4/1/2024 0 Comments Nonprofit budget plan templateWhatever you include for fundraising revenue needs to be backed up with a detailed fundraising plan. It’s easy to get excited and put some pie-in-the-sky revenue numbers in your budget but listen – it’s important to the success of your programs that your revenue and expense estimates are realistic. And, helping with the budget is part of the Board’s role. Again, involvement creates buy-in plus getting different view points can be super helpful to see what you might have missed. If you don’t have staff, involve key volunteers or Board members. This helps get their buy-in to the process and encourages them to work within the budget once it’s approved. Involve other staff so you know what their needs/wants are. Also make notes about any services or supplies that someone is donating and whether it’s just for this year or from now on. Otherwise you’ll forget and when someone asks you how you came up with that number, you won’t be able to explain it. For example, if you assume $10 per person per month for office supplies, write it down. As you plan your year and decide what you will raise and spend, make notes about it either in the budget itself or on another page. Document your assumptions and calculations.Here’s a sample budget from a horse rescue: If one line item makes up more than about 10-15% of the total expenses or revenue, break that item down and use sub-categories (especially helpful for items like staff and programs). Include enough detail so that your budget makes sense. There’s no perfect list of items to include in your budget and every nonprofit is different. If your nonprofit is new, you’ll need to use estimates for your first budget. We were pretty sure the foundation would laugh at that because they want to see the detail of how their money would be spent, including a quote from a vendor. Guess what? You can’t get a grant with a ballpark number. We once had a client that wanted to get a grant for a new program and gave us a ballpark number to work with. Use last year’s actual numbers as a starting place and get quotes from vendors for new or expanded expenses. Working on a budget while you’re scrambling won’t produce good results. If your fiscal year starts January 1, start working on your budget in September or October so you have plenty of time to create it and get it approved before you need to implement it. Start early and give yourself plenty of time to gather data, think, plan, and put everything on paper. Don’t wait ‘til the last minute to start.So, here’s a helpful guide to creating a budget for your small nonprofit. I know that not everyone is comfortable with numbers and that budgets can be overwhelming. It’s easy to see cash in the bank and think “yeah, we’ve got money – go ahead and buy that expensive piece of equipment.” Then when no more revenue comes in that month, you may find yourself unable to pay bills or make payroll (not fun!). If you use your checkbook alone to guide financial decisions, you could find yourself in trouble quickly. I’m not sure how they knew what they were doing, how much money they had, when it was ok to hire someone, or when to expand services. We had a client a while back with expenses over $600,000 a year for programs…. Without an annual budget, you’re swinging in the dark, and could easily overspend, winding up deep in debt or worse, unable to continue your programs. It tells in numbers what you’re planning to spend money on during the year. You see, your annual operating budget is the numbers version of your annual plan. You must have one to guide your path and to show funders your operations described in numbers. You will have access to a pre-formatted spreadsheet that you can use to document your projected income and expenses.If you want to grow your nonprofit, a budget is not optional. Program expenses are associated with the fulfillment of your mission (for example, the cost of supplies for a class for at-risk youth).ĭownload our free nonprofit budget template to get started now. Overhead includes management, general, and fundraising expenses (for example, rent and utilities). Planned Expenses: Typically, expenses are broken into two distinct sections-overhead expenses and program expenses.Projected Income: Typically, this includes gifts, grants, membership fees, and/or income from fundraising events or investments.A well-planned budget demonstrates your nonprofit’s ability to responsibly manage your financial resources-an important factor for donors, corporate investors, and grantmaking institutions. Think of it as a road map for the upcoming year. Use our free template to create a budget for your nonprofit.Ī nonprofit budget is fundamental tool.
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