Establishing the Budget
A common way to prepare a budget is to present the different types of expenses and income on a simple spreadsheet (e.g. Microsoft Excel).
Large-scale campaigns, or specific donor requirements, may call for more complicated presentations using several interlinked spreadsheets
Anticipated Expenses
Staff,e. everyone who is paid to work on the campaign. A distinction can be made between direct costs (salaries) and indirect costs (e.g. taxes and insurance you pay for staff).
Everyone who is paid to work on the campaign.
A distinction can be made between direct costs and indirect costs.
Equipment purchased for long-term use in the campaign, e.g. electronic devices such as cameras and cell phones.
Written agreements should be made as to which organization keeps the equipment after the end of the campaign.
The costs directly related to running the campaign that is not staff costs or investments.
Examples would be printing costs for campaign materials, billboard rental, fees for radio air-time, and transport costs for a travelling street theatre group.
A separate heading may detail sub-contracts, e.g. if a design firm has been hired to design campaign posters, or a consultant to write a research report
Other income
If parts of the income are raised for a specific purpose, a distinction should be made between such restricted or “earmarked” grants, to be used exclusively towards the specified purpose, and unrestricted income, which are funds that can be used for other aspects of the campaign
Actual income and expenditure
The anticipated expense may be more or less than expected, or the projected income may fall short of what may be needed to implement the campaign strategy.
It is helpful for a budget to track the actual amounts that end up being raised and spent, and use this as a comparison against projected amounts.
It is a means to determine if adjustments may need to be made as the campaign progresses in terms of resource mobilization and allocation
Important points to note when creating a budget
In large and complex campaigns, it is advisable to prepare a separate budget sheet for each set of activities, e.g. for (i) formative research, (ii) production costs of TV public service announcements (PSA), (iii) broadcasting costs for PSAs, (iv) production of print materials, (v) campaign website design and maintenance, (vi) fundraising activities, and so forth, each sheet with its separate cost categories and any activity-specific income.
A summary sheet should bring together these different sub-budgets on one page, to show overall campaign income and expenses.
The budget should be broken up into phases.
In a campaign lasting 2 years, additional columns in the spreadsheet could show expenses every six months for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years respectively.
Budgets need to be reviewed regularly and adjusted swiftly if any major changes occur, e.g. changed campaign activities or an unexpected drop in projected income.
All budget revisions should be formally approved by the campaign team and distributed among all relevant stakeholders.
To prevent confusion and financial mismanagement, it is essential to include the approval date on the budget sheet and to mark draft budget drafts as DRAFTS that have not yet been approved
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