Module 3. Money: what you cost and what you charge
What it really costs to run your organisation, what a project must earn to be worth taking, and how to build reserves from day one.
Guiding question
What does it really cost to run your organisation, what must a project earn to be worth taking, and how do you start building reserves from day one?
Before the live session
Work through this module before the session (about 45 minutes) and bring your real documents to the live session.
Video
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Presentation
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Readings
- Build a think tank: What will its business model be? and Who will fund it?
- School for Thinktankers background notes: Fundraising and financial management
Templates
- Organisational budget template
- Internal project budget template
- Funder-facing budget template
Quiz
When you finish the module, take the five-question quiz in Google Classroom (about 10 minutes). It is marked automatically.
Live session
Wednesday 11 November, 15:00–17:00 CET
Facilitated by Fiorella Bianchi
Zoom link
What we cover
- Three budgets, not one: the organisational budget (what you need in order to exist), the internal project budget (what the work really costs you) and the funder budget (what you present).
- Direct and indirect costs: knowing your own indirect rate, whatever a funder will pay. Small and new organisations run higher rates — that is arithmetic, not mismanagement — and you need the number before you can negotiate a cap.
- Reserves: why three to six months of operating costs is the target, and how a non-profit builds a surplus without tax surprises.
- Contingency: inflation, exchange rates and multi-year projects. Funders rarely adjust a budget when things get harder; the budget you wrote is the protection you get.
- Choosing projects: cost recovery, minimum margins and declining work that does not pay for itself. Grants versus service contracts, and asking funders about reporting requirements before you sign.
- Diversifying income: moving from project-by-project funding towards something more predictable, without depending on a single donor or type of income.
Task for the week
Reflections on your organisational budget and one real internal project budget, with your indirect rate and a reserve target. If you already have them, review them against the templates and note what you would change.
Submit your task in Google Classroom within a week of the session (45–60 minutes). The facilitator will comment on it there.
Complementary resources
- Short course on rethinking your funding model
- Funding for think tanks, part one: domestic funding
- Funding for think tanks, part two: the private sector
- Life after core funding series
Recording
The recording and slides of the live session will be posted here after the session.
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