Resource Planning

The Resource Planning Process ensures that our resources support our ambitious goals for Northwestern and brings clarity and transparency to the processes underlying the Provost’s investment decisions and deployment of University resources. Further, it aligns resources with University priorities and school/unit strategies, coordinates operating and capital resource planning, and enables long-range planning.

Given the University’s incremental budgeting model, we expect schools and units to make strategic investments within the bounds of their existing budgets. Therefore, incremental funding will be available only for the highest priority investments closely guided by University priorities. 

Targeted FY 2026 Investments

FY 2026 incremental funding will focus in the areas of:

• Continued prioritization for faculty and staff compensation.
• Creating further capacity for future academic investment.

These priorities will enable us to optimally support our most valuable assets—our faculty, staff, and students—and to strategically invest in the areas that will bear the most positive impact for Northwestern. 

The Office of Budget and Planning is available for a review and discussion of your unit budget plan. In addition, any incremental operating or capital resource requests should be submitted using this form by February 28, 2025.

Current Year (FY 2025) Urgent Resource Request Process

We will continue to use the quarterly review process for urgent, current-year FY2025 requests, although we anticipate that schools and units will fund most incremental needs. Please forward any current-year resource requests to your Budget Analyst on a quarterly basis.