Budget Tips to Help Keep Your Program on Track

A collection of best practices, good ideas, and simple, practical tips for nonprofit budgeting from Third Sector New England (TSNE):

1. Match your budget line items to your organization’s chart of accounts.
2. Estimate a pooled fringe benefit rate for staff.
3. Check before you budget to determine the proper classification for part-time personnel.
4. Don’t forget to include indirect costs in your program budgets.
5. Be conservative/realistic about your projected revenue.
6. Involve staff at all levels in the budgeting process.
7. Keep notes to document the assumptions you’ve made in developing your budget or the source of an estimate.
8. Add in a little cushion if at all possible to take into account the unknown.

Visit the blog for all the context and guidance.