Financial Management
Nonprofit Accounting
Nonprofit Management
Nonprofit Budget Template: Organizational, Program and Functional Views
Last updated: October 13, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.
A nonprofit budget template should show the same year three ways: revenue by source split between money with and without donor restrictions, expenses by natural line (salaries, rent, IT), and expenses by function (program services, management and general, fundraising). Those three views match how your audited statements and Form 990 report results, so a budget built this way can be compared with actuals every month without rework. The template below gives you all three on one page, with illustrative numbers for a $1.1 million organization that you can replace with your own.
How to use this template
Work through the four parts in order. Part A is the organizational budget by revenue source and restriction. Part B lists expenses by natural line with the matching Form 990 Part IX line. Part C allocates each line across program, management and general, and fundraising. Part D shows what each program costs and how much unrestricted money it needs.
All dollar figures are an illustration for a fictional organization with two programs (youth tutoring and a family food pantry). Copy the tables into a spreadsheet, keep the row labels, and replace the numbers.
The nonprofit budget template
Part A: Organizational budget by revenue source and restriction
| Line (illustration, USD) | Without donor restrictions | With donor restrictions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | |||
| Individual giving (annual fund, major gifts, online) | 300,000 | 25,000 | 325,000 |
| Corporate contributions and sponsorships | 60,000 | 0 | 60,000 |
| Special event revenue (gross) | 75,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Grants | |||
| Foundation grants | 90,000 | 180,000 | 270,000 |
| Government grants and contracts (recognized as conditions are met) | 210,000 | 0 | 210,000 |
| Earned revenue | |||
| Program service fees | 120,000 | 0 | 120,000 |
| Investment income | 10,000 | 0 | 10,000 |
| In-kind | |||
| Contributed nonfinancial assets (food 30,000; specialized services 15,000) | 45,000 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Net assets released from restrictions | 195,000 | (195,000) | 0 |
| Total revenue and support | 1,105,000 | 10,000 | 1,115,000 |
| Total expenses (from Part B) | 1,055,000 | 0 | 1,055,000 |
| Change in net assets | 50,000 | 10,000 | 60,000 |
Part B: Expenses by natural line
| Natural expense line | Form 990 Part IX line | Budget (illustration, USD) | Basis for the estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries and wages | 5, 7 | 560,000 | Position list with start dates and raises |
| Employee benefits | 8, 9 | 84,000 | Renewal quote per enrolled employee |
| Payroll taxes | 10 | 43,000 | Percentage of wages from payroll provider |
| Accounting and audit fees | 11c | 18,000 | Engagement letter |
| Other contract services | 11g | 42,000 | Signed contracts plus planned projects |
| Occupancy (rent, utilities, repairs) | 16 | 96,000 | Lease schedule |
| Information technology | 14 | 30,000 | Subscription list by user count |
| Office expenses (supplies, postage, printing, phone) | 13 | 18,000 | Prior-year actual adjusted for headcount |
| Travel | 17 | 12,000 | Planned site visits and mileage |
| Conferences and meetings | 19 | 8,000 | Training plan |
| Insurance | 23 | 14,000 | Broker renewal estimate |
| Direct assistance to individuals | 2 | 40,000 | Families served times average aid |
| Contributed goods and services used | Line the item replaces (donated goods only; donated services are not reported in Part IX) | 45,000 | Must equal in-kind revenue in Part A when used in the year |
| Special event direct benefit costs | Part VIII, 8b (not Part IX) | 25,000 | Venue, catering and prizes per guest |
| Depreciation | 22 | 12,000 | Fixed asset schedule |
| Other expenses | 24 | 8,000 | Bank fees, dues, licenses |
| Total expenses | 1,055,000 |
Part C: Functional allocation
| Natural line (allocation basis) | Program services | Management and general | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries (time estimates: 70% / 18% / 12%) | 392,000 | 100,800 | 67,200 |
| Benefits (follow salaries) | 58,800 | 15,120 | 10,080 |
| Payroll taxes (follow salaries) | 30,100 | 7,740 | 5,160 |
| Accounting and audit (direct) | 0 | 18,000 | 0 |
| Other contract services (by contract) | 30,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 |
| Occupancy (square footage: 75% / 15% / 10%) | 72,000 | 14,400 | 9,600 |
| Information technology (headcount) | 21,000 | 5,400 | 3,600 |
| Office expenses (headcount) | 12,600 | 3,240 | 2,160 |
| Travel (by trip purpose) | 9,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| Conferences and meetings (by event) | 4,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Insurance (by policy) | 9,800 | 4,200 | 0 |
| Direct assistance (direct) | 40,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Contributed goods and services (by use) | 40,000 | 5,000 | 0 |
| Special event direct benefit costs (direct) | 0 | 0 | 25,000 |
| Depreciation (square footage) | 9,000 | 1,800 | 1,200 |
| Other expenses (by item) | 4,000 | 3,000 | 1,000 |
| Total by function (1,055,000) | 732,300 | 186,200 | 136,500 |
Part D: Program view
| Line (illustration, USD) | Youth tutoring | Food pantry | Total program |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct revenue (contract, fees, restricted grants released, in-kind) | 425,000 | 140,000 | 565,000 |
| Direct personnel (salaries, benefits, taxes) | 330,900 | 150,000 | 480,900 |
| Direct non-personnel (contracts, travel, aid, in-kind, other) | 49,000 | 78,000 | 127,000 |
| Shared program costs (occupancy, IT, office, insurance, depreciation; 60% / 40%) | 74,640 | 49,760 | 124,400 |
| Program expense (ties to Part C) | 454,540 | 277,760 | 732,300 |
| Share of management and general (62% / 38%, internal view only) | 115,444 | 70,756 | 186,200 |
| Full cost | 569,984 | 348,516 | 918,500 |
| Unrestricted support needed (direct revenue minus full cost) | (144,984) | (208,516) | (353,500) |
How to fill in each part
Part A: revenue by source and restriction
Group revenue the way funders and auditors read it: contributions, grants, earned revenue and in-kind. Since ASU 2016-14, US GAAP uses two net asset classes, with donor restrictions and without donor restrictions, so your budget needs those two columns and nothing more complicated (Journal of Accountancy, February 1, 2019). Put a restricted gift in the restricted column in the year you expect to receive the commitment, then plan the release in the year you expect to spend it.
