I remember the first time that I had to submit a budget for a ministry. Fortunately, my first budget was prepared by someone else and I simply had to administer it. I learned many things during those early years which has helped me prepare, submit, defend, and administer budgets over the years. While each church is unique in its administration, I hope these tip and guidance will help you as you prepare the budget for your ministry. Others may offer different perspectives based on their experience and this is not an exhaustive list of the criteria to create a budget or items to include.
The following are in no particular order.
Know the Treasurer & Expectations
I always say to know what kind of pie the treasurer likes. If you have a good rapport with the treasurer, church administrator, etc, then preparing your budget and defending it will be much easier.
Get to know the treasurer, or committee, to see what they are looking for in your budget. Are they looking for an overall number, or a detailed breakdown of anticipated expenses? Are there specific line items in the budget that you are responsible to manage? Once you submit your budget, always keep a copy of the budget that you submitted for as long as that budget is in affect. Here is something I experienced to help you understand why I say to keep a copy of your budget and knowing the treasurer overseeing it.
One other item you may need to know is whether your budget should show monthly expense projections, or if an overall expense is acceptable. Some churches prefer to have an anticipated monthly expense to help with projected cash flow. Some will look at the overall budget and look at it being fairly evenly spread across twelve months. The reason for the varying perspectives is because there are some events, like a summer camp, VBS, or other big special event, which can consume a large part of the budget during the summer when giving (income) may be down. It helps to better plan and prepare for larger expenses.
One year after submitting a budget for a new year, I was called into the office by the church administrator to discuss my budget. I knew that they were a bottom line person and that how they showed the budget overall may not have been exactly what I submitted. As the meeting began, after all the pleasantries, he asked about a part of my budget that he noted I showed should be a positive amount but was showing a deficit and they wondered what caused that variance. I glanced at what he was referencing and then at my submitted budget and I said, “I’m not sure what you are looking at, but this is what I submitted and I show it as an expense (deficit). He looked at my documentation, compared it to his, and said he’d look at it more. The meeting ended shortly after that and my new proposed budget was approved. I went into the meting knowing what they would be looking at and I was prepared with information I had submitted.
Other treasurers saw the benefit of children’s ministry and based off of what they saw and how it was run, often did not have any issues with my proposed budgets. Because I knew the treasurer and their expectations, the budget process was easier. When I was not sure what the treasurer sought, that often led to more discussions about the budget proposal.
What to Include in the Budget
If there are not established line items that you are required to manage, then try to keep things generic, midweek program, Sunday morning, summer programming (VBS, etc), outreach, fellowship, etc. Look at what ministries expenses currently exist and use that as a base. You may want to look at three types of budgets: Bare bones, the basics for what you require to maintain ministry utilizing free resources etc.; a realistic budget, one that includes modest growth; and a dream budget. Maybe you would like a big event, that a normal budget would not cover.
Income Sources
Some ministries are required to be self-supporting, whereas others have funds supplied by the general budget. Some churches allow, and expect, ministries to do some fundraising to support their budgets or activities. As you prepare your budget, you must factor all of these items into the budget. The treasurer may seek projected income (whether from fundraising, donations, tickets, or materials purchased by participants of the ministry) versus expense, or they may only seek the amount used from the church budget. Either way, you should personally maintain expected income and expense.
Expense Items
There are several items that are common to be included in a budget:
Sunday morning programming (Sunday School, Children’s Church, etc)
This could include curriculum, snacks, crafts, etc. Anything that you may use during a typical Sunday morning. Do you do special things on some Sundays, donuts w/ dad, muffins w/ mom, PJs & Pancakes, etc)? Be sure to include them either in your Sunday morning item or special events.
Mid-Week and/or After School programming
Again, include whatever you use for these programs into your budget. That would include an end of the ministry year celebration if you hold one.
Fellowship
Having event just to gather together, have fun, and build relationships are important. Be sure to include allocation for these events.
Summertime, or Special, Events (VBS, Camps, Operation Christmas Child, Back to School, etc)
This item would include any dreams you may have to bring a special speaker in for an event. Some of these events have the potential to include income, camp registrations, donations, etc. Be sure to consider all potential expenses and anticipated donations, income for the vents.
It is easy to think about the events that you currently hold, or envision, but there are also other expenses that you may not consider, but that you should. Again, these are just a few, this is not an exhaustive list.
Training – Try to include funds for you to provide training for your volunteers and yourself. That could include books to read, conferences to attend (whether local or national) even snacks for the meetings you may have throughout the year.
General Expenses – Do you use ink and paper? Even if you use the main church copier, some churches will charge the ministries a per copy fee, or you may have a printer that you use just for children’s ministry. Either way, this can be a hidden cost that is overlooked.
Crayons, scissors, pencils, etc. Many of these items might be able to be supplied through donations, but keep these in mind as you prepare the budget
Background checks and security. Does the cost of background checks for your volunteers come out of your budget? How about the cost of the check-in/security system? Check in systems require technology, labels, etc. Be sure to include these items if they are to be included in your budget.
Much more could be discussed regarding budgets as churches vary in their approach to budgets and what is included. Do not compare your budget to others (a common error). Be thankful for what God provides to the ministry and do the best you can with it. Do not focus on what you may not have and how it could be so much better if you had more, rather focus on what God can do with what He has provided.
Budgeting can be a stressful time and can cause division. You will be amazed at what God will do when we see the church budget as a unified plan to reach people and disciple them. When we see the budget as a competition for funds and resources, then barriers are built which hold animosity, jealousy, and pride.
May we be unified with, and good stewards of, the resources that God has provided.
