Residential Budgeting
The big issue for any church or charity is money and often this issue is also big for the young people or their parents so it is important to think carefully before running the residential who it is aimed at.
If you are aiming the event at young people from poorer areas is the church/organisation you work for willing to cut the cost for the young people and run at a loss so more can attend?…Can you afford to do it for free?
Is the site far away? Perhaps if it’s close you can request that the young people make their own way, this way you don’t need to include fuel in the budget!
Food Costs
Typically you will find that budgeting for food is the bigger thing to do, of course this can vary on your menu but typically I work on the figure of around £4 per person per day, this may increase if there are less young people. Remember it’s cheaper to cater for more!
The Site
You will need to work out how much the site cost should be in the overall price of the residential, have a careful think about how many young people you will realistically take with you on the residential. Does the site you’ve booked charge per person or just for the overall site? (Either of these options has it’s advantages)
Travel
If you’re planning to transport the young people down there do you have the right amount of cars? or do you have a mini-bus? If you’re working fuel costs into your budget I’d advise working on 15p per mile in a car and 20p per mile in a minibus…of course in reality it may cost less than this depending on the cost of your fuel at the time.
To continue with our residential guide click here to go back to the list of topics
