Budget and Finance
The manager of the green living program (GLP) coordinator is ideally placed to work with the funders and steering group members to assess how much of a contribution they can make and finalize these arrangements from year to year. It is not ideal to leave this task in the hands of the coordinator because this person's own employment is directly implicated in all funding decisions, making it very stressful. Start these conversations far in advance of the coming fiscal year to give partners time to budget for the contribution. Knowing your budget early on allows you to craft work plans and expectations accordingly.
Once you set a budget, it is important to stick to it and then wrap it up at the end of the year. Again, the manager of the GLP coordinator is ideally placed to manage the budget, including setting salaries and mapping out how much money is leftover for marketing materials, art supplies, printing and other items.
The Big Picture
Because you cannot capture a five-year payback when accounting on a year-by-year basis, it will be important to record efforts and successes throughout the year to enable future program leaders to consider all the efforts and savings together over multiple years.
Future Budgets
Most academic departments begin setting their budget for the next fiscal year up to six or seven months ahead of time. If you would like to find additional sources of revenue for your GLP—such as by partnering with new departments or asking for more funds from your current partners—then go to these departments as early as possible. It often takes several requests and meetings to secure a commitment to additional funding, which could take many months or more. Again, while the coordinator should play a role in these negotiations, it is better have an experienced manager, whose job is not so implicated in the outcome, take the lead on this aspect of the GLP.
Reimbursements and Receipts
Become familiar with your college or university’s accounting process to make sure the coordinator and student employees can be reimbursed for purchases they make for the GLP. Your institution may have a limited time frame for turning in receipts for reimbursement. Also, find out if there is a petty cash system in your host department through which you can give a small amount of money to reps to purchase program materials.