Today I shared the fiscal year 2018 proposed budget with the ELGL Finance Committee. It’s our first “real” budget and I’m excited that we’re on a path to long term financial sustainability.
Notable items: I built in a salary for myself (!) and a contingency fund, as well as full funding for two conferences (#ELGL18 in May 2018, and #ELGLPopUps in September 2017) and participation and travel costs for ELGL to visit with our members across the country at local government conferences and events. We will continue to rely on our awesome leadership network to develop and manage programs and events.
We are keeping dues at the low $0/students, $25/individuals, and $250/All-In rates. When putting the budget together, you can see how/why some professional organizations jack up membership dues to cover costs – it’s a pretty passive way to raise resources.
But that’s not the ELGL way – and so we’ll also be aggressively fine tuning and enhancing the ways we raise money as part of sponsorship opportunities, and seeking grants and gifts (our first ever effort to pursue this funding option) to cover our costs.
The Finance Committee will review and approve the budget later this month, and then the Board of Directors will adopt the budget at our retreat on July 7, 2018. I welcome all comments and suggestions about this first budget document. It’s pretty basic at this point, but I anticipate that it will be enhanced and upgraded by FY 2019.