How We Budget

It's that time of year when most of us begin to think about and begin to prepare our budget for the upcoming year. So, how do we do our budget here at GCC? It changes a little bit every year, but the basic steps are:

1. We determine our budgeted revenue. We do this based on years of history as well as current conditions and a healthy amount of faith. This number drives the rest of the budget.


2. We also determine what the cost of our current staff and debt service will be for the upcoming year. These are centralized and fixed costs that have to be subtracted from revenue to determine how much is left to allocate to other ministry and operating expenses.


3. After the revenue number is determined, Tim and Mark discuss mission, vision, and values to determine goals for the upcoming year.


4. Based on their discussion, Tim sets some budget thresholds for each ministry and operating department.


5. Each department leader is given a threshold and asked to prepare a budget that is within that threshold. The threshold usually includes both capital and non-capital expenditures. They're also asked to include some goals and dreams for the upcoming year in their budget.


6. Department leaders prepare their budgets for their departments and turn them in.


7. We gather all of the budget documents and compile them in an easy to review form.


8. Tim reviews the budgets that were turned in and requests additional information, corrections, adjustments, etc.


9. Once Tim is satisfied with the numbers, he presents the final budget to our Senior Management Team (SMT) who approves the budget.


10. After the SMT approves the budget, it's presented to our Board of Directors who approve the budget.