The release line is what makes the template balance. Under ASC 958-225-45-7, as amended by ASU 2016-14, expenses are reported as decreases in net assets without donor restrictions (FASB, August 2016). That is why Part A shows every expense in the left column and moves restricted money across through “Net assets released from restrictions.” In the illustration, 195,000 of restricted grants is spent on programs this year and 10,000 of new restricted money carries forward.
Budget government grants carefully. Under ASU 2018-08, a grant with a measurable barrier and a right of return is conditional, and you recognize it as revenue only when the condition is met, typically as you incur allowable costs (James Moore & Co., December 4, 2019). Budget that revenue in the months you plan to spend, not the month the award letter arrives. The guidance as amended by ASU 2016-14 also lets you elect a policy to report restricted contributions whose restrictions are met in the same reporting period as unrestricted support (FASB, August 2016). Agree with your auditor which policy you use before you build the budget.
In-kind revenue belongs in the budget when you can estimate it. ASU 2020-07 requires contributed nonfinancial assets to appear as a separate line in the statement of activities, with disclosure by category and of valuation techniques (Moss Adams, no date shown). Budget the same amount as an expense in Part B when you expect to use the items in the year, so the in-kind line does not inflate your surplus.
Part B: natural expense lines
Natural lines describe what you bought. Mapping each one to a Form 990 Part IX line means your general ledger, budget and tax return all roll up the same way. The IRS instructions list the Part IX lines, from grants and compensation through occupancy, information technology, travel, depreciation, insurance and other expenses (IRS, Instructions for Form 990 (2025), page reviewed April 30, 2026). Use the same names in your chart of accounts so a budget-vs-actual report needs no mapping table.
Two lines need care. Direct costs of benefits at a special event, such as dinner and venue, are reported on Form 990 Part VIII, line 8b, and the instructions tell you not to report them in Part IX (IRS, 2025). The instructions also say donated services and use of facilities are not included in Part IX expenses on Form 990, even though GAAP statements may recognize them. Keep a note of the difference so your 990 preparer can reconcile.
Part C: functional allocation
Under ASU 2016-14, every nonprofit reporting under GAAP must present expenses by both nature and function in one place and disclose how it allocates costs (Journal of Accountancy, February 1, 2019). Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations filing Form 990 must complete Part IX columns (B) through (D): program services, management and general, and fundraising (IRS, 2025).
Use the IRS definitions. Program services are activities that further your exempt purposes. Management and general covers overall operations, including the executive director’s time unless part of it is spent supervising programs or fundraising, in which case it is split. Fundraising includes the cost of soliciting contributions and grants, including allocable overhead (IRS, 2025). Allocate salaries using time estimates, then let benefits and payroll taxes follow salaries. Allocate occupancy and depreciation by square footage and IT and office costs by headcount.
Part D: program view
Start with direct revenue and direct costs, then spread shared program costs using a stated basis. The optional management and general share gives a full-cost view for internal decisions. Do not present that row as program expense on your financial statements, because it would overstate program services.
Common mistakes
- Counting restricted grants twice. Record a multi-year gift once, in the restricted column, and release it as you spend.
- Booking conditional grants when awarded. A cost-reimbursement government grant becomes revenue as you spend, so phase it monthly alongside the costs it funds.
- Leaving in-kind out of one side. In-kind revenue without the matching expense inflates the surplus, and the reverse makes programs look underfunded.
- Allocating by gut feel. Write the allocation basis in Part C and keep time estimates on file for your auditor.
- Budgeting only at year level. Phase each line by month, following payroll dates, grant periods and event dates, or monthly variances will be meaningless.
- No board approval record. The National Council of Nonprofits describes board adoption of the budget as a basic building block of sound financial management and recommends reviewing it against actual results during the year (National Council of Nonprofits, no date shown).
