Multi-currency budgeting and financial forecasting method

Help SWAN strengthen its budgeting and forecasting practice across multiple currencies, reducing exchange-rate risks and ad-hoc rebudgeting in an international donor environment.

SWAN is a regional network of sex worker-led organisations and allies working across Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Its mission is to help create societies where sex work is de-penalised and decriminalised, and where sex workers can live and work free from violence, stigma and discrimination. SWAN supports community-led organisations through human rights advocacy, access to health and social protection, digital rights, protection from violence and discrimination, capacity building and community mobilisation. The organisation was launched as an informal network in 2006 and formally registered as an independent organisation in Budapest in 2012, where it operates for administrative and financial purposes. Today, SWAN has 25 members across 18 countries in the CEE region.

What kind of pro bono support are we looking for?

We are looking for an experienced finance, controlling, budgeting or international nonprofit finance expert who can help SWAN strengthen its budgeting and financial forecasting practice across multiple currencies. SWAN has had a well-established financial system for 10 years, but the current operating environment requires more tailored methods for managing grants received in foreign currencies while many contracts and operating costs are handled in HUF. Exchange-rate fluctuations create operational risk, increase the need for ad-hoc rebudgeting and make longer-term planning less predictable. The goal of this project is to review the current approach, identify practical improvements and help create a simple, usable method or working template that supports safer budgeting, better projections and more accountable financial operations in a multi-currency donor environment.

Application conditions and participation information

Conditions and expectations

The project can take place online or in person in Budapest. SWAN is flexible and willing to accommodate the timing according to the consultant’s availability. The expected support is a focused 8-12 hour collaboration: joint problem-solving, practical recommendations and feedback while the organisation starts adapting the method. The project does not include a full finance system redesign, accounting services, legal or tax advice, donor reporting preparation or long-term financial management. The intended output is a tailored, practical budgeting and forecasting approach that helps SWAN reduce exchange-rate-related risks and avoid repeated ad-hoc rebudgeting.

What tasks do we need pro bono support with?

Review SWAN’s current budgeting and forecasting logic in relation to grants received in foreign currencies and operational costs or contracts mainly handled in HUF. Identify where exchange-rate fluctuations create the highest financial planning risks. Discuss how projections, budget scenarios and internal financial monitoring could better reflect multi-currency operations. Help define a simple method or working template for planning, tracking and reviewing budgets under different exchange-rate assumptions. Suggest practical rules of thumb or decision points for when rebudgeting may be necessary. Provide feedback on how the new approach can fit into SWAN’s existing 10-year financial system without overcomplicating daily operations. Summarise the key recommended changes, open questions and next steps for future use. 

Ideal applicant

An experienced finance, controlling, budgeting or international nonprofit finance professional who understands multi-currency operations and can translate financial complexity into simple, usable working methods. The ideal expert does not need to take over SWAN’s financial management, but should be able to help the team think through exchange-rate risks, budgeting assumptions, forecasting logic and practical safeguards. They should be comfortable working with an international nonprofit team and providing clear, actionable feedback that strengthens long-term accountability.

Why is this important?

SWAN works across a large international region and supports organisations representing highly marginalised communities. Reliable financial planning is essential for long-term accountability, donor trust and smooth operations. When grants are received in foreign currencies but many contracts and expenses are handled in HUF, exchange-rate changes can create losses, uncertainty and repeated ad-hoc budget adjustments. A clearer multi-currency budgeting and forecasting method can help SWAN plan more safely, use donor resources more responsibly and focus more energy on its human rights and community-strengthening work.

What does this role offer?

This is an opportunity to use finance, controlling or international nonprofit budgeting expertise to strengthen the operational resilience of a regional human rights network. A few hours of expert support can help SWAN reduce avoidable exchange-rate risks, improve budget planning and create a more reliable method for future financial decisions. The role is practical and focused: helping an experienced organisation adapt its existing financial system to a more complex multi-currency environment.

A Pro Bono program szervezője

A Scale Impact összeköti a fejlődni képes és akaró impact szervezeteket olyan vállalatokkal, amelyek szívesen támogatnak jó ügyeket. Részben ezekből a vállalati támogatásokból a nonprofit szervezet vagy társadalmi vállalkozás egy fejlesztési folyamatban vesz részt, melynek végén reziliensebbé válik, illetve világos képe lesz arról, hogyan tudja a pozitív hatását megsokszorozni.

Feladatunk, hogy támogassuk a társadalmi és környezeti hatás felerősítését, amelyet az impact szervezetek kifejtenek. A rendszerszintű változásban hiszünk, melyet a résztvevők együttműködésére alapozva lehet elérni.

Ha további kérdésed van a programmal kapcsolatban, vedd fel velünk a kapcsolatot!