A budget really is nothing more than planning your income and expenses for the year.
Identify your sources of income and how much you think you'll receive, BY SOURCE. membership fees/dues, donations, interest on CD (if you have one), fund raising events (BY EVENT).
Then look at anticipated expenses.... they SHOULD be planned out in advance, in writing, so there's no misunderstanding. Itemize this list as best you can.... and if expenses are associated with a fund raising event, keep the "account" together. some examples... we make available to every teacher $25 a year, we pay up to $350 for framing art work, we make $100 available for our red ribbon week committee.... all these types of expenses need to be planned.
then look at your planned expenses against your planned income... you can't spent more than you make.
lay all this out ... line item by line item, expenses in one column, income in the next (married together as appropriate). this gives you a good sense of where your money's going... or not going.
the budget should be submitted to the pto for approval at the first meeting of the year, for discussion and approval (formal vote is best). your by-laws should describe the process and how you can go about amending the budget.
The board of officers in our group go over the check book from the previous year and see where we spent our money and use that as a guide. There are certain things that you know you'll have to pay for each year, so it is best to have them included in the budget so you don't have to vote on "expected" expenses at every meeting. Once the budget is complete we give it to the membership and vote on it's approval. If you would like a copy of our last one just let me know and I'll email it to you. [img]smile.gif[/img]
This is my second year as president and we've come along way, we've never had a budget and I would like to adopt one. I'm looking for ideas and resources. How other people go about adopting one and information they use. Thanks for any help!
