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Core costs

In making a bid to funders the steering group will need to draw up a budget and estimate the core costs of running the Development Trust.

Most Trusts budget their core costs and project costs separately. The core costs cover what is essential to get the Trust up and running, and include:

• office accommodation
• furniture and equipment
• salaries and on costs for the core staff: executive director and others
• communication materials
• office supplies
• heating and lighting
• telephone
• postage
• cleaning
• travel and subsistence
• insurance
• training

If possible the steering group should include someone with financial expertise to assist in budgeting. Budgets should be prepared for at least three years, and preferably five, as part of the business plan.

The core costs budget will be the spending plan to which the Board can refer to check that the Trust does not overspend. It is also, as part of the bid document, an important fundraising tool.

Initial budgets may, of course, be modified as expenditure patterns and realistic fundraising targets become clearer.

Once a detailed list of possible items of expenditure has been drawn up it should be possible to consider which may be covered by help in kind. The balance will then have to be covered by core costs fundraising or, later in the life of the Trust, surpluses generated by income-earning projects.

Core cost budgets will vary considerably depending on the scale of the Trust. However, the budget may be £100,000 for a Trust employing several staff with its own premises and a significant programme of work.

See also Business planning and Bid document