Budgeting for Project Proposals: How to Write Budgets that Win Funds

Purpose

To build the confidence and budgeting skills of NGO staff responsible for preparing budgets to accompany project funding proposals.

Target Audience

This course is specially designed for NGO staff who are involved in the preparation of budgets to accompany project funding proposals.
The course is suitable for both finance and non-finance staff who are new to, or wish to develop existing skills in, budgeting for proposals. It is assumed that participants already have a working knowledge of the narrative aspects of funding proposals, including the layout and application of project logframes.
This course provides an ideal preparation for the FM8: Grant Management - How to Keep Your Donors Happy course.

Course Content
The emphasis of the course is on practicing budgeting techniques for funding proposals. Topics covered include:
•What the donor is looking for in a project budget
•Linking the budget with the project description in a funding proposal
•Coding structures in budgeting
•How to budget for central support (‘core') costs
•Preparing a fully-costed budget using the activity-based budgeting technique
•Preparing budgets in donor formats
•Preparing a project cashflow forecast

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Do: •prepare fully-costed project budgets using the activity-based budget technique;
•prepare budgets in donor formats to accompany funding proposals;
•prepare a project cashflow forecast;
Know:•describe the important role of coding structures in the budgeting process;
•explain the link between the budget and project objectives and logframe in a funding proposal;

Feel: •recognise the importance of preparing accurate and complete budgets for inclusion in project proposals.

Training Approach
The Mango training approach is highly practical, participatory and often fun! We focus on real issues and help participants to use the techniques covered, rather than just discuss them. We work especially hard to de-mystify financial concepts to overcome the fear of finance.