Funding is a big issue as a first year teacher and can often be an intimidating process. When I first walked into my first teaching job, I was thrown a budget analysis form that I had to fill out the following items: purpose of the budget proposal, what expenses I was going to have, what fund-raising I would be doing, and what my current account already had in it. I just stared at this proposal wondering what I was really supposed to do with it and so I set it aside. I had no idea what I wanted to do for fund-raising, let alone knowing how much things would cost or what kind of money the fund-raisers would make! As I was getting things organized around the band room, I discovered some old budget forms and decided to use them as templates. In order to better prepare you for such an event here are some suggestions that I have for getting through more gracefully than I did.

1. Try to find records of purchases and incoming money from the year before. You can do this either through records that the last director had or through the school's treasurer.
2. Look at the equipment you have and make sure everything is in working order. If something needs fixed try to figure out the cost of fixing it or you can call your local instrument repairman and have him come out to give you some estimates.
3. Is there anything that you feel you may need to have during your first year that the school does not already have? Many times you think you need something until school actually starts and you find you’re not even near the place you'll need that equipment but it is okay to start planning ahead of time.
4. Once you figure out repair costs and what new equipment you will want, try to figure out what kind of money you receive from the school. In my situation, I did not get any money from the school and all money that the band had was from fundraising. If you are a lucky one and get school money, find the difference between said money and the cost of repair/purchases.
5. Plan fundraisers for the money that you still need plus another $500-$1000 for repairs that will inevitably crop up as the year progresses. Fundraisers can really be anything and are only limited to your imagination and resources. Some good ideas for fundraisers can be found with a simple Google search. I try to avoid fundraisers where the profit to amount of work required ratio is small or where you buy something to sell (candybars is a prime example: lots of work, not much profit). The sale of services is an easy fundraiser (car wash, spaghetti dinner) or selling items that have been donated (auctions, 50-50). Also, do not be afraid to ask for donations from time-to-time as long as you specify what the money is going towards (it is also tax-deductible!)

The nice thing about this plan is that if you do not spend all the money you fund-raise, you have some extra for next year. If you save up enough, you can replace those ratty uniforms or buy nicer stands or chairs. It is always better to overestimate and have extra money than to under-estimate and not be able to make the repairs you need.

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