Rolling the template into budget-vs-actual in accounting software
The template works in software when each of its three views has a home in the ledger. Natural lines become general ledger accounts. Function and program become a class, department or program dimension. Restriction becomes a fund or restriction dimension. Load the monthly budget at that same level of detail, or the comparison will only work at total level.
QuickBooks Online. Budgets by class are available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. You can create monthly, quarterly or yearly budgets, pre-fill them with last year’s actuals, and run the comparison from Settings > Budgeting by choosing Run Budgets vs. Actuals report next to the budget (Intuit, updated August 5, 2026). The limitation is that one class list has to carry program and function, so restriction tracking usually needs a second dimension or separate accounts. Our guide to QuickBooks alternatives for nonprofits covers when that becomes a problem.
Aplos. Aplos is built around fund accounting, and its Advanced Budgeting lets you create a separate budget for each fund while sharing the same income and expense accounts (Aplos, no date shown). That suits the restriction columns in Part A; check which plan includes Advanced Budgeting.
Sage Intacct. Sage Intacct budgets can use any general ledger dimension, such as department, location or project, and each account can be budgeted at a different level of detail. Its documentation warns that if you budget without dimensions, you cannot run budget-vs-actual reports by those dimensions. It also supports multiple budget IDs with one default budget, and statistical accounts such as headcount, which helps with allocation bases (Sage Intacct, last modified October 8, 2026).
A spreadsheet is enough for a single-program organization with few restricted gifts. Move to software when you have several restricted funds, government grants with their own budgets, or a board that wants monthly variance by program. Our comparison of nonprofit accounting software covers pricing and fit, and our overview of nonprofit financial management software explains how fund tracking and reporting work across these systems.
How we researched this
We read the top-ranking nonprofit budget template pages from Donorbox (modified April 16, 2024), RallyUp (August 5, 2026) and Jitasa (no date shown). Donorbox and RallyUp sell fundraising software and Jitasa sells accounting services. None of the three pages showed restricted and unrestricted columns alongside a functional allocation, and none mapped lines to Form 990. We then checked the ASU 2016-14 text, the IRS Form 990 instructions, CPA firm summaries of ASU 2018-08 and ASU 2020-07, and vendor documentation. All template figures are illustrations.
Related guides
- Church Budget Template: Categories and Fund Tracking
- Statement of Activities: Nonprofit Template and How-To
- Capital Campaign Software: Gift Charts, Pledges, Progress
Frequently asked questions
What should a nonprofit budget include?
It should include revenue by source (contributions, grants, earned revenue and in-kind), split into amounts with and without donor restrictions, and expenses by natural line. It should also allocate expenses to program services, management and general, and fundraising. A program view and a monthly phasing make it usable for budget-vs-actual reporting.
Do restricted grants go in the operating budget?
Yes. Show them in a separate “with donor restrictions” column, then budget a release to the unrestricted column when you expect to spend the money. Because GAAP reports expenses as decreases in net assets without donor restrictions, the release is what funds the restricted spending in your budget.
How do I allocate shared costs between programs and admin?
Choose a documented basis for each cost: time estimates for salaries, square footage for rent and depreciation, and headcount for IT and office costs. Apply the same percentages in the budget and the books, and disclose the method, because ASU 2016-14 requires allocation methods to be disclosed.
Should in-kind donations be in the budget?
Include them if you can estimate them reliably, and budget the same amount as revenue and as expense when you expect to use the items in the year. Leaving them out understates program cost. Note that Form 990 treats donated services and use of facilities differently from GAAP.
Does a nonprofit budget have to break even?
No. The National Council of Nonprofits notes Propel Nonprofits’ view that break-even budgets are not required and can stop an organization from building reserves. A planned unrestricted surplus, like the 50,000 in the illustration, is a reasonable goal if your board approves it.
Sources
- FASB, Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-14, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958): Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities, August 2016. storage.fasb.org
- Christopher M. Gordon and Ruth Granlund, Simplifying adoption of NFP financial reporting standard, Journal of Accountancy, February 1, 2019. journalofaccountancy.com
- IRS, 2025 Instructions for Form 990, Part VIII and Part IX, page last reviewed April 30, 2026. irs.gov
- James Moore & Co., Conditional Contributions? ASU 2018-08 Explains it All, December 4, 2019. jmco.com
- Moss Adams, disclosure rules for not-for-profits under ASU 2020-07, no date shown. mossadams.com
- National Council of Nonprofits, Budgeting for Nonprofits, no date shown. councilofnonprofits.org
- Intuit (vendor), Set budget targets for each class, updated August 5, 2026. quickbooks.intuit.com
- Aplos (vendor), Budgeting by Fund, no date shown. help.aplos.com
- Sage Intacct (vendor), Before you create a budget, last modified October 8, 2026. intacct.com
- Donorbox (sells fundraising software), Nonprofit Budget Template, modified April 16, 2024. donorbox.org
- RallyUp (sells fundraising software), Nonprofit budget template, August 5, 2026. rallyup.com
- Jitasa (sells nonprofit accounting services), Nonprofit Budget Template, no date shown. jitasagroup.com
Sherman Hsieh
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
