The Budget section is a birds-eye view of your ministry’s finances. Individual events already track their own costs and surpluses in the Costs component. The Budget section sits one level above that, letting you plan a year of spending across every category and see — at a glance — how your real spending is tracking against the plan.
Fiscal years
Budgets are organized by fiscal year, not calendar year. If your church runs on a July–June year, set that in Settings → Fiscal Year Start Month, and every budget view will automatically group events by your real financial year. A fiscal year is named by the calendar year in which it begins, so “FY2026” with a September start runs September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027.
Budgets and line items
A budget is a container for one fiscal year. Inside it you add line items — the individual things you’re budgeting for. Each line item has a name, a category, a budgeted (planned) amount, and an actual (spent) amount. The sum of all your line items is your total budgeted spend for the year.
Line item types
Not every expense works the same way. Youth Ministry supports three kinds of line items:
- Manual — You type both the budgeted and the actual amount. Use this for things that aren’t tied to a specific event: office supplies, a curriculum subscription, staff training, a speaker stipend that isn’t attached to a retreat. The actual amount is whatever you enter, updated as the year progresses.
- Single Event — Linked to one specific event in the app. The budgeted amount is what you planned to spend on that event; the actual amount is pulled live from the event’s total costs. Great for “Fall Retreat” or “Spring Mission Trip” line items — the number updates automatically as you plan and reconcile the event.
- Event Type — Linked to an event type rather than a specific event. The budgeted amount is for the whole category; the actual amount is the sum of every event of that type within the fiscal year. Perfect for “All Service Projects” or “All Weekly Meetings” where you don’t want a separate line item for each one.
This flexibility means you can budget at whatever level of detail makes sense for your ministry. Some categories deserve a line per event; others can ride on a single rolled-up line.
Categories
Line items are grouped into categories so the view stays organized:
- Events — spending tied to gatherings
- Operations — facilities, admin, recurring costs
- Personnel — staff, stipends, contractors
- Curriculum — teaching materials, subscriptions, books
- Outreach — community engagement, communications
- Other — anything that doesn’t fit the above
The Budget Overview
The main Budget Overview screen shows:
- Summary cards — Total Budgeted, Total Spent, Remaining, and % Used. Color-coded: green when you’re under, yellow as you approach the line, red when you’re over.
- Category sections — Every line item grouped by category, showing name, budgeted, actual, and variance.
- Charts — A horizontal bar chart comparing budgeted to actual per category, and an optional donut chart showing your spending distribution.
- Year picker — Jump between fiscal years, or create a new one.
Tap any line item to drill into its detail view. For single-event line items, you’ll see that event’s full cost breakdown. For event-type line items, you’ll see every matching event with its individual totals. For manual line items, you can edit the actual amount and notes in place.
Copying from a previous year
When you create a new budget, you can choose to copy line items from an existing budget. The app carries over the names, categories, types, budgeted amounts, and event-type links. Single-event links are cleared (since those events belong to a specific year), and manual actuals reset to zero. This lets you build on last year’s plan rather than starting from scratch every September.
Comparing years
The Budget Comparison view lets you put two fiscal years side by side. Matching line items (by name) appear with columns for each year’s budgeted and actual amounts and the year-over-year delta. It’s the tool for conversations with your pastor or finance committee about where costs are drifting and where the ministry is growing.
Income vs. expenses
The Budget section is primarily expense-focused. Income (per-participant charges, budgeted funds, surplus) stays on individual events where it belongs, because most youth ministry income is event-specific. If you want the full picture of an event’s finances — what you charged, what you budgeted, what you actually spent, whether you came out ahead — open that event’s Costs component. The Budget section tells you how your planned ministry spending is tracking against reality across the whole year.
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