Open Exchange TA

Capacity building for overdose prevention

Budget Building Basics

Open Exchange Learning Lab

September 2026

Chris Kliesch, MPH

Capacity Building Director

chrisk@nchrc.org

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Open Exchange TA

Free operational and administrative TA for NC harm reduction programs.

One-on-one TA

Free, sustained support for your program. Grant readiness, financial systems, data, compliance.

Tools

Ready-made trackers, templates, and forms you can copy and use.

Learning Labs

Monthly 45-minute sessions like this one. Open to every harm reduction program in the state.

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Financial Management Basics

Part 1: Budget Building Basics

Part 2: Tracking Expenses

& Getting Paid

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Key Concepts

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

• A grant budget is not a list of numbers. It is your program's story told in numbers. A funder reads it to see whether you understand your own program.

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• Every line needs a reason you can explain out loud.

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• Build from what the program costs, not from what the funder is offering.

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• Your budget should be built in the same accounts you code expenses to.

Blue Ridge Harm Reduction

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

• 1.5 FTE employees
• 3 counties
• 90 participants a month
• shared storefront
• mixed funding.

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Budget Builder

Personnel

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Personnel Unit = 1 FTE (Full time equivalent) = 40 hours per week

.5 FTE = 20 hours

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FICA tax: 7.65%

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Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA):

Assessed on wages up to $7,000

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NC State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA):

Assessed on wages up to $34,200

Ranges from 0.06% to 5.76%.

Tax Rate for Beginning Employers 1%.

Verify at: https://www.des.nc.gov/employers/tax-rate-information

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Personnel

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

Wages. Employees on payroll. You withhold taxes, you pay the employer share, you control how and when the work gets done.

Stipends. Flat payments recognizing a role rather than buying labor. Anyone paid $600 or more in a year gets a 1099, and the program needs a W-9 on file before the first payment.

Contractors. People paid to deliver a result on their own terms, with their own tools and schedule. No withholding, no employer taxes, 1099 at $600.

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Indirect costs

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition

The costs you cannot assign to one program

Examples:

Executive director's time spent on the program

Annual audit or financial review

General liability and directors and officers insurance.

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15% - de minimis - standard for federal grants

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Next steps

One-on-one TA

Free, sustained support for your program.

Tools

Trackers, templates, and forms you can copy and start using this week.

Next Learning Lab

Tracking Expenses & Getting Paid

Scan for tools, handouts,

and to request TA

Slides ship within 24 hours. Thank you for attending.

Open Exchange TA | NC Harm Reduction Coalition