How to Manage Your Campaign Budget

The Budget Manager helps you plan, allocate, and track every dollar your campaign spends. Stay on top of finances with real-time spending updates and variance alerts.

Budget Manager overview with spending breakdown

What you'll need

• Admin or Treasurer role on the campaign

• Your total campaign budget estimate

• Knowledge of planned expenses

Setting Up Your Budget

Open Budget Manager

Go to Campaign Plan and click the Budget tab.

Set Your Total Budget

Enter your campaign's total budget at the top of the page. This becomes the ceiling for all category allocations.

Create Budget Categories

Click Add Category to create spending categories. Common categories include:

• Staff & Payroll - Campaign manager, field staff, consultants

• Advertising - Digital ads, mail, TV/radio

• Events - Venue rentals, food, supplies

• Field Operations - Literature, walk cards, yard signs

• Technology - Software, phones, equipment

• Travel - Candidate and staff travel expenses

• Compliance - Legal, accounting, filing fees

Allocate Funds

Set a budget amount for each category. The total of all categories should not exceed your total budget.

Use the percentage view to see budget allocation as a proportion of total spending.

Budget categories with allocation and spending progress

Rule of Thumb

Most competitive campaigns allocate 40-60% to voter contact (ads, mail, field), 20-30% to staff, and 10-20% to operations and overhead.

Tracking Expenses

Log Expenses

Click Add Expense within any category to record spending:

• Vendor/Payee - Who you paid

• Amount - How much

• Date - When the expense occurred

• Description - What it was for

• Receipt - Upload documentation (optional but recommended)

Monitor Spending

The dashboard shows real-time budget status:

• Spent - Total expenses logged

• Remaining - Budget minus spent

• Variance - Over/under budget indicator

Budget Alerts

Pulsar will notify you when a category reaches 80% or exceeds its allocation. Address overages quickly to avoid campaign finance issues.

Budget Reports

Generate reports for campaign leadership and compliance:

• Summary Report - High-level budget vs. actual

• Detailed Expense Report - Line-item listing

• Category Breakdown - Spending by category with trends

• Vendor Report - All payments by vendor

Budget reports for leadership and compliance review

Next Steps

• Getting Started with Fundraising

• Generating Compliance Reports

• Setting Budget Milestones