Preparation and planning are essential to the grant development process. Preparation and planning are often what sets apart the funded from the nonfunded. In Make Your Nonprofit Competitive for Grant Funding, I shared a checklist of items to gather together to make your nonprofit competitive for grant funding. Two of the items on the checklist are the organization’s annual budget and program/project budgets.
Organization Budget: this budget shows ALL of your nonprofit’s projected revenues and expenses for your fiscal year.
Program/Project Budget: this budget shows the revenues and expenses for a specific program or project. This budget should include all revenue for the program/project (grants, donations, fees, volunteer hours, matching funds, etc) and the personnel, volunteers, equipment, supplies, travel, marketing, etc. the program/project will need to succeed.
Budgets tell your story
Budgets are the game plan for the nonprofit. They tell you where you are going. They show to you and to others (like grantmakers and individual donors) what your nonprofit’s priorities are for the year. Your budget tells the who, what, where, and how of your nonprofit. Having a reasonable, clear, concise budget will help you successfully meet your goals and objectives. Your budget is what brings your nonprofit’s mission to life.
Does your nonprofit have a formal budget process?
At the very least, each year, several months before the end of the fiscal year, your board of directors should review the current year’s
