Charlin has a great outreach idea for her nonprofit life-skills organization. Weekday evening attendance has dropped about 30 percent since late August, which she strongly suspects is due to children returning to school. She wants to buy a charter bus that was abandoned at a nearby factory and outfit it with desks, then drive it into neighborhoods, bringing the classroom to students rather than expecting the students to make their way to her organization.
Her supervisor, Juan, sees the potential behind her idea, but thinks it will consume more of the organizations budget than Charlin realizes. Still, she has permission to devise a plan, including a detailed start-up and maintenance budget. The only problem is she doesn’t know much about budgets. Where to start?
Organizations that focus on adult education often tend to be nonprofit, such as Chicagos Cara Foundation, yet large for-profits need to budget, too. Goals differ, but the end result is the samebudgets are used to meet financial goals that advance the organization.
Have you ever had a great idea only to be told there wasn’t any money for it? What did you do?
The thing to remember is that budgets are tools. If you develop a solid understanding of how budgets are formed and modified to accommodate change, it will go a long way to adding flexibility to your planning capabilities.
———————————————————————————————————————————
Juan believes Charlins idea to buy a charter bus abandoned nearby to use as a mobile classroom is terrific, but wants her to be resourceful in planning the project. When he told Charlin that she could have 750 dollars in startup funds, it was clear she was disappointed. Juan is sure thats all shed need if she just thinks creatively and explores the multiple sources available.
This week, you will continue to explore managerial and administrative resources pertaining to money, specifically, seeking alternative sources of funds. Whether nonprofit or for-profit, organizations that offer adult education often find themselves in need of money beyond the operating budget to develop and pilot programs. Typically, a self-sustaining or profitable program will be written into subsequent budget cycles, but development requires additional sources. To be resourceful in finding the additional money, you need to explore the variety of funding sources available and the best approach to seeking each.
This week, you will analyze the use of alternative funding sources in adult education environments, as well as evaluate options for resource allocation within an adult education environment.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|