Client Onboarding Checklist: Steps, Templates & Best Practices
What do innovative projects, forward-thinking ideas and strategic initiatives have in common?
They all need a well-structured budget and the right team to bring it to life.
To get approval from stakeholders, investors, donors or internal funding sources, you need a solid budget proposal. It shows the investment needed to make the project successful and the potential return on investment.
Instead of starting from square one, why not make your life easier with a professionally designed budget proposal template? It's the perfect tool to ensure you hit the mark from the get-go.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about writing a winning budget proposal. We've also included 13 budget proposal templates to help you communicate your financial goals and get funding.
If you're buzzing to create your proposal right away, we have dozens of free proposal templates you can use?Racing against the clock? No problem. Visme's AI proposal maker can help you whip up winning proposals in no time.
A budget proposal explains the financial plans for an upcoming project, including the estimated cost and resources required for successful execution. The purpose is to either secure funding from stakeholders, justify expenses or plan for future financial needs.
By breaking down the cost elements associated with your project in a detailed proposal, funders and stakeholders can see:
While the content of your budget proposal will vary based on your project's specifics, a well-crafted budget proposal can offer various benefits:
A budget proposal template is a pre-designed document that helps you create and present a detailed budget plan to potential funders, clients or internal stakeholders.
The beauty of using a template is that it provides a ready-made structure that can cut down the time needed to create your budget proposal from scratch.
But much more than that, it makes your proposal polished and professional and supports collaboration, especially when working with teams.
The key elements you'll typically find in a budget proposal template are:
The idea of making a budget for the first time can feel overwhelming.
But if you use a template, you can easily make a budget proposal that ticks all the right boxes.
Check out these 13 sample budget proposal templates to get started right away. You can easily customize these templates to align with your organization's branding and add or remove sections as needed.
If you’re racing against the clock and need a budget proposal quickly, Visme’s AI Document Generator is your best bet. Just provide a detailed description of the type of proposal you want to create, select a style and let the AI handle the rest.
Seeking funding to build a new website or revamp an existing one? This template will help lay out your budget proposal in a visually engaging format.
Designed with a modern layout, this template features a rich blend of beautiful aesthetics, high-quality visuals, tables and sleek typography. Plus, you’ll find pre-designed sections for introduction, objectives, cost items, estimated timelines and conclusion.
Feel free to make this business budget proposal template your own. Visme’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy for you to edit content, change images, apply custom colors, input your own fonts and logo and more.
This next template has everything you need to secure approval for your marketing budget proposal. It’s designed in a way that allows stakeholders to understand what your project is about, what it aims to achieve and the financial projections.
Unlike the previous example, this proposal template splits the cost into direct, indirect and miscellaneous. Plus, it visualizes the estimated timeline using a horizontal flowchart along with the funding request.
Visme gives you the creative freedom to customize your template however you want. You can change the table design or swap out the visuals and design assets. Our library is packed with millions of stock photos, icons, shapes, graphics and other design assets for every use case.
Next on our list is this stunning marketing budget proposal template that will impress stakeholders and secure their buy-in. From the key objectives to budget breakdowns to funding requests, this template presents your information with clarity.
The template features a clean, professional design with a combination of vibrant color themes that will capture the attention of busy decision-makers.
With Visme’s Brand Design Tool, you can easily customize this annual budget proposal template to match your branding.
Input your website URL and the brand wizard will pull your logo, brand colors and fonts from your website and save them to your library for use in other projects.
You'll want to pay attention to this sleek IT budget proposal template that puts you in complete control of your budgeting. This customizable resource will guide you in allocating your resources where they matter most.
With its clean, modern design, this template expertly balances text and visuals to ensure clarity and keep your audience engaged. The vibrant colors, compelling visuals and ample white space add a touch of elegance to your funding request.
Notice how the template organizes the budget requirement inside a box instead of the traditional table format. If you're up for it, you can even visualize your budget requirements using graphs and charts.
As a non-profit organization, it's important to show stakeholders the organization is financially responsible. This nonprofit grant budget proposal template fits the bill.
It provides a clear breakdown of the program for which your organization is seeking funds, the program objectives, a summary of the items required to achieve the objectives, details of the costs and conclusions.
The design elements in this proposal reflect the positive nurturing environment you're looking to create for children. It uses a warm yellow, green and gray color palette that evokes feelings of hope, joy and care. High-quality child theme icons, shapes and graphics are used to break up text and enhance the reader's experience.
Whether you’re customizing this template for businesses or nonprofits, Visme has a comprehensive library of over one million high-quality royalty-free stock photos to elevate your proposal. Even if you don’t find one that meets your needs, tap into Visme’s AI Image Generator to generate high-quality visuals from a text prompt.
Let's shift our focus to this dynamic film budget proposal template that helps you present your financial plan with confidence.
