Final Project Assignment FIN508: Include in Your Assignment Information On
Final Project Assignment FIN508: Include in Your Assignment Information On
Preconditions 1. Review conservation strategies and priorities that the plan or model needs to incorporate 2.
Identify the owner(s) and user(s) of the model. (Who will maintain it? Who will use the data? What are their
objectives?) 3. Identify and clarify the roles of any partners that affect the model. (Who provides information?
Who needs to give buy-in or acceptance for the model and its findings?) Overarching Considerations 4. Identify
key dimensions or parameters of the model that will be used to organize activity and cost information or used for
reporting outputs of the model (e.g., countries, landscape types, protected areas, partners, strategies) 5. Identify
the major assumptions and variables that affect costs (or revenue) and make decisions on how to handle them
in the model (e.g., major cost drivers, rate of spending, inflation, currency exchange, cost of money, interest
rates, etc.) 6. Determine priorities for each type of activity and cost (or other dimensions as needed) 7.
Determine total time horizon for model (5-year? 10-year? Longer?). Cost Analysis 8. Determine whether costs
will be based on activity cost data (unit costs) or sample budgets 9. Address how cost data will be projected
(phased) across the time horizon of the model 10. For PAs, determine whether using two or three program
phases (e.g., start-up, consolidation, full management) is the appropriate way to project costs 11. Identify which
costs are one-time (and/or capital expenses) and which are recurring 12. Project and incorporate program-wide
costs such as management, monitoring, research Revenue Projections and Gap Analysis 13. Determine
revenue categories in the model; identify if revenues are one-time or recurring 14. Address the means by which
the model projects endowment revenue and growth (if at all) 15. Develop a gap analysis or scenario projection
tool within the model to evaluate gaps in revenue over projected expenses