Is your program running a deficit? Wondering what you should do? Here is some great advice from Minjue Wu, PBHA Treasurer

In terms of looking at your deficit and surpluses, you might be thinking of your finances like you have a solid bank account: you have X amount of money in an account, and if you take out more than X, then you owe the bank. The actual finance of your program is a little more abstract, because it fits into a wider PBHA budget. What the year to year budgets tell you is how much you spent in any particular year compared to the amount you pulled in. For example, if you got $400 in fundraising but spent $600 that year, then you have a $200 deficit. What happens is that PBHA Central, through program-wide and central fundraising/sponsorships, will find ways to raise money to make up for your deficit and ensure our programs overall stay in the neutral. So you do not in a literal sense need to 'make up' for deficits in the past, or carry over 'surpluses', but rather these numbers tell you how sustainable and efficient your program is. If you have a deficit consistently, you should think about ways to increase fundraising so that your program evens out over the next few years. If you have a surplus, that's an indication you could take more advantage of expanding programming or offering new services to your constituents — or even creating new cross-program initiatives like the BLM donations which were coalesced from multiple program surpluses this past year. All PBHA Programs strive for a "healthy diet" of Income and Expenses. I would highly recommend you to contact your Resource Development Chairs, Sammer and Liam, who can help you with increasing your income if your program is in a deficit.