Post an adjustment so the variance stays visible.

Our Inventory Management OS for Excel and Google Sheets runs on a single movement ledger, so you never type a balance. It tracks batches and expiry, marks expired lots DO NOT ISSUE, keeps a count variance open until an authorized adjustment matches it, and prints 12 reports, including a stock card with running balance.

When a funder asks where 200 hygiene kits went, the answer is a filtered list of rows.

It isn't an asset register for laptops or vehicles, and there's no barcode scanning or mobile app.