3+ FREE Nonprofit Program Budget Samples to Download

Make your goals SMART—specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. If you want to move into a new office space this year, you can estimate the rent. If you want to hire a new marketing director, you can look up salary trends to discover how much you need to pay them. Sage Business Cloud Accounting (formerly Sage One) is an online accounting software that gives you anytime, anywhere access to the most important small business essentials.

Step 4: Track your financials carefully

• Then, assess your best and worst-case scenarios for generating funding.
• This holistic approach makes TechSoup a valuable partner for nonprofits looking to strengthen their financial management.
• A clear, comprehensive budget is paramount for any successful nonprofit.
• Including these costs in your nonprofit organization budget template is essential because they ensure your programs and services operate smoothly.
• A key feature is the inclusion of detailed line items frequently required by foundations and government funders, complete with built-in formulas for simplified calculations.

Such a document is highly applicable for any monthly, quarterly, and annual proposed development. Moreover, it can be used for both startup and long-established nonprofit organizations. To secure the finances of your nonprofit institution’s undertakings, we highly recommend you check out our nonprofit budget examples!

My Board View

• One of the most important tools for a nonprofit is a cash flow projection.
• For example, maybe your main donor only sends you one big check a year in January.
• However, this approach to budgeting presents a great opportunity to bring in and unite various perspectives.
• And whether you’re the CEO of your nonprofit or a new staff member, it’s important to understand how your organization’s budget is structured and contributes to the nonprofit’s operations.
• Nonprofits engaged in merger discussions have leveraged NFF tools to assess the financial implications of combining operations and develop integrated budgets.
• Finally, get clear on and name the goals, organizational values, and priorities that you want to have reflected in this year’s budget.

Nonprofits engaged in merger discussions have leveraged NFF tools to assess the financial implications of combining operations and develop integrated budgets. Organizations seeking major scale expansion have adopted NFF’s scenario planning resources to model the financial impact of growth and secure necessary funding. These examples highlight the versatility and adaptability of NFF’s approach. The National Council of Nonprofits provides a comprehensive budget toolkit designed to empower nonprofits of all sizes with effective financial management. This toolkit goes beyond basic templates, offering a range of resources including various template options, practical budgeting strategies, and guidance materials.

Follow this nonprofit budget format to stay on track

You can choose to save them in either Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel formats for Microsoft Office users and PDF for Adobe Acrobat users. These templates are in high resolution to assure you of clear and legible prints and are fully editable to allow you to make all the necessary changes, hassle free. For templates exclusively in Microsoft Excel formats, check out our collection of Excel Budget templates.

Figure out your expenses

This fictional nonprofit provides extracurricular activities, such as sports, to kids in their community. You can keep all the information in one excel sheet, or break it up into different pages. But make sure you delete any line items that don’t apply to your work and add anything that’s missing. Some organizations might also include admin or facilities expenditures in their program budget allocation. Clearly note the process you adopted and any changes you’d like to make to it, based on your experience and the feedback of your team. Setting out a process will help you develop more accurate budgets that reflect the priorities of your organization and keep you on track.

• Optimize your nonprofit marketing budget plan with this dynamic, plug-and-play template.
• Like with your revenue, we recommend splitting them into categories within your nonprofit budget template.
• By following these five steps, you can create a nonprofit operating budget that sets you up for financial stability and growth.
• This is not a fast activity, so commit to taking the time to do it and do it right.
• With this approach, you determine the anticipated funding from each fundraising source by multiplying the expected amount with the corresponding probability percentage.
• Budgets are too often proposed, discussed, accepted, and forgotten.
• An accounting software might be a better way to gather expenses than google sheets, so look into tools that make it easier to track your finances!

We leave this step until last because some funders, including many government funders, will not allow fundraising expenses to be charged to their grants or contracts. Regardless of whether a funder will pay for fundraising expense, it remains part of the total cost of running each program and we need this information to be truly informed. If the organization has never allocated costs or overhead before, spend some time discussing the concepts and practices described in this guide. One of the most valuable results of understanding the true cost of programs is the ability to make wise choices about how to support mission critical work. For most nonprofits, some programs may be financially self-sustaining or even generate a surplus. Other activities may require periodic or ongoing subsidy from fundraising or other program areas.

Benefits of an Ironclad Budget for Nonprofits

The operating budget is the core of accounting services for nonprofit organizations your nonprofit budget proposal. It will cover all the expenses required to keep the organization running, from salaries and utilities to technology and insurance. The budgeting process begins by gathering input from the right people.

A nonprofit operating https://greatercollinwood.org/main-benefits-of-accounting-services-for-nonprofit-organizations/ budget is a financial document that provides an overview of how a nonprofit organization is planning to spend its money. It also breaks down the nonprofit’s operating expenses and overall costs. The nonprofit operating budget is essentially the financial reflection of what the nonprofit business expects to achieve over a 12-month period (annual budget). Thankview’s Nonprofit Budget Template is specifically designed to help nonprofit organizations manage their finances effectively.