Multiple rounds of budget cuts have created tensions on many campuses, prompting questions from faculty about whether institutions are using resources wisely and spending funds appropriately (Minor 2003). As institutions respond to fiscal challenges, it is important that administrators and faculty have a common understanding of budget issues and the roles that faculty can be expected to play in the campus budget planning process. Some faculty senate leaders feel they do not have a voice in budget planning at their institution; conversely, many administrators feel that faculty input is solicited throughout the budget planning process. To help inform these discussions, in this article the authors use data from a national survey to describe faculty senate leaders' perceptions of how institutions allocate funds in specific areas and the level of involvement faculty senates have in institutional budget planning. Results indicate that there is variability in the perceptions of how institutions allocate funds and that there could be opportunities for increasing the involvement of faculty senates in institutional budget planning. Based on these results, the authors conclude by recommending strategies for engaging faculty senates in the budget planning process. Faculty senate leaders are major institutional stakeholders, and including them as strategic partners in the budget planning process would add to the development of productive strategies to keep institutions financially stable during tough economic times. (Contains 1 figure.)