Guild Fund Explained.

A lot of people don't understand the importance of the guild fund. Its a vital part of the guild and here is why. When a guild is building up their city, and opening things to research, the guild fund is what pays for these things. Its usually a few hundred gold. So without gold in the guild fund, the guild can not reach Government 5, and can't teach you up to lv 10 of life skills. Also, if the guild fund falls below 2k gold, you can't get 2x from the Military npc anymore until its back above 2k gold.

After your city is built, guild fund is STILL important! There is a maintenance fee associated with keeping the guild's city. The higher your government and skills, and more things you have researched, the MORE it costs per hour. So for example, a Government 5 guild with full skills, some moderate research will cost about 60 gold per hour to maintain. To know what the guild is costing exactly, just watch for the guild to spam in blue letters "The guild is in low condition, the fee is...." and it will tell you. It spams that when it takes the gold from the guild fund every hour. If you add that up, 60 gold x 24 hours x 7 days a week... over 10k gold just for the guild to maintain its location and not de-level.

So how do we keep the guild from deleveling? (and eventually disappearing!)
The most popular and effective method is to trade. When a lv 100+ character trades, they get 12 gold in their pocket, but the guild fund gets 60 gold! Lower level characters get less, but its still a big help. Other methods do also help the guild fund, such as when you do a guild quest, you will contribute 2-3 gold to the guild fund. You get guild contribution points for both activities, but you get more per hour doing guild quests.

How can I check the guild fund (so I can see if my help is needed)
There are two ways you can tell. When The guild fund is not being deducted at the full amount, the guild is in trouble. A full Government 5 guild can have a maximum of 8k gold in the guild fund. If it falls below 4k, the guild will deduct less per hour (around 30g) instead of the full amount. If you see that, its time to do a trade or two to help out. If you see the guild fund spam the the buildings functions are not available, we are in BIG trouble. It means the guild fund is below 2k gold, and the fee has been reduced to around 17g per hour. At that point everyone with an officer title and every trader should try to do a few trades, or more if possible.
If you don't want to wait for the guild to spam you with the condition, you can check it like this:

Press the guild seal on the bottom of the screen (greyed out on this screen shot) and then press "Guild Info" on the second button from the right in the guild screen. The guild info will display, and the guild fund will appear in the bottom right of that window.

I hope this helped dispel the mysteries of the guild fund and why we need people to trade. Use other guides in this section to make trading even easier.