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 could 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?
   • (Maybe draw a picture, so people know what you mean.)
2. Estimate the cost of the project.
   • A range is OK. A stab in the dark is better than nothing, but the more accurate, the better.
3. Alert staff, priorities, and 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).
   • If any concerns are raised go back and refine step 1 as needed until there's basic consensus on the proposal.
4. Firm up bids and cost estimate of project.
5. Now, get budget approval
   • Send an email to the board asking for the money with a summary of all the above information.
   • OR
   • Submit the project to the beancounters, by telling them and including it on a committee's wiki page (in the budget section).
6. 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.
7. Poke the board (gently) as needed to get the project approved.

NOTE: Budgets are considered and approved every quarter (January, April, July, and October). The board likes to see all the one time expenses that we know about listed together, so we don't nickel and dime them all year long.