Financial Plan (incl. Budgets)

For a Mobile App Program to be used in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to help bridge the communication gap between Parents and the Hospital Staff.

1. Financial Plan Summary and Budgets—Introduce and summarize initial financial plan and attach two budgets Key elements should include:
   1. Financial Plan Summary— In order to set the stage for discussing the details of your financial plan, first present and discuss, at a high-level using narrative and summary charts, the big-picture financial numbers that reflect both your Start-Up and First-Full-Year-of-Operation budgets.
   2. Budgets— write see appendix A and B (Start-Up and First-Full-Year-of-Operation)

Follow your financial plan summary by referencing (i.e., pointing the reader to) the budgets you’ve attached as exhibits at the end of your financial plan. As such, this “section” ought to be limited to a statement along the lines of: “Detailed line item budgets for the Capstone’s Start-Up and FFYO periods are included in Exhibits 1 and 2, below.” As relates to these 2 specific budgets, please note the following: mention June-July Budget

• Note 1 (Budget Formats): Both of these detailed line-item budgets should use a standard accounting format; and also include adjoining footnotes for any key line-item entries.
• Note 2 (Level of Detail): It is not necessary to be too comprehensive, or too concerned about the exactness of the budget detail if the program/project is still evolving. Instead, construct broad estimates of expenditures that will be crucial for program effectiveness, and revenue sources that will support it.

• Note 3 (Start-Up Considerations): Use the Start-Up section to explain the current financial picture (results) and how you are using this information to build the next budget.
• Note 4 (Time Horizon): Even if the time horizon for the implementation of your project is far off, still provide a FFYO budget based on your best estimates of what it will look like, and require.
• Note 5 (Budget Periods): While the pre-operation or Start-Up budget is designed for organizations that need time prior to officially starting their programs (to spend time, money, and effort on certain start-up tasks), First-Full-Year-of- Operation budgets are designed to reflect an organization’s projected financial performance once it has opened the doors, gone to market, or begun delivering its services. Unlike a start-up budget (which can be variable in duration), the FFYO budget should be for an annual 12-month period, with its fiscal year start date identified and justified.

1. Program Expenses—Present and discuss the projects expenditure strategies and plans for both personnel and other operating costs. And do so for both of your budgets designated by your financial plan. Key elements should include:

1. Personnel/Staffing Costs—In narrative form, discuss your program’s personnel strategies. Estimate how many staff, and at what level of preparation or skills/experience, will be required for implementation of each major part of your project/program. Highlight or summarize the major/relevant financial numbers for personnel in the narrative of this section and reference the specific details to the attached line-item budgets. Also consider and discuss the “personnel benefits” in the narrative and include these costs in your 2 budgets.
2. Other (Non-Personnel) Operating Costs—Again in narrative form, discuss non-personnel operating cost/spending strategies, focusing on the most important categories for your program. For example, estimate how much space will be necessary, and assign a cost for this. If any major equipment purchases, rental, or leases will be necessary, identify these and estimate their costs. Also discuss any other major expenditures that may be essential to your program, such as travel, communications, marketing, consultation, insurance, etc.; and highlight the differences (and implications) between the fixed and variable costs. Similar to the above instructions for personnel costs, summarize the major/relevant financial numbers for these Other Operating Cost requirements in the narrative, and reference the specific details to your 2 attached line-item budgets.

• Program Revenues—Present and discuss your projects revenue strategies and financial plans. And do so for both of your budgets designated by your financial plan. Key elements should include:

1. Revenue Strategies/Models and Funding Types—Based on analysis and research, present thoughts on (1) the most logical/appropriate revenue models for your project, and (2) the types of funding sources your project will rely on going forward. You should include both short- and long-term strategies for this.
2. Revenue Plans (the “Numbers”)—Project and discuss total revenue for your projects program based on realistic expectations. Identify and discuss the expected sources for the major pieces of this revenue (to the extent possible) and forecast the $ amounts for each in this narrative. Also be sure to reference these $ amounts to your 2 attached Capstone budgets.

1. Operational/Performance Measures—Consider and discuss ways to measure and track your projects operational performance (re: outputs) … and its longer-term impact (re: outcomes). Key elements should include:

1. Outputs and Operational Efficiency—Present the units of service (i.e., metrics) that you will use to measure/monitor your Capstone’s expected outputs in order to track operational efficiency. Discuss why these measures are most relevant given the nature of your solution/intervention activities.
2. Outcomes and Program Effectiveness—Do the same to measure/monitor your expected outcomes in order to track your Capstone program’s effectiveness. Again, discuss why these measures are optimal given the nature of the problem, target population, and your proposed intervention activities.

1. Conclusions—Present final thoughts on your projects projected financial performance, risks, scalability, sustainability, and any other insights and conclusions you have. More specifically, discuss your projects projected “bottom-line” financial performance. At the same time, consider the opportunities for your project to scale. Finally, raise and discuss the risks, complicating factors, and constraints related to your project’s ability to achieve its projected financial results on a sustainable basis, and your ideas/contingency plans to mitigate these risks. Conclude by sharing your thoughts on any other general insights, critical thinking, and/or overarching conclusions about your projects financial plans.