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Committee chairs | Managing volunteers | Treasurers | Newsletter editors | Program and education chairs | Home |
Preparing a budget is one of the most complex responsibilities assigned to volunteers; approving the budget is one of the most ones given to volunteer boards. To make sure that you handle these responsibilities as best as possible, use these criteria to guide your efforts.
Issues to Consider |
Review Criterion |
Assesment |
Comments, Issues to Think About |
| Does the budget follow the format required by the
organization or the funding organization? (If the organization does not have a budget format, perhaps it should.)
|
Yes No |
If not, did the person who prepared the budget check with the reviewers and approvers before following an alternate format? Does the person who prepared the budget have an explanation for not following the format? If not, the budget should be sent back to the organization for re-work. |
| Has the budget been reviewed by the Treasurer (or other
designated reviewers) before being submitted to the Board? (A second set of eyes is always helpful in preparing a budget. The reviewer might catch things that were accidentally omitted, as well as seemingly small arithmetic errors that can have significant financial impact.) |
Yes No |
If not, the budget should be sent back for review. It should not be forwarded onto the Board for approval. |
| Review Criterion | Assesment | Comments, Issues to Think About |
| Are revenues realistic? | Yes No |
For example, if a program did not generate much revenue in
the previous year, have planners estimated no more than a modest increase in actual
revenue or a decline in revenue for that program? Similarly, if membership is declining, has the planners taken that into account? |
| Are revenues complete? | Yes No |
Have the planners considered all sources of revenue? For example, if it is feasible to obtain sponsorship, have planners done so? |
| Are expenses realistic? | Yes No |
For example, are estimates of costs realistic? For example, if the organization is budgeting for travel, can people actually travel at the budgeted amount, or will people have to subsidize this cost to complete the trip? |
| Are expenses complete? | Yes No |
For example, if the publishing a newsletter, has it budgeted for mailing it or merely just printing it? See the worksheets on budgeting for newsletters and programs for complete lists of expenses. |
| Review Criterion | Assesment | Comments, Issues to Think About |
| Do individual programs support the organization's mission? | Yes No |
If no, ask why the organization operates them? Which organization might be a more appropriate to offer the program? |
| Have outcomes been established for the individual programs? Outcomes are observable and measurable goals set for individual programs that staff and others (such as panel members) can use to assess their impact and effectiveness. | Yes for all. Yes for some. No. |
If no or only for some, why not? If the program is an older one, outcomes were not expected. But can outcomes be established for programs that have them? |
| Is the program intended to serve a well-defined community? | Yes No |
The better defined the intended audience, the
more likely the program will have the intended impact (that is, achieve the intended
outcomes). If yes, what percentage of the intended community is participating? Do you feel that the percentage should be higher? Why? Is the organization using the most effective means to reach that community? If not, what else should they be doing? If no, does the program actually serve a diverse community or merely a small part of the community? Is the organization making an effort to broaden the scope of coverage to other groups? If not, what should the organization be doing? |
| How many people do individual programs serve | Yes No |
Although total numbers are not an appropriate criteria for funding a program or not, the organization should be concerned with whether the program is reaching a sufficiently large number of people in the target population. We want to make sure that we are reaching as many people as possible in the intended population. |
| For ongoing programs, does the organization have data on short-term impact beyond the number of people served? Long-term impact? | Yes No |
Look for impact, not attendance. Although attendance figures suggest how many people might be affected by a program, other types of data (such as attitude change) tell whether people really benefited from the program or merely showed up. Furthermore, the full impact of some programs is only felt in the long-run, such as social service programs, education programs, and teen intervention programs. |
| Do other organizations offer similar programs? | Yes No |
With limited funds to distribute and a responsibility to make
sure that funds are being used most effectively, the organization does not want to
duplicate services if at all possible. If yes, what organizations offer similar programs? What are those programs? Do the programs of this organization compete or do they serve a different part of the community? If they compete, what efforts have been initiated to collaborate rather than compete? Is the organization open to collaborating? |
| Is the program properly funded? | Overfunded Properly funded Insufficiently funded |
A program is overfunded if it can produce the same or similar
results with fewer funds. A program is underfunded if it cannot provide the level of
service anticipated with the current funds. Symptoms of an underfunded program: members of the target community do not know about the service (need publicity dollars), more participants than people to provide services, limited results here when similar programs in other communities have stronger results |
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(c) Copyright. Saul Carliner. 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. All rights reserved.