How to Construct Your First Nonprofit Budget
In many nonprofit businesses, the annual budget is made by looking at what happened in the preceding year and adjusting numbers up or down based on the work that lies ahead. When you’re starting something new, however, you have no preceding year’s results to consider. In that case, you start with zero and carefully consider each number you use to build your plan. A budget has two key sections — income and expenses. Because dreaming up expenses that exceed your organization’s means is easy, begin with income, making conservative estimates for what you may earn and what you may attract in contributions.
