Resources for Volunteer Community Leaders: Primer on Budgeting

Budgeting Tips for Volunteer Community Leaders
How to Develop a Budget for Programs

In this Article
Expenses
Income
Sample Budget

After you have planned your programs for the coming year, you should develop a budget to make sure that you have adequate funds to cover your anticipated expenses. One of the largest problems in managing programs, in fact, is the failure to accurately budget for programs or the failure to budget at all.

The budget includes two elements: expenses and income.

Expenses

Expenses are the costs for an activity. Typical expenses for a program include:

Rental fees for meeting room.
Food costs. Some organizations provide coffee and snacks at meetings. Make sure that you also include the costs of labor, gratuities, and taxes (if your organization is not exempt).
Speaker gifts or fees. Some organizations pay an honorarium for speakers, especially well-known speakers and workshop leaders. Other organizations give speakers a small gift as a token of appreciation.
Speaker expenses, such as travel expenses (for speakers coming from out-of-town and costs of copying handouts and other materials).
Administrative expenses. These include the costs of office supplies, postage, and telephone (should you need to call long distance).
Promotional expenses. Costs of advertising a program in local newspapers.
Other costs. These are costs of decorations (often used at networking and festive events).

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Income

Income refers to revenue generated by the meeting. Generally, the income from meetings should cover their costs. Income for meetings comes from:

Meeting fees. Some organizations charge a meeting fee to cover costs. Usually they provide food. Some organizations only charge enough to cover the cost of food, but it is recommended that you charge a bit more to cover the cost of no-shows. Similarly, some organizations offer a discount to members as a means of demonstrating the benefits of membership.
Sponsorships. Organizations can accept donations from corporations and individuals to sponsor a meeting. In return, the organization identifies the corporation as a sponsor. In some instances, corporations provide gifts for door prizes to be distributed at the meeting, rather than a financial contribution.
Treasury. The treasury of your organization can provide funds for meetings. Note, however, that if the treasury funds significant expenses for every meeting, it will not have enough money for other activities, such as publishing a newsletter.

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Sample Budget

Following is an example of a budget for programs:

Sample Budget for Programs

Expenses

Expense	Monthly Cost	Number of Months	Total
Room fees	$50	10	$500
Food costs*	$300	10	3,000
Speaker gifts	$15	10	150
Speaker fees	$0	10	$0
Administrative expenses	$100	N/A	100
Advertising costs	$500	4	$2000
Other costs	$200	N/A	200
Total			$5,950

* Dinners at $10/person, including tax and tip.

Income

Income Source	Monthly Revenue	Number of Months	Total
Members**	$300	10	$3,000
Non-members***	$150	10	$1,500
Sponsorships	$500	1	$500
Total			$5,000

** $10/person, average of 30 members per month

*** $15/person, average of 10 non-members per month

Notes:

Err on the liberal side when estimating costs. That is, if anticipated costs vary across a range, use the higher end of the range.

Only estimate the costs of room fees, food, speaker gifts and fees, and advertising, food costs after receiving confirmed estimates.

Err on the conservative side when estimating revenues. That is, if you anticipate receiving between $200 and $300 in revenue, use a number close to $200 in your budget.

To develop the most realistic projections of revenue, base projections on actual history. For example, use average attendance from the previous year figures to determine the number of members and non-members attending meetings.

Do not anticipate revenue based on the "hope" system--that is, "hoping" to draw a larger number of participants than past history has suggested.

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Budgeting Tips for Volunteer Community Leaders How to Develop a Budget for Programs

Expenses

Income

Sample Budget

Sample Budget for Programs

Budgeting Tips for Volunteer Community Leaders
How to Develop a Budget for Programs