A capital call asks every limited partner for the same fraction of what they committed. That is the whole rule. Almost everything that goes wrong with a call — a notice that does not add up, an LP who is asked for a cent too much — goes wrong in the arithmetic around that rule, not in the rule itself.
The rule: pro rata by commitment
The limited partnership agreement fixes each LP's commitment when they come in. A call is expressed as a percentage of commitment, so an LP who committed twice as much is asked for twice as much. Nobody's share is negotiated at call time.
Some agreements carve out exceptions — an excused investor, a side letter, a defaulting LP. Those change who is in the denominator, not the rule. This guide keeps to the plain case.
The fund-level number
Demo Capital's Fund III has $120.0M of commitments from 42 LPs. The notice for call 3 of 6 asks for 12.5% of each commitment, so the fund is calling:
One LP's share
Each LP's amount is their commitment times the same 12.5%. Orbit Pension's notice says exactly that: call 3 of 6, 12.5% of its commitment. The table shows the same multiplication at a few commitment sizes — illustrative sizes, not the fund's actual LP list.
| Commitment (illustrative) | Share of fund | Call 3 at 12.5% |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000,000 | 8.33% | $1,250,000.00 |
| $5,000,000 | 4.17% | $625,000.00 |
| $2,500,000 | 2.08% | $312,500.00 |
| $1,000,000 | 0.83% | $125,000.00 |
| All 42 LPs · $120,000,000 | 100% | $15,000,000.00 |
The last cent
Round commitments make round calls. Real ones do not: a $333,333 commitment at 12.5% is $41,666.625, and a notice cannot ask for half a cent. Round every LP to the cent and the 42 amounts may no longer sum to the call.
The fix is a stated rule, applied the same way every call: round each line, then assign the remaining cent or two to a named line so the notices add up to the fund-level number exactly. What matters is that the rule is written down and the same on every call, so an LP comparing notices can follow it.
After the call
Once the money lands, each LP's capital account moves by the amount called, and the fund's called figure moves from 49.5% to 62.0%. The uncalled 38.0% is still owed — the remaining three calls draw on it. A clean call is one where the notice, the receipt and the capital account all show the same number for every LP.