How to get your project into the budget

This is the basic process for getting a project funded at Free Geek.

Remember, general priorities are discussed by the Priorities committee and approved by Council. Implementation is done by staff. The budget is set by the board. That's a lot of people to get approval from.

Here's the general path towards success:

1. Flesh out your idea:
   • What is the problem that needs solving?
   • How can it be solved (look at multiple ways)?
   • Why this is the best way to solve it?
   • When does it need to be done?
   • Who is going to do it?
2. Estimate cost of the project.
3. Alert staff, priorities, and if needed council -- all affected people.
   • This is to get it set as a priority. It doesn't mean we have the resources to go forward with it (yet).
   • Refine step 1 as needed until there's basic consensus on the proposal.
4. Firm up bids and cost estimate of project.
5. Send an email to the board asking for the money with a summary of all the above information.
   • Be prepared to answer questions from the board. Likely questions will be about why we need to do this and how it's being done. People who can answer these questions should be subscribed to the directors email list.
6. OR (instead of step 5) Submit the project to the beancounters, but telling them and including it on a committee's wiki page (in the budget section)
7. Poke the board as needed to get the project approved.