What are Budget Groups?
Budget Groups in Performance Analytics by AMS are classifications that segment organizations based on their annual Total Operating Expenses. These default groupings help you compare your organization's metrics with those of similarly-sized performing arts centers, making benchmarking more relevant and meaningful.
How Budget Groups Work
When you view reports in Performance Analytics, data is by default presented according to Budget Group. This approach recognizes that performing arts centers of different sizes may have fundamentally different operational characteristics, staffing structures, and financial models.
Each organization is assigned to one of five Budget Groups based on their Total Operating Expenses for the year:
Budget Group | Total Operating Expenses |
Group 1 | Greater than $40 million |
Group 2 | $25 million - $39 million |
Group 3 | $12 million - $24 million |
Group 4 | $8 million - $11 million |
Group 5 | $1 million - $7 million |
Where Budget Groups Appear
Budget Groups are used throughout Performance Analytics:
Dashboard Reports: Many charts show data for your group alongside the full cohort
Executive Metrics Reports: Display comparisons between your organization and your group median
Compensation Reports: Segment salary and benefits data by group for more appropriate comparisons
Advanced Reports: Allow filtering by group to focus on relevant peers
Determining Your Budget Group
Your organization's Budget Group is determined based on the Total Operating Expenses you report in your Benchmark data, along with off-line corroboration with the senior-most finance leader.
Operating Expenses can be found:
For Benchmark users: Total Operating Expenses line from Page 1B of your Benchmark submission for that fiscal year
For Compensation-only users: The annual expenses provided on Page 1 in the Compensation Data Inputs
For Org Admins:
Budget Group assignment is displayed in the My Subscriptions tab of the Invoices and Payments screen, where you'll see a message like: "[Organization Name] is currently considered part of Group [#]"
If you believe your org should be classified in a different Budget Group that it is presently, please see below and contact us.
Important Considerations
Our Budget Group Changed!
If your organization's budget crosses a threshold between groups, your group assignment may change; we typically wait until to see that an org maintains a new budget level for 2 or more years before changing the Group assignment; once we do make that change, it may be done retroactively
Budget Groups are reassigned annually based on your most recent fiscal year submission
When analyzing multi-year trends, be aware that some organizations may have changed groups over time
Budget Group filtering is only one way to create peer groups; you can also use Custom Cohorts for more specific comparisons
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