Budget Specialist

Who We Are

American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and helped thousands of farm families make a go of it (primarily through programs that increase farm viability and/or enhance farmland access). Long a pioneering leader, AFT is now riding a new wave of growth, driven by agriculture’s most pressing needs and opportunities.

Job Purpose 

Reporting directly to the Financial Planning & Systems Senior Manager, the Budget Specialist is responsible for preparing accurate budgets to meet the needs of the organization. The Budget Specialist will also participate in the preparation of grant proposal budgets working in coordination with the Grants Management division and incorporating them in the building of the organization’s budget. The Budget Specialist will balance data-driven recommendations and technical maintenance of fiscal records.  

Position Summary 

As an integral part of the AFT finance team, the Budget Specialist is responsible for various finance functions including, but not limited to, preparing the annual budget, participating in the preparation of proposal budgets, reforecast budget preparation, and ensuring the integrity of financial projections and information. The budget specialist works closely with various departments to support budget development, provide financial insight, and ensure compliance with policies and regulations.  

Duties and Responsibilities 

• Work in coordination with the Grants Management division in the preparation of proposal budgets and related timelines, ensuring alignment with financial policies, procedures, coding, and on-time completion.  
• Prepare annual budget as well as projection budgets (reforecasting) 
• For reforecasting, calculate year-end projections based on YTD actuals.  
• Collaborate with other AFT teams during work planning. 
• Ensure that all appropriate support services are covered in budgets.  
• Implement budget policies and guidelines. 
• Develop models or suggestions for expenditures to optimize budget adherence.  
• Produce monthly financial statements and related analysis, including staff hours reports.  
• Assist in the review of expense contracts for budget feasibility and ensure procurement guidelines are followed. 
• Assist with the annual financial statement audit.  
• Responsible for loading the budget and grant budgets into the ERP. 
• Report customization and ad hoc analysis.  
• Dashboard reporting development. 

This is not necessarily an all-inclusive list of job-related responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements or working conditions. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned.