Budget - what to include

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When you are planning your activity or sessions, it's important to think about any budget implications that this might have for you or your organisation.You should also read the section on charging fees for a program you run in your community. The suggested fees may help recover the costs.

Budget items you might need to consider:

  • Paper for the brochures/posters
  • Copying costs for any handouts you will provide
  • Refreshments for participants - will tea/coffee/biscuits be provided?
  • Venue hire
  • Hire or acquisition of presentation items such as whiteboards or display boards or AV items
  • Hire or provision of chairs and tables
  • Purchase of pens/paper or any other stationery you want to use in the group.

Charging fees

Whether you charge participants for attending sessions will depend on:

  • Funding available to the program
  • Costs of the program
  • Participants' ability to pay.
Many community organisations need to charge nominal fees for the groups they offer. Some do so to offset the costs involved, others believe participants value programs more if a charge is involved.

The following costs are a guide, and each organisation should nominate appropriate charges (if any) that are in keeping with other fees charged to the clients.

The intention of charging clients a fee is to assist organisations to recover some of the cost of presenting the program. For example, the fees may cover the costs of providing refreshments, venue hire, photocopying sections of the resource and staff time in completing promotional activities of facilitating the program. Fees charged are normally retained by the service provider for the above reasons and not for profit.

It should be remembered that this resource has been developed in the hope that it will be implemented in communities to allow the broadest possible access by people who are separated and/or repartnering, and who have children.

The sponsors of this resource acknowledge that sometimes even the most nominal cost can be prohibitive for some families. For this reason, it is hoped that all service providers will allow charges to be waived for clients who are unable to pay.

Schedule of suggested fees and charges:

Activity

 Duration

 Fee
One-off community information session 1-2 hours No charge (or option to make small, anonymous donation to organisation).
Group sessions (any number). Cost includes handouts and materials. 2 hours per session Approx. $5 per person, per session.
More intensive group sessions (any number). Cost includes handouts and materials. 3-4 hours per session Approx. $10 per person, per session.

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