This page is meant to help new and returning working groups plan their budgets for the upcoming year. Please feel free to contact us if you need any additional help with budgeting.
The best way to organize your annual budget is to break down the ‘expenses’ (how much you will spend), and ‘revenues’ (how much you will fundraise) that you estimate your group will have. Don’t worry about estimating your budget to the penny, but try to be as specific as possible about what types of expenses you will have. Below, you will find a sample budget, including the main categories that your budget should include. If you are planning a big event (conference, lecture series, etc.), please make a sub-category for these to show how much it will cost.
Budgeting for Working Groups
Revenue:
Donations at events: $200
Poster, booklet, and t-shirt sales: $300
Discretionary funding from other groups: $500
Total: $1,000
Expenses:
Photocopies (flyers, leaflets): $200
Printing (booklets, posters, stickers, and buttons): $200
Interpretation of ASL/QSL at meetings: $300
Snacks at meetings: $250 (10 meetings x $25)
Room bookings for 2 major events: $500
Audio visual equipment: $200
Advertising (radio ads, student newspapers, etc): $200
Total: $1,750
Amount requested from QPIRG McGill: $750
- Room Bookings at McGill: 56$
- Room Bookings at the Student Union building: free
- Honorariums for workshops: can range from 75$-$250 for local facilitators
- Honorarium for Speakers: speaker honoraria usually range from $100-350 depending on the speaker, travel costs for speakers etc. It can go much higher.
- Advertising (you may want to put ads in the Daily or the Tribune for your events, but these are very expensive — a quarter page ad in the Daily is $200, and in the Tribune it’s $125
- Photocopies (posters, pamphlets, etc. Estimate 7¢ per copy).
- Supplies (working groups can use the supplies in the QPIRG office, such as paint, markers, paper, tape, etc. but you may need supplies that QPIRG does not usually carry, such as canvas for banners).
- Childcare, Translation fees: these can be anywhere from $50 honorariums to a $20/hr fee.