KFS developed from the insights of a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). The work assessed higher education's readiness for an open source financial system project and its applicability across various sized colleges and universities. After more than a year of evaluation, partner coalescing, further planning and preparatory work, Kuali Financial Systems was awarded a $2.5 million grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help complete the development of the software.
The Kuali Financial System Founding partners will contribute staff and services worth more than $4.5 million during the two year development timeframe. These contributed resources will be coordinated into a single team working under the direction of a board of governance.