A Funding Allocation question asks residents to work inside a budget, either by spending a new pot from zero or by adjusting the funding you already have. It is for the admin who builds the question and later reads the project report. Residents see sliders. You see the dollars they moved, not a count of who clicked.
Before you start
You need a project you can edit, and permission to add questions on the Page and Survey tab. This draft describes the question as it works on the current branch. It is not in production yet, so do not send it to a customer.
What you can do with it
Start each option at the funding it already has, and let residents move that amount up or down.
Set a floor so an option cannot drop below a fixed cost, or mark it not adjustable so residents cannot move it.
Cap how far the whole budget can rise above today's total, or leave that cap blank for no limit.
Read a Budget Allocation Summary on the project report: the current budget, the typical resident budget, and the net change.
Where to find it
Open the project, go to the Page and Survey tab, and click Add Question. Choose Funding Allocator. The Funding Model control sits at the top of the question settings. The two choices are Allocate from zero and Adjust from current budget.
Step by step
Add the question and write the prompt residents will read. If you leave the prompt blank, the question uses its default wording.
Set Funding Model to Adjust from current budget. Total Budget and Minimum Required Allocation disappear. They are not used in this model. The current budget is the sum of each option's current funding.
Add each option. Enter its title, its Current Funding, a maximum, and a short description. Minimum Funding is optional: leave it at 0 for no floor. Check Not adjustable when residents should see the option but not move it. A locked option stays at its current funding.
If you want a ceiling on the whole exercise, enter Maximum over current budget. Leave it blank and residents can raise the total without a cap. The help text under the field says they can allocate at most that much above the current total.
Save, then open the project report. A report created for the project includes a Budget Allocation Summary for this question. A report you have already saved is left as it is. On that report, add a Budget Allocation Summary and point it at this question. The summary can only be added for a Funding Allocator question.
Each option starts where the budget already is
Adjust from current budget is not a pile of new money to hand out. Each option opens at its current funding, and the header residents see has three figures: Current budget, Your budget, and Net change. Current budget is today's total. Your budget is where their sliders sit. Net change is the difference.
Options move on their own. Raising one does not take money from another. If you set a maximum over the current budget, the header also shows how much of that cap is left. The report uses the same idea. In this model it shows the current budget, the median resident budget (or the mean, if you switch the statistic), the net change, and the share of residents who changed at least one option. Under that, a section titled "Where residents would add and cut" shows each option's move. Options you marked not adjustable are listed separately, at their current funding, so a fixed cost stays visible without looking like a vote.
Allocate from zero is the other model, and it is still there. Every option starts at $0, residents spend a total budget you set, and the summary talks about where they put the money rather than what they added or cut. Pick the model before anyone responds. After the question has responses, the funding model is locked.
What it does not do
A few limits are easy to miss because the screen hides the fields that no longer apply.
It does not use Total Budget or Minimum Required Allocation while the model is Adjust from current budget.
It does not let you switch the funding model after responses have come in.
It does not replace the Budget Question. That is still a separate question type.
Tips and limits
0 in Minimum Funding means there is no floor. Residents can take the option down to nothing unless you set a higher minimum.
Not adjustable means residents see the option read-only at its current funding.
With no responses yet, the summary says "No responses yet" instead of drawing a chart.
If every option is fixed, the summary says there is nothing for residents to move and lists the funding levels for context.