Your budgeting blind spots

This post originally appeared in Gail Bower's newsletter BowerPower Papers. Get on the list to be among the first to receive more important articles just like this one.

Where are your budgeting blind spots?

Whether you represent a business or nonprofit organization, budgeting season is (or nearly is) upon us. Too often organizations have budgeting blind spots that can throw monkey wrenches into strategies.

As someone who regularly guides clients in shaping a budget and sustainability plans and removing the monkey wrenches, I see it all. Here are four blind spots to get you started.

Have you got a secret decoder ring? Some budgets are so unnecessarily elaborate that staff members can’t even follow them. When this happens, revenue targets are unclear; expense tracking is confusing; and way more extra math is needed. I like math, but keeping things simple is better than complicated.

What story does your budget tell? A budget is another way of telling the story about your organization. The medium is numbers. You fund your priorities. If I don’t budget for a vacation and then burn myself out, I clearly haven’t prioritized life balance. The same concept is true in your organization.

Years ago I pointed out to a client that his single biggest investment had nothing to do with his mission. What’s in your budget?

Stuck on budget approval day. Early in my career, one of the most important lessons I learned about budgeting is that this document is fluid. Even fungible. We make projections, but then new opportunities arise. Or an emergency expense shows up. Or something important in June is forgotten by January. Go with the flow on the details and adjust as necessary.

Are you funding the future? An important step in your strategy should be to identify what resources are necessary to invest in that future. It’s unrealistic to imagine geographic expansion or greater visibility or innovation or any other strategic initiative without the proper resources to accomplish these goals. 

Imagine budgeting season as a breath of fresh spring air. Shake out the cobwebs. Imagine the possibilities. Tell an inspiring story with your upcoming budget.