Budgeting
Budgeting is planning the money you will be spending for an event, activity, or more generally over the course of the year.
Having a robust budget is essential for ensuring your committee can afford to put on an event or activity.
Here you will find some guidance on when a budget is needed and how it is used, as well as an Event Budget Template.
Freshers’ and Large Scale Events
Budgeting is an essential part of the planning of large scale events. Throughout your committee year, you may run large events such as club nights, coach trips, summer events, winter formals, and of course Freshers’ Week. As all of these involve spending and incurring a large surplus, it is required that you complete an event budget. This will give you a clear image of what is going to be spent where, and how much you are expected to make (or lose) from your event.
This budget will also be used for the Community Coordinator’s reference when authorising any large payments to ensure Colleges are in line with their budget and don’t risk going into deficit.
If you find that you are in, or will be going into deficit, it is your responsibility to make up the loss. This can be done through further events, fundraising, or finding further sponsorship to cover the cost.
Annual Budgets and Plans
When thinking about your annual budget, your committee should consider what key events you hold throughout the year, the aims and objectives of each sub-committee and how much needs to be allocated to each group to achieve these and what your student body wants from their JCRC/CSA this year.
At the beginning of your first term in office, the Community Coordinator and President will hold one-to-one meetings with each JCRC/CSA to discuss the year ahead and the annual budget focusing on the current financial status that has been left by the previous committee, and the incoming committees’ plans for the next year ahead where they see the main elements of expenditure coming from.
Sub-Committees
When budgeting for the year, every sub-committee needs to be taken into account. Student interests are varied and broad, and the JCRC/CSA needs to ensure that it is catering to their entire student body. Events should be diverse and inclusive and varied in tone.
Therefore, some things to consider:
Will you release funds to sub-committees on request, or are you allocating each sub-committee a budget for the term/year?
Who will decide what each sub-committee receives in terms of financial support?
Event Budget TemplateEvent Budget Template