FND 242 | Begin with the End in Mind: Grant Budgeting

Overview

Grant budgets complete the stories that your proposals/applications begin. The most effective budgets use a backwards planning model that start with the ends in mind: impact that fulfills organization’s strategic plan, program/project goals, and grantor expectations. In this course, you will learn how to start with the end goals and develop the proper budgeting structures to manage awards. This will help promote compliance and ease reporting.

The class will have many workshop-style elements, including reviewing example RFPs, reports, and budgets. Learners are encouraged to bring actual documents from their organizations:

• Most recent organization or program budget
• Grant narratives from previously awarded grants, with the corresponding budgets
• Grant report from a past or current grant
• Grant applications your organization is interested in applying for in the next year
• Recent annual report or strategic plan

These materials are not required but will help learners apply information directly to their real-world situations. You will also have the chance to work through a generic grant. (This same grant will be used as the basis of hands-on practice throughout the other classes in the Certificate of Grant Fundraising.)

Learning Objectives

• Utilize backward planning to develop a budget and budget narrative for grant execution.
• Explain the relationship between a grant’s budget and the broader programmatic, departmental, or organizational budget.
• Prepare for key financial reporting elements.