The template outlines your goals and breaks down costs across key categories such as cast, special effects, filming locations and marketing campaigns.
The clean fonts and brilliant color contrast make the text easy to read and give off a cool, creative vibe. You'll also find a nifty timeline maker to map out your project's pre-production and production phases.
To wrap it up, the proposal includes a funding request and details how your project will deliver impressive returns on investment for potential investors.
Working on a budget proposal for multiple clients? No worries! Easily customize it with dynamic fields. Any changes you make to the custom fields will automatically update across all your projects containing that field, saving you time and effort.
Are you a ministry leader or church administrator looking to make a heartfelt funding request to the board, donors or congregation? This one-page budget proposal simplifies your budget presentation process.
Whether you’re planning an outreach program, a new initiative or an annual budget, this one-page proposal provides all the necessary financial information in a format that’s both quick to prepare and easy to digest. It breaks down the costs for salaries, community outreach, facility management and education programs.
If you need to provide additional information about your programs or initiatives, you can also include a link to a more detailed document using Visme’s interactive feature. From the Actions menu, just select the External Link tab and then link to an external website, email address or social media platform.
Next up is this expertly crafted proposal budget template that helps you turn financial data into an actionable plan.
Whether you're gearing up for a new fiscal year, seeking the green light for a specific project or prepping for quarterly reviews, this one-page proposal allows you to convey your department’s financial needs and priorities succinctly.
This department budget proposal template is designed for maximum efficiency. It neatly presents vital information like goals, department name, fiscal year and manager details in the left column while shining the spotlight on the budget breakdown in the center.
With budgetary requirements organized into major categories such as digital marketing campaigns, market research, customer engagement events and promotional materials, this template ensures that your budget is not only easy to understand but also laser-focused on crucial financial areas.
To further enrich your options, here's another proposal template that will streamline your budgeting process. This grant proposal budget template walks you through each step, from outlining your objectives to providing a detailed financial breakdown. It clearly explains to funders how their contributions will be allocated to various project activities.
Featuring a soothing light blue-themed gradient background and captivating overlays, the aesthetics create a visually pleasing experience. The icons, photos and illustrations not only enhance the visual appeal but also strengthen the key messages and program goals outlined in the proposal.
Looking for an effective way to garner support from sponsors and stakeholders for your next event? Here's an attractive event budget proposal template you should consider!
From forecasting income to tracking expenses, this template helps you keep everything in check. It breaks down all potential costs, including venue rental, branding, security and more.
Visualize your expenses with beautiful charts and graphs so busy executives see where money is going, make informed decisions and stay within budget.
You can share your proposal with sponsors or higher-ups to get real-time feedback or approval using Visme’s collaboration tool.
Send email invites or share a link for them to view, comment on or edit your event proposal budget template.
Here’s another budget proposal template for an event. For a more focused approach, this template zeros in on your projected expenses in a clear grid format, covering everything from artist fees and production costs to security, marketing, venue rental and overall project expenditure.
There's also a cool horizontal timeline infographic that lays out the project schedule using markers, text labels and connectors, making it super easy to grasp the entire schedule at a glance.
And the best part? The template design captures the vibrant energy of a music festival, with striking dark-themed background images of past festivals, crowds, performances and stages. The overlaid semi-transparent color gradients ensure the text remains easily readable.
There’s no better way to keep your audience hooked from start to finish than with this gorgeous budget proposal presentation. With its sleek design, structured layouts and captivating visuals, this template is guaranteed to captivate your audience.
This format is perfect for in-person budget presentations. You can interact with stakeholders in real time, address questions and provide immediate clarifications. This simple budget proposal template comes complete with pre-designed slides including "About Us," project summary and timeline, as well as detailed breakdowns of various cost components, such as location and rental expenses, branding and security, contractor, transportation and logistics.
If doing a live presentation isn't an option, you can still record it for your audience to view on their own time with Visme's Presenter Studio. Just click a button to start recording—either video yourself presenting or turn off your camera and record your audio only.
If you would like to design a professional and impressive budget proposal for your department, then this stunning proposal template is the perfect choice for you.
Across all seven pages, there’s an amazing selection of charts, data widgets, unique icons, shapes and other design elements that make it a real head-turner. It provides a brief overview of your current performance, an expense overview, a milestone overview, a proposed budget overview and a cost breakdown.
Collaborate with your team on your budget proposal using our workflow management tool. Assign different pages of the proposal to different team members to work on and set deadlines for each task.
Here's a more comprehensive guide to writing a budget proposal:
Start with a brief introduction that summarizes what the project or initiative is about, why it’s important and why it deserves financial backing. This section is also your golden opportunity to spotlight the essential items the budget covers and explain why they're crucial for the project to succeed.
This budget proposal example has a brief yet impactful introduction.
