Q: We've never really calculated our "cost of doing business" and I need to
provide a formula and calculation for our new Director. Would you be kind
enough to direct me to a formula or template for calculating this. My
inclination is to calculate all of our annual expenses: staffing,
benefits, rents, leases, marketing, mailing, service agreements,
supplies, equipment, etc and then divide by the # of programs we offer
annually? Somehow, I'm thinking I might be missing something though.
A: After some communication with Greg Maresello, I think you are probably asking about LERN's financial formula. This is a formula that we created, based on best practices in the field. It helps programs to manage their costs and move toward self-sufficiency.
LERN recommends that you look at your costs as:
Open Enrollment:
Promotion: The cost of marketing and promoting your program (not more than 15% of income)
Production: The cost of providing the programs and events. This is predominantly the cost of instructor compensation. (This should be no more than 35 to 40% of your income).
Operating Margin: This is the amount you have left after paying your promotion and production expenses. In a self-sufficient program, this is the income you would use to pay your operating costs, staff salaries, rent, utilities, etc. Operating margin for a financially healthy program should be around 50% but not less than 40% in any circumstance.
Although you may have subsidies for these costs, in times of tight budgets, we often find budgets being cut and programs unable to operate effectively. That is why we recommend that all programs work toward total cost recovery and self-sufficiency.
Under such a model, you would want to be paying your instructors somewhere between 35% and 40% of your income.
Contract Training:
For contract training, the idea percentages are a bit different:
Promotion: 0-5%
Production: 35-40%
Operating Margin: 55-60%
I have included a software tool that will help you calculate your percentages easily.
Let me know if this is not what you need. I will be happy to provide more assistance.
Ideal% Your $ Your %
Income 100% 1000
Promotion 10% 100 10%
Production 45% 100 10%
Direct Costs 60% 200 20%
Operating Margin 40% 800 80%
Administration 35% 240 24%
Net 5% 560 56%