The Dollars on Mission Budgeting Toolkit
Everything you need to lead your church through Parable’s budgeting process: free templates, training videos, and teaching.
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You’re on Track to Becoming a Budget Hero!
Welcome to the Dollars On Mission Budgeting Toolkit. Here you’ll learn our best practices, including problems to avoid and the process we ourselves use at Parable. Our free templates and training videos will set you up for a streamlined budgeting process that won’t give you gray hairs. (At least, not any more gray hairs.)
If you don’t have a financial operating system in place yet, check out our Financial Toolkit. This is foundational for setting your budget up for success!
Here’s what you get!
Top 8 Church Budgeting Mistakes
To go deeper, check out our church budgeting webinar.
1. Not having a budget (or acting like you don’t).
Just like you wouldn’t fill the gas tank once and forget about it, a budget isn’t meant to be a one-time checklist item. Continually review it and operate within it.
2. Not aligning your budget with your vision.
If God’s provision follows His vision, your budget is a roadmap to ensure your dollars stay on mission to fulfill that vision.
3. Not involving your ministry leaders.
Don’t lock your business administrator in their office to create the budget on their own!
4. Not being realistic with your budget.
Setting a healthy budget involves using historical data and spending trends—and having faith that God will provide.
5. Being too complex, or too general (lacking balance).
You don’t need to list how many pencils you can purchase in a month, but one general “ministry” category isn’t enough.
6. You’re being too rigid … or too lenient.
Re-evaluate the year’s budget quarterly or when a unique situation arises.
7. Not having a wish list.
For when giving increases or large gifts are given, have a prioritized wishlist ready so you can steward your new financial resources well.
8. Not praying through the budgeting process.
God calls us to be good stewards, so we need to seek His wisdom on how to use His money for the Kingdom.
Dollars on Mission Budgeting Process
It’s one thing to create a budget. It’s a whole different thing to create a budget that is aligned with your mission and supports the most important things God is calling your church to. Our budgeting process will help you create a budget that is aligned with your mission!
To go deeper, check out our church budgeting webinar.
Don’t need the full process? Check out our budgeting lite Roadmap on the budget template.
1. Get the tools and create your roadmap.
Download our budgeting templates. Get reports of historical data from your accounting software. Then input that data into the templates so you know where your ministry has been. Complete the Roadmap and put in key dates so you can keep the process on track.
Use the Budget Template (“Roadmap” and “General” tabs).
2. Clarify your mission, priorities, and income.
Review your mission, goals, and ministries to make sure you are prioritizing the funding needed for them. This is also a good time to look at your projected income, which is what you will build your budget around.
Use the Budget Template (“Mission,” “Assessment,” “Results,” and “Giving” tabs).
3. Develop your staffing and ministry budgets.
Review your projected staff costs, including any new hires you hope to add. Work with ministry leaders to gather specific budget requests and those requests’ priorities—“Need,” “Want,” or “Dream.”
Use the Staffing Budget Template and Ministry Budget Request Template.
4. Identify any “other” budget items.
Complete the remaining budget items—things like the mortgage, property upkeep, and utilities. Some of these are the same each month (like your mortgage), and you can enter them directly into your budget. Some vary each month (like utilities); our General Budget Template can help you project monthly expenses.
Use the Budget Template (“Budget” tab), General Budget Template, and Capital Expenses Budget Template.
5. Create an initial draft of the budget.
You’ve completed the templates and received input from ministry leaders. Now pull all that data together. Check if you can afford everything or if you need to make cuts and, if so, by how much.
Use the Budget Template (“Budget” tab).
6. Review the budget draft and create a proposed budget.
Look through the templates, including ministry budgets, to determine if you want to approve everything. Get input and approvals from leadership on the proposed budget. Trim out the items you don’t want to approve or that can’t be funded this year. If there are items you would like to fund if God provides, move them to your wish list.
Use the Budget Template (“Wish List” tab).
7. Finalize the budget.
Once the budget is approved, it’s time to communicate it to your accountant. Let your ministry leaders know when their budget requests have been approved, and if those requests have any changes.
Looking for help with your budget?
Find out more about our Advanced Budgeting service. We guide you through our 7-step budgeting process to help your church create a budget on mission – a budget that focuses your spending on the most important things for your church to do to fulfill the mission God has given you.
Place Your Dollars On Mission
Parable accounting and bookkeeping helps churches keep every dollar on mission so they can tell a better story about God’s Kingdom. To get help with your budget, bookkeeping, accounting, and more, schedule a call.