Budgeting

skills? - Do you need more help? Will you need people who have some specific skills?

Resources

- Indicate the available resources; - What additional resources will you need (funding, storage space, equipment and materials: seeds, compost for the community garden, etc.)? - Where will equipment and / or resources be stored?

Community network

- List any external agencies, communities or individuals who you will need to keep in contact with. For example, funding bodies, your local government or council, health or education institutions, charities, etc.; - What will you need to negotiate with them for?

Impact

- Describe the difference (-s) which the funding received will make. How many people would be influenced by this? What benefit will this funding bring for your community and what results will it allow achieving? What will change? - Think about how you will measure the success of the project during and after it. What indicators are important to you?

End of project

- Think about what the end of your project will look like; - Describe the project end strategy. Will the project really end, or do you expect other people to take over the project? - Do you expect to receive additional funds to extend or improve the project? How will all this happen?

Project budgeting

- Good finance management is necessary for successful implementation of the project. Even if it is just a small project or initiative, budgeting should be one of your team’s priorities.

Photo: Laura Petruškevičiūtė, Ideas Garden in Pilaitė, Vilnius

Budgeting will help you to:

- understand the essence and monetary expression of the project; - estimate how much your project will cost; - identify the need for funding for the implementation of the project; - avoid unexpected costs; - keep track of when you will receive funding and how it will affect the project plan.

Where to start?

Your project budget is the key part of the planning process and should therefore be established as early as possible. To make it easier, follow this procedure: a project plan is your “to-do list”, and your budget will indicate how much implementing each item on the list will cost.

There are two key steps to budgeting:

1. Write down all the items you will have to pay for (costs). The following are your overheads: equipment, salaries to employees, travel expenses, communication expenses (phone, mail, meetings), insurance, rent and publicity expenses. You will know the amount of some expenses in advance, while others will have to be estimated.

2.mWrite down all possible income – membership fees, donations, funding which you have already received or plan to receive in the near future.

Key budgeting tips

- The simpler the budget, the easier it is for others to understand. Excel spreadsheet or a simple table with columns and rows will perfectly serve the purpose; - Be precise. Try to present price inquiries and get real prices. Funders may ask what you based your budget on; - Be realistic; - Divide your costs into capital (investments) and current expenses. Capital items will have some resale value, such as expensive equipment. Current expenses are costs which you will incur continuously. This includes rent, administration, postage, volunteering and other costs; - Keep your budget up to date with any changes in spending or revenue sources. Once per quarter, the treasurer (the person in charge of finances) should provide the group with a financial report showing actual income and costs as well as their comparison against the budget plan. You will then be able to make any changes to the project budget plan in a timely manner as needed and with the Steering Committee’s consent; - Include a small contingency fund in your budget under other costs, which usually accounts for 10% of the total budget amount.