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Annual Budget
I keep getting stumped by this question: “What is your organization’s annual budget?”
I sometimes get a pull-down list of ranges, but where will I find that figure?
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3 Replies
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Hi Susie…that is a question I so frequently receive! My interpretation is that it is the total expense of an organization. So, depending on the time frame asked, it could be your budgeted expenses for the current year or your actual expenses for the prior year.
Any other forum members get this same confusion?
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+1 on Wade’s response. This is a colloquial use of “budget” that I avoid precisely because of this confusion. Budget means allocation of resources to strategic aims, but that’s not what people are asking when they say “what’s your budget?” They probably just want to know about how much money you spend in a typical year. They’re just asking about your size.
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Finding that figure can be a bit of a treasure hunt, can it not? The simplest approach is to check your previous year’s filed tax return, particularly the section that details revenue and expenses. Another option is to look at the board-approved operating budget for the current year. If that is what the form is requesting, they are usually looking for the total projected income or expenditure.