Startup Budget

by John Lusk
(West Hills, CA)


I am building a business plan for a new work in Oregon. My question is how to setup a budget for the first year with projections out to 5 years.

I will be doing everything out of pocket until I can draw sufficient donations to sustain the church.

Aside from hall rental or lease costs, initial corporation filing charges, insurance, etc., what are the major expenses.

Perhaps some of your other readers have insights. Any good ideas appreciated. Any idea is good enough to lead to my answer.

Thanks,

John

Answer

The biggest expense for most churches is salaries. Salaries usually account for over 50 percent of a budget. You may not have that expense in the beginning but will probably need that line item pretty quick in that time line.

You might want to look at some sample budgets to give you some ideas of church budget line items.



www.freechurchaccounting.com

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If you want to DIY your payroll, I highly recommend you look at using Gusto! It is very user friendly and their support is awesome! Plus they know how to set up and maintain payrolls for churches and nonprofit organizations.

Note: I am a "partner" of Gusto, but as I have told you before ... I never recommend anything that we or our clients have not tried and love =)



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