Budgeting is one of the key skills all organisations should have, and it’s often one of the most complex tasks – but it doesn’t have to be.

Sometimes you may not even need a separate finance department if you are a smaller organisation with limited capacities and would prefer to invest in your programmes.

I’ve worked with many organisations to develop their key organisational capacities on ‘key’ functions like finance, budgeting, or fundraising. Here’s some of what I teach, so hopefully it can help you to better understand your financial operations.

Here are three key areas all groups should know about, which you can think of as a budgeting skeleton.

1. the budget itself

2. the budget and actual report comparison (aka management accounts)

3. forecast of cash flow

Use this resource to ask yourselves key questions about what you know about your budgets and the tools you use to track finances. Reach out with any questions, I’d be happy to help!

Inspired by John Cammack’s book ‘Building Financial Management Capacity for NGOs and Community Organizations’

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