A Grassroots & Movement Guide to Budget Planning Beyond Funders

Movements are fueled by vision, courage, and people power. Whether you’re organizing tenants, running mutual aid, advocating in courtrooms, or coordinating across coalitions, your work takes resources.

And yet—budgets often feel like the least exciting part of the work. For many, especially leaders coming into the nonprofit world from community organizing or from professional industries outside the “third sector,” budgets can seem like funder paperwork. A hoop to jump through. A spreadsheet you submit once a year, then set aside.

But here’s the truth: a budget isn’t just paperwork. It’s a tool for power. It’s the map that shows your team where you are, where you want to go, and what it takes to get there.

When you use a budget well, it becomes more than numbers on a page. It becomes a compass you and your team can use to steer your work with clarity.

Seeing what your budget makes visible

A detailed budget doesn’t just tell you how much money you have—it shines light on opportunities and patterns you might otherwise miss. For example:

• Spotting collaboration opportunities. If you’re spending thousands a year on printing flyers, but another coalition partner already has printing equipment or access to discounted rates, your budget makes that visible. Instead of duplicating costs, you can share resources and strengthen relationships.

• Identifying internal redundancies. If you notice your budget includes three different software subscriptions for communication or project management, that’s a sign you could consolidate tools. Streamlining reduces costs and makes teamwork smoother.

• Clarifying hidden costs. Sometimes events or programs look “free” because a partner covers space or food. When you budget their real value, you see how dependent your work is on those contributions—and whether you should plan a backup.

• Revealing power imbalances. If your budget shows that 70% of income is tied to a single funder, that tells you your work is vulnerable to their priorities. Seeing that dependence on paper gives you a reason to diversify income sources.

• Making expansion decisions. If your organizing team wants to start a new campaign, the budget shows if you can realistically support it, how much you'll need to fully support it, or whether another program will need to scale back first.

In short, a budget doesn’t just answer “Do we have enough?” It answers “Where is our energy going, who are we reliant on, and how can we strengthen ourselves?”

What’s inside a budget sheet? (The simple version)

At its core, a budget is just two things: money coming in and money going out.

Here are the key pieces, in plain language:

Income (Money In):

• Grants – structured funding from foundations, government, or institutions.

• Donations – individual gifts, whether $5 or $5,000.

• Earned Income – ticket sales, membership dues, training fees, merchandise.

• In-kind Support – resources given instead of cash, like donated space, food, legal services, or volunteer hours.

Expenses (Money Out):

• People – staff, stipends, contractors, trainers, facilitators.

• Programs – the heart of your mission: supplies, transportation, events, campaigns.

• Operations – rent, utilities, insurance, technology, basic admin.

• Fundraising & Communications – printing flyers, donor outreach, digital tools, or building visibility.

If you can group your money into these categories, you have the foundation of a budget.

How a budget strengthens decision-making

While it may feel like a budget limits or trims your vision of everything you want to do, it’s actually about making sure your vision has structure. A budget gives you a clear path to see where the gaps are, where the goals are, and how to root your activities in realistic expectations.

Here’s how that plays out in practice:

• Clarity. You get a full picture of what resources are secure, what’s fragile, and where you might need to build.

• Focus. You can see whether your money reflects your priorities—if most of it is flowing into events while your core organizing is underfunded, the budget surfaces that tension.

• Boundaries. When a new opportunity shows up, your budget helps you check if it fits your mission and capacity before you commit.

• Confidence. Sharing a budget with funders, partners, or community members shows you are planning intentionally and taking your work seriously.

• Possibility. Your budget shows if there’s room to try something new, or what tradeoffs are needed to make it possible.

A simple one-page budget

Here’s an example of what a basic annual budget might look like:

Category	Subcategory	Income	Expenses
INCOME
Grants	Foundation	$10,000
	Government	$7,500
	Corporate	$5,000
	Private/Individual Major Gifts	$2,500
Donations	Small Individual Gifts	$6,000
	Monthly/Recurring	$4,000
Earned Income	Training/Event Registrations	$3,000
	Merchandise Sales	$2,000
In-kind	Space Rental	$1,000
	Food/Transportation	$1,000
Total Income		$42,000
EXPENSES
People	Staff Salaries/Stipends		$15,000
	Contractors/Trainers		$5,000
Programs	Supplies & Materials		$3,000
	Transportation		$2,500
	Events & Campaigns		$4,500
	Direct Support to Community		$2,000
Operations	Rent/Utilities		$3,500
	Technology (Zoom, email, software)		$2,000
	Insurance/Fees		$1,500
Fundraising & Communications	Printing & Design		$1,000
	Donor Events		$1,000
	Digital Tools & Ads		$1,000
Total Expenses			$42,000

This one-page view is simple on purpose. It gives your team and your supporters a snapshot of your priorities. It doesn’t need to be perfect or complicated—it just needs to show what you’re working with and how it connects to your mission.

Walkthrough: How to build your own budget

Use these guiding questions to fill in your version of the one-pager above:

Income (Money In)

• Grants: What foundation or government funding do you already have, or expect to apply for? Write down the amounts.

• Donations: Do you have recurring small-dollar gifts, one-time donors, or a giving circle? Estimate how much you expect this year.

• Training/Events (Earned Income): Are you charging fees for workshops, tickets, or selling merchandise? Add those.

• Partner Support (In-kind): Does someone provide free meeting space, cover food, or volunteer legal/accounting services? Estimate what that would cost if you had to pay for it.

Expenses (Money Out)

• People: Who is paid to make the work happen? Include staff, stipends, contractors, trainers. Write down expected amounts.

• Programs: What does it cost to actually deliver your mission? Supplies, event costs, transportation, campaign materials.

• Operations: What does it take to keep the lights on? Rent, internet, phone, tech subscriptions, insurance.

• Fundraising & Communications: What do you need to raise money and build visibility? Printing, digital ads, donor events, website hosting.

Check your totals:

• Add up all your income.

• Add up all your expenses.

• Compare them. Do they balance? If not, adjust until they do—or identify how much more you need to raise, and which income category it would be reasonable to receive from.

Final word

Grassroots and justice movements thrive on passion and vision. But passion needs resources, and resources need planning. A budget is one of the simplest ways to make sure your vision has the structure it needs to grow.

Budgets help you align dollars with values, make intentional decisions, strengthen your credibility, and build sustainability. They are part of your strategy, not separate from it.

The clearer you are about what’s coming in and what’s going out, the stronger your movement becomes—and the more power you have to move forward with purpose.