Budget preparation is a task nobody looks forward to and few understand.

Many grit their teeth coming to budget meetings because they view the process as, at best, a necessary evil, a painful search for "fat" to cut, with frustration at escalating required costs (e.g. health insurance) and tough allocation decisions.  Which is more important, dollars for mission or a raise for staff?  Even in good times, hours spent on budget planning can seem like a distraction from the real work.

I say with humility that few really understand budgeting. My trustees typically possess financial acumen superior to mine.  But business savvy can lead, ironically, to granting the budget process both more and less importance than it deserves.  More because it's just an instrument, after all.  Less, because it exposes our priorities, making a theological statement that could shock or dismay us.

Think of the budget not as a static document but an expression of the organization as a living organism.  There is a life cycle to every annual budget that reflects both finite usefulness and theological significance.