Do you just accept the classroom status quo or do you strategically plan your discipleship and budget so that you can work to properly fund that plan?

A well thought out plan with solid supporting information is a useful tool that will benefit you, your ministry and your students in many ways.  I want to present some thoughts for you to consider in planning and budgeting for your discipleship program.

As an Educational Director or even a Program Director, we can often assume that the Executive Director knows what our needs are; after all he IS the Executive Director! On the other hand, the Executive Director may assume that you have what you need for the classroom because you never tell them otherwise. Working through the process of planning and creating a budget will create vision and momentum to move discipleship to a higher level.

Strategically plan your student discipleship

• Meet with your staff to discuss and determine the desired outcomes for your students upon their graduation.
• What are the life-skills your students need when they are once again on their own?
• Research and select the curriculum you will need to fulfill those objectives.

Benefits:

• Brings focus and purpose to your discipleship plan.
• Provides a list of curriculum that you will need to accomplish your discipleship plan.
• It is easier to stay on track – if you have a track! Of course you can adjust the course as the need arises.

Create a budget for your curriculum needs

• Use the list of curriculum that you create to research prices and the total dollar amounts you will need for each item.
• I have provided a sample budget for review. None of the curriculum items listed under training phase curriculum are required. These items are listed only as a budget illustration. It is not intended to be a list of the exact curriculum you will use for your training phase.
• I have provided a blank budget that you can use as a starting point in creating your own budget.
• You probably don’t want to figure actual bed count when determining the number of each item that you will need, because you need to allow for student turnover.
• I simply multiplied bed space by 1.5 to determine an appropriate item count. To determine how many students to request funding for you will have to review your records and determine a realistic annual usage count for each item.

Benefits:

• This will generate a realistic budget for planning purposes.
• It provides solid information to bring awareness to your need.
• It provides a means for the Executive Director to communicate the needs to the board and assist with ministry budget planning.
• It gives you a tool that can be used to raise funding for the classroom. Presented in a quality format, the plan and budget communicate a vision that a particular donor or foundation may be willing to fund. Use it as a tool to do so!
• If money is designed by a donor for curriculum (or any specific project) it must be used specifically for that purpose.
• It provides sound support for presenting a realistic Light for the Lost request.
• Light for the Lost will approve funding for GSNL, PSNL, and Living Free Curriculum.
• For more information on LFTL please visit connections.teenchallengeusa.com. There you will find two articles on LFTL.
• As a director, I presented the training phase curriculum needs separately because LFTL covered the cost of our Induction curriculum.
• Strategically Plan and Budget – keeping you on track!

Think About It:

• Do you know what your students are being taught?
• What is the purpose and goal of what you are teaching your students?
• Do you know how you are funding it?
• Do you just accept the classroom status quo or do you strategically plan our discipleship and budget so that you can work to properly fund that plan?
• If a donor requests information regarding your curriculum budget, can you provide it?