A budget allows communities to understand the costs of implementing their language plan. It can also demonstrate financial needs and attract funding. The budget helps allocate funding effectively to implement a language plan.
Be careful that the budget does not lead the plan. In other words, don’t let the plan be limited by expectations about how much funding can be achieved. Instead, develop a plan that reflects the needs of the community and the real costs associated.
The steps to create a budget include the following:
- Go through the plan and highlight the actions that will require funding.
- Determine cost estimates for each item that requires funding and input them into the budget worksheet. This may require some research online. You may also want to review past proposals from your Nation or ask about current rates for salaries, honoraria, facilities, etc. Provide your best estimate of what each item will cost.
- Repeat this process for each year of your plan.
- Create a final budget. To do this you could:
- Add up the costs for each action and get a total. You can use the Language Plan Five-Year Budget (without categories).
- Some funding proposals require you to identify costs by category. In that case, use the Language Plan Five-Year Budget (with categories).