![]() Instead, they all raved about how awesome it was to get donuts every Sunday! No students ever complained about not having those full-color booklets. It was fully paid for by the money we’d saved with those 2 simple changes. Not just once a month, but every single Sunday. That extra money allowed us to get donuts on Sunday mornings. ![]() With 2 simple changes, I saved over $500 annually. I didn’t think there was a high enough return on investment to justify the cost, so I made the switch to the. Even worse, half of the students either left their booklets at home or lost them before the sessions were over.īecause the program was aimed at educating Christian students instead of reaching non-Christian students, I decided that it wasn’t worth the extra money to get those booklets. pdf of the same material with permission to make and distribute as many copies as we needed.īut when the lessons were over, those booklets went straight in the trash. We could buy full-color, professionally printed student booklets for each series of lessons. That’s real money that was being wasted every year!Īnother area that the church was overspending was on curriculum. $20 per month x 12 months = $240 per year. With the click of a button, I changed our plan and saved $20 per month. I got on the company’s website and saw that we were subscribed to a plan that provided far more than what we actually needed. When I started at a new church, I combed through the expense reports and noticed that we were paying $30 every month for a text messaging service. Look at the actual expenses that have been charged to the budget for the current year. I’ll bet that you can find some opportunities for savings somewhere in there. ![]() I’ve also seen guys who limit their capabilities all year long because they don’t want to go over their budget, and then they blow the money at the end of the year on stuff they didn’t really need because they have a use-it-or-lose-it mentality.Īssigning dollar amounts to each category for each month will help you stay on track so you don’t overspend (or underspend) throughout the year. I’ve seen youth pastors who spend all of their money before October and then scrape by in November and December. If you want to do that, then put some of the Leader Training & Appreciation money in February. It’s a neat idea to recognize volunteers around Valentine’s Day because you can say, “We LOVE our volunteers.” Maybe give each of them a $10 gift card to Target. If you know that your curriculum subscription needs to be renewed in November, then add it. If you know that summer camp is in June, then list that money there. You need to assign dollar amounts to each category and assign them to particular months throughout the year.įor instance, if you know you’re going out of town for your brother’s wedding in July, then put $100 from the Honorarium category in that month. Subscriptions, books, and coaching for yourself. You need people to cover for you when you take a vacation. Sending birthday cards, eating with students, and showing up at games costs money. People who don’t feel equipped and valued won’t stick around. You’ll want to change up your space a few times to keep it fresh. This includes camps, retreats, outings, mission trips, and special days. This includes everything it takes to make a great program every week. You don’t want to write everything yourself. ![]() Postage, pens, paper clips, and printing aren’t free. Your budget needs to have these 10 categories: That’s overkill, and it creates the need to constantly shift funds around to accommodate overspending on one thing and underspending on another.ġ0 Categories Every Youth Ministry Should Have I’ve also seen ministry budgets that try to itemize every little thing. That’s not helpful for figuring out how much will be spent on what and when. I’ve seen ministry budgets that only list one lump sum of money to be spent during the year. This is much easier to do when the budget is divided into clear categories, with accurate estimates for how much money will be spent each month. You want to take a hard look at the current budget to make sure you’re getting as much return on investment as you can. ![]() If you say you value something, make sure it’s reflected in your budget. It’s often said that you can know what a person values by looking at how he spends his money. It allows you to predetermine when and how your ministry money will be spent. However, preparing a good budget helps you make the most of the resources you have. You didn’t get into ministry to crunch a bunch of numbers and track dollars and cents. You didn’t get into ministry to crunch numbers and track dollars and cents, but preparing a good budget will help you make the most of the resources you have. You’ll be on the fast-track to creating the Ultimate Youth Ministry Budget. You just need to use a calendar and the categories I give you in this post. ![]()
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