Prepare for a great year by budgeting out all your expenses so that your group can have as big of an impact as possible! Contact your SFLA Regional Coordinator at [yourstate]@studentsforlife.org if you need help.
1. Budgeting and fundraising are the only two ways you can ensure that there will be money to do important events throughout the year. The key to budgeting is to plan ahead. Create a group calendar for the school year and make sure to list all the events you are hosting, want to host, or that your group will be attending. In order to receive funding from your student government you will more than likely have to submit your budget and be prepared to defend it. Check with your student government about the necessary paperwork and deadlines. It is very important to submit your budget on time. You may also have to support your budget with a line item budget, such as the price of every binder bought for a retreat.
2. When budgeting, write down the projected costs for each event. For example,
|
Attend National Pro-Life Summit and National Pro-Life March® in Washington D.C. with 10 People |
$2,510.00 |
|
Leadership Retreat with other pro-life groups |
$1,205.00 |
|
Life Display for SWC |
$169.11 |
|
Speaker |
$1,000.00 |
|
Cemetery of the Innocents Display |
$265.37 |
|
Trip to State Capitol to Lobby for Pro-Life Bill |
$781.98 |
|
Advertisements |
$200.00 |
|
Total |
$6,131.46 |
Overestimate costs for the year to be prepared for unexpected expenses. Don’t be left without money in your budget when something important comes up during the year.
3. You may want to check with the other pro-life groups in your area to get an idea of what they generally spend per year on certain items. If other pro-life groups aren’t available, you can even compare with other clubs on campus. If they’re active, chances are you would spend about the same in terms of advertisements, event promotions, and the like.
4. At the beginning of the year, especially if you are a newly established group, you may need to do a lot of fundraising in order to have money to budget with. After the first year or two, however, you should be able to end the school year with enough money to last through the next school year. Then, all the fundraising you do one year will go towards either next year’s budget. This way, if for some reason your group has a bad fundraiser or the money just isn’t coming in, it won’t affect your plans for that year and hopefully by the next year you’ll have had time to make up for that fundraiser, or in the worst case, you’ll have to slim down what you do the following year.
5. Throughout the year, it is very important to refer to your budget before and after every event you host. If it is your first year, it may be hard initially to make a budget and stick to it, but it is important to at least record everything you spend and what you spent it on so that the following year you will have a much better idea of how much to budget for each event.