Pay close attention to how precise, informative and concise this introduction is. Besides keeping your intro engaging, you want to explain why your proposal is important from the get-go. This sets the stage for everything that follows and gives stakeholders a reason to continue reading your budget proposal.
The next step you should take is to define the project objectives and the outcomes it aims to achieve.
For example, you could be seeking funding for a new project, requesting supplementary funds or resources for an ongoing initiative, or simply outlining expected expenses for a fiscal period.
This clarity of purpose provides context and builds a compelling case for your proposal. It also helps your audience understand what the project is about, why it's important and why you're spending on certain areas.
Remember, stakeholders also need to see how your project objectives align with their specific goals and priorities before they throw their weight behind it.
Here's how to define project goals for your budget proposal.
Check how this budget proposal template clearly states what the project aims to achieve in bullet point format.
After you've outlined your objectives, include a list of the resources or cost elements required to achieve them.
Start by sorting your budget into major categories that represent the main spending areas.
Don't forget to justify why each category is needed for the project. For example, if you’re requesting funds for specialized equipment, detail how this equipment is vital for achieving project milestones.
Providing a clear explanation for each expense not only justifies the request but also shows you’ve really thought things through.
For inspiration, look at how this budget proposal explains how each expense item will be utilized to achieve the set objectives.
For the sake of clarity, you can split your financial requirements into direct or indirect costs. Direct costs are often the most visible expenses directly attributed to a specific activity, such as salaries for project staff, equipment, software licenses and materials used for the project.
Indirect costs are not directly tied to a specific project, but they are necessary for the smooth execution of the project. Examples include administrative expenses, utilities, office supplies and general overhead.
It's important to know the specific cost elements for your project or industry to accurately estimate and keep track of expenses. For example, if you're working on a construction project, your cost elements may include materials, labor, equipment rentals, permits and subcontractor fees.
On the other hand, if you're in the software development industry, your cost elements may include salaries for developers, software licenses, hosting fees, marketing expenses and ongoing maintenance costs.
Now's your chance to really get into the nitty-gritty and show your stakeholders exactly where you're going to spend the money and why it's important.
For each expense category, list the items, sub items and estimated costs. You can decide to use the traditional table style, like in the example below.
Notice how the sub-items are listed, along with the cost for each. For example, under Market Research, you have surveys & focus groups and market trend analysis.
As an alternative, you can list out the breakdown of your budget and indicate the cost for each component.
Once you've listed all the expenses, sum them up to see the total budget for the project.
If your project has multiple funding sources, this is also a good place to mention that. Specify how much funding you’ve already secured and the gaps that this proposal will address.
This transparent approach reassures your audience of your financial stability and emphasizes the value their contribution will bring. It also demonstrates that your project is financially viable and takes into account all aspects of funding and resource allocation.
If your project is going to generate revenue, estimate potential income sources and include the projections in your budget. This might include sales, grants or partnerships. Back up your revenue projections with solid market research, industry trends and the expected outcomes of your project.
A well-structured budget proposal should include the project timeline. It outlines when you’ll need funds and how they’ll be spent throughout the project’s lifecycle.
Here’s why this is critical. Stakeholders, including the decision-makers and the team members, to understand the project scope and the time commitments involved.
Start by presenting the overall project timeline and marking key phases and deliverables. Then, connect the budget to this timeline, specifying when certain costs will be incurred.
If your project requires a major equipment purchase, specify the timing of this purchase and how it aligns with the project’s progress. Your audience will see that the budget is not just a list of expenses but a strategic financial plan that supports the project’s timeline.
For example, the template below uses a Gantt chart to visually showcase the project timeline.
The project timeline is split into three phases, each with its own set of tasks and estimated durations for completion.
Don't forget to emphasize important milestones in the timeline and show how the budget allocation will guarantee that you hit them as planned. This emphasizes your ability to blend financial planning and project management, making our proposal even more credible.
Pro Tip: Create an impressive visual timeline for your upcoming project with Visme's user-friendly Gantt chart maker and customizable templates.
Wrap up your budget proposal by highlighting the key takeaways. In your conclusion, reinforce why the budget is crucial for achieving our project's objectives.
Now is the perfect time to make your call to action clear—whether it's approval, funding or any other form of support. Clearly communicate what you need from your audience and the reasons their support is crucial.
Make it effortless for stakeholders to take the next steps, whether it's setting up a meeting, reviewing documents or giving the green light for funding. This final push will leave a lasting impact and inspire your audience to take action!
Review the entire budget proposal document thoroughly. Just double-check everything—numbers, calculations, and all the supporting details—to make sure it's all good.
Pay special attention to any areas that may require further explanation or justification. Make sure that the proposal is error-free and aligns with the company's financial goals and objectives.
If necessary, seek feedback from colleagues or managers to get their input and address any concerns they may have.
