Setting Up Your Budget For Your DNow

Determining your budget make-up is tied to knowing why you’re doing a DNow in the first place. Is the focus of your DNow worship, evangelism, fellowship, or something else? Your focus will help determine your budget.

How will students learn? Will they need booklets? Are you bringing in a speaker? Doing recreation or a service project? Each phase of your planning needs an approximate price tag. Once you get an approximate price tag for each phase, you can narrow that cost down.

The question breakdown should look something like this:

Lodging

• Are you in town or out of town?
• Homes or retreat center?

Food

• How many meals?
• How many kids are you expecting? Food can be ordered last once you get past your cut off date for registration.
• How many times will you eat out and who pays for that? How much of students’ fees will cover meals?

Recreation

• Will this be a whole group activity, like bowling? You can usually get a group rate for most recreation activities.
• Are the costs of recreation included or is this a separate cost? Do the parents and students understand this?

When creating your budget, make sure you run a preliminary budget past your staff and maybe your bookkeeper. These folks may be quick to spot any blind spots or hidden costs before you do.

The last thing in creating a budget, not matter the size, is asking whether the cost of the trip equals the value of the trip. We spend, and ask students and parents to spend, a good chunk of money for these events. If we want to be good stewards of all we’ve been entrusted with, I think we need to remember whose money we’re spending. Whether our budgets are big or small, we are called to be responsible in how we put our dollars to work.