Private-market investing comes with its own vocabulary. Four of the most important terms are commitment, capital call, paid-in capital and unfunded commitment. It’s really important to understand these terms and to track them. MyFO helps with both. 

‍

Here is the simple version.

‍

‍

What Is a Commitment?

‍

A commitment is the total amount an investor agrees to make available to a private fund.

‍

If a family office commits $10 million to a private equity fund, it does not normally transfer all $10 million on day one.

‍

Instead, the fund requests portions of that money over time.

‍

ILPA defines committed capital as the total capital pledged to a private equity fund.

‍

‍

What Is a Capital Call?

‍

A capital call, also called a drawdown, occurs when the fund asks the investor to transfer some of the capital it previously committed.

‍

For example:

‍

Commitment: $10 million

‍

The fund issues a:

‍

Capital Call: $2 million

‍

The family office transfers $2 million to the fund.

‍

ILPA describes a capital call as the actual request and transfer of capital that an LP previously pledged to the fund.

‍

‍

What Is Paid-In Capital?

‍

Paid-in capital is the amount of committed capital the investor has actually transferred to the fund.

‍

Using our example:

‍

Commitment: $10M

‍
Capital called and paid: $2M

‍
Paid-In Capital: $2M

‍

ILPA defines paid-in capital as committed capital that the LP has actually transferred to the fund.

‍

‍

What Is an Unfunded Commitment?

‍

An unfunded commitment is the amount the investor has committed but has not yet been required to transfer.

‍

In the same example:

‍

$10M Commitment − $2M Paid In = $8M Unfunded Commitment

‍

ILPA defines an unfunded commitment as money committed to an investment but not yet transferred to the GP.

‍

What Is a Distribution?

‍

A distribution is money or securities returned by the fund to its investors.

‍

For example, if a private equity fund sells one of its portfolio companies, part of the proceeds may be distributed to the LPs.

‍

ILPA defines distributions as cash and/or securities paid to limited partners.

‍

Putting It All Together

‍

Imagine a family office commits $10 million to Fund A.

‍

The fund has called $6 million.

‍

The family has received $2 million in distributions.

‍

The investment might look like:

‍

‍

These numbers tell the family office both what has happened and what may still be required in the future.

‍

‍

Why Unfunded Commitments Matter

‍

A $10 million fund commitment is not the same as investing $10 million today.

‍

The remaining capital may be called years later.

‍

Family offices therefore need to know:

‍

How much have we committed?

‍

How much has been called?

‍

How much remains unfunded?

‍

When might the remaining capital be required?

‍

That information is critical for liquidity planning.

‍

‍

How MyFO Helps

‍

MyFO tracks the key data associated with private investments, both at the individual fund level and across the portfolio in aggregate, including:

‍

• Commitments
• Capital calls
• Paid-in capital
• Unfunded commitments
• Distributions
• NAV
• Related documents

‍

This gives a family office a clear view of not only how much capital has already been invested, but also how much remains to be funded across its private-market portfolio.

‍

Users can view this information directly within each investment, generate reports to analyze commitments and unfunded obligations across multiple funds, or use MyFO's Claude MCP connection to run additional analytics using their portfolio data.

‍

Capital-call notices and other documents can also be connected directly to the relevant investment and entity, keeping the supporting documentation alongside the underlying investment data.

‍

MyFO can then incorporate expected future capital calls into cash-flow forecasts, allowing the family office to see upcoming liquidity requirements alongside expected distributions and cash flows from the rest of the family's assets.

‍

Because MyFO uses a consistent methodology and clean, structured data, family offices have a reliable view of their private investments without having to manually consolidate information across spreadsheets, documents and individual fund records.

‍

‍

In One Sentence

‍

Commitment = what you promised.

‍

Capital call = what the fund asks you to send.

‍

Paid-in capital = what you've actually sent.

‍

Unfunded commitment = what you may still have to send.

‍

Distribution = what the fund has sent back to you

‍