Once you are confident that the budget proposal is well-prepared and comprehensive, submit it for approval according to your company's internal processes. This may involve submitting it to a specific department, manager or committee for review.
Be prepared to answer any questions or provide additional information during the approval process. Remember to keep a copy of the submitted budget proposal for your records and to track the approval status.
Now that you know how to write a budget proposal, let’s look at how to make one with Visme in four simple steps.
Sign up or log in if you already have an existing account. Once you’re in, you’ll find a sleek, intuitive drag-and-drop editor and loads of incredible features.
Next, select your favorite budget proposal template from the dashboard. Click Create New > Project and the search bar to quickly find the specific budget proposal template you need.
Preview the template or click "Edit" to start customizing it. If templates aren't your style, you can unleash your creativity and start your design from scratch.
In Visme, there’s also an option to create your budget proposal with Visme’s AI Designer. This tool is handy, especially if you’re racing against the clock or need help getting your proposal off the ground.
Input a prompt that accurately describes what you want to create, select your style and design that works for you and let the tool do the heavy lifting.
Replace the placeholder content with your own. And if you have trouble coming up with content ideas for your budget proposal, take advantage of our AI text generator.
It's a game-changer when it comes to generating compelling content, creating outlines, proofreading or adjusting the tone of your copy.
Get creative with the text—change up the color, font, style, animation and alignment. You can add or remove pages to fit in all your information.
Unleash your creativity and make your budget proposal stand out with Visme! Upload your own images. Even better, you can get your hands on millions of stock photos and a massive collection of design assets, such as icons, illustrations and graphics, to level up your budget proposal.
Customize and play with design elements, experiment with colors and fonts and create a truly unique visual masterpiece. Make your proposal more impactful by adding charts, graphs, data widgets and financial dashboards to visualize boring numbers.
But that's not all! Elevate your designs and create immersive experiences with animation and interactive elements. From linking pages or slides to adding captivating hover effects and clickable popups to incorporating animated icons, illustrations and special effects, Visme has got you covered. Plus, you can also spice up your content with interactive elements like polls, quizzes, videos and GIFs.
Connect Visme with thousands of the most popular apps—Zapier, Salesforce, HubSpot, Monday.com, Slack—so you can automate your work and free up time for other important tasks.
Once your budget proposal design is ready, you can download it in multiple formats (PDF, image and PPTX) or interactive HTML5. Alternatively, you can share the digital version by generating a public or private URL.
Keep track of how your audience engages with your proposal by using Visme's analytics. You can discover who viewed your design, their location and IP address, the date and time of their viewing, the duration of their viewing and which sections they spent the most time on.
To calculate a budget proposal, you will need to gather information on all anticipated expenses and revenues.
Start by listing all potential expenses, including fixed costs like rent, utilities and salaries, as well as variable costs like supplies and maintenance. Then, estimate your anticipated revenues, such as sales projections and grants.
Once you have these figures, subtract the total expenses from the total revenues to determine if your proposal is financially feasible.
It’s important to be thorough and realistic when estimating both expenses and revenues to ensure an accurate budget proposal.
To draft a budget plan, you can follow these steps:
A budget is a financial plan that outlines expected revenues and expenses over a specific period, such as a fiscal year, project duration or organizational cycle.
On the other hand, a proposal is a document that lays out a plan, idea or project to a decision-maker with the goal of securing their approval or funding.
A proposal usually includes a budget, but it’s a more comprehensive document that presents the entire plan or idea.
A budget proposal usually includes a few key elements that lay out the financial requirements for your project or organization. They include:
The 50/30/20 rule is a popular budgeting guideline that can help you manage your finances and prioritize your spending. It suggests allocating:
A budget format is a structured outline that details the planned revenue and expenses for a specific period, typically monthly, quarterly or annually. It helps to track the financial resources and ensures that the expenditures are within the limits of the available funds.
Yes, a proposal typically needs a budget to outline the financial aspects of the project or initiative being proposed. Including a budget helps the decision-makers understand the costs involved and make informed choices about whether to approve the proposal.
Making a budget proposal is a great way to prove how valuable your project is and secure funding. If you follow the tips in this article, you'll be able to clearly articulate your financial needs and project vision.
To further expand your options, we’ve also provided you with professionally designed templates to get your budget proposal off to a flying start.
Now the power is in your hands!! Visme empowers you with all the resources you need to create jaw-dropping visual content for your project or business—whether it's a report, proposal, presentation or contract.
Get unlimited access to an easy-to-use editor, thousands of customizable templates, millions of design assets, data visualization tools, AI-powered features and a host of other resources. On top of that, our workflow and collaboration tools enable seamless teamwork, allowing you to work with colleagues or clients in real-time.
Sign up or book a demo to discover how Visme can streamline your budgeting and give you better financial control.
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