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Grant Writing- Budgeting

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Grant Writing: Creating a Budget

start

Overview

Click on the buttons below to understand the layout of this training, what will be covered, and a view of all trainings available.

Layout

Content

Trainings

Content

Knowlege check

Components of a Budget

Goals of a Budget

Additional Resources

Building a Budget

Budget Narrative/Justification

Case Study: EPHC

Grant Budgeting 101

Primary Components of a Grant budget

Budget: Each grant will require an actual line item budget that details what the expenses will be. Budget Narrative/Justification: Most will also require a Budget Narrative or Justification to accompany the detailed budget. This section will allow you to explain and justify the need behind the expenses.

How to get started?

I'm always attracted to lower budget, not because it's lower budget, but because they tend to be better scripts. Helena Bonham Carter

Goals of a grant budget

1. To detail the costs of your program or project. 2. Show the funder exactly what they’ll be paying for. 3. Identify any and all sources of income for the program or project

WHO

Who will be responsible for taking on the project work? Will this staff be existing or new? How much time will they need to dedicate to the project? Will they be paid or volunteer?

Grant Budget Guidelines

WHAT

List out all the direct expenses to fulfill your project. Some programs will allow for indirect costs as well so consider what might be allowable for ordinary business expenses (if applicable).

Visual accompaniment convinces 67% ofthe audience.

WHEN

Make sure your timeline is clear and considered in your budget. Some grants are multi-year or run on a different fiscal year than your organization- make this clear in your budget.

WHERE

Will travel be necessary? Do you need to rent space for events/meetings or program deployment? Can you offset a portion of your current location costs?

Personnel Considerations

Covering staff salaries

Leadership

Consultants

Often people neglect to consider the costs of supervisors or leadership involvement in managing staff, visioning or project management. Be sure to include some time, even a fraction of an FTE to any and all staff that could or may be involved in the project.

Often times a third party or consultant is necessary to get a program developed, launched, staffed and/or evaluated. Add in costs for any outside staffing needs your program may have.

Program Staff

Volunteers/Participants/Other

The nature of volunteer work is that it is typically unpaid but some consideration could be made here to assist with providing stipends for volunteers. This same consideration can be made for participants that may need help offsetting costs of travel, childcare etc and/or incentives to participate in your programming as you build it out.

Often the most clear line item for staffing is those who will directly contribute to the development or execution of your programming. Make sure you are considering their time commitment and existing salary as well as any potential FICA, benefits etc that may be allowable. Another consideration should be made in multi year grants for COLA and regular pay increases.

Admin

FICA/FRINGE

Much like the consideration for supervision and leadership, considerations should be made for any administrative needs such as financial management of the grant, A/R if your program is revenue generating, and any support staff that may be utilized to help manage programming. Some funders will allow you to utilize indirect costs for this, while others may not- review the guidelines of each opportunitiy and allocate as necessary.

Staff cost more than what they are paid, make sure that you are considering the costs of employer taxes into your grant budget. Some funders will also allow you to make considerations for fringe benefits.

Direct vs Indirect

Direct

Leverage

Indirect

Indirect funds

Calculating available funding

This is largely a function of Federal Grants and is not typically an aspect of most Private Foundation grant opportunities. For Foundations and Federal opportunities that do offer indirect funding as a portion of the total award- be familiar with the specific limitations that opportunity outlines. Some organizations, programs etc will not qualify for indirect or there may be certain line items that are excluded in the calculation. Generally, this is calculated as a percentage of the total direct costs (typically 10% unless otherwise stated or negotiated)

Total Direct Costs X Indirect rate (typically 10%) Indirect Budget amount in $

Test your knowledge

Indirect funds

Calculating available funding

A mistake commonly made is not considering indirect funds when building your overall budget. Since indirect funds are a percentage of the direct budget and not necessarily a percentage of the whole budget, you need to consider them BEFORE allocating the full award amount to other line items of your budget so that you don't accidentally go over the allowed award amount. This is not typically an issue if there are no exclusions to the calculator, but with federal awards there is often a modified calculation with portions of your direct costs excluded in determining your allowed indirect funds. Common exclusions can be capital costs and/or salaries and benefits in excess of a set cost.

Step 1
Step 2
Modified Direct Costs X Indirect rate (typically 10%) Indirect Budget amount in $
Direct Costs - Excluded Costs Modified Direct Costs
Step 3

Check your totals against the allowed amount- some adjustments may need to be made to your direct costs to come in under the allowed amount- just remember to recalculate your new indirect budget! Many funders will disqualify an application simply for being over budget!

Timelines

Fiscal Year and Multi- Year grants

Some funders operate on a fiscal year outside the traditional calendar year. Make sure to follow the funder's fiscal year and not your own (should it differ)

Many grants will offer an option for multi-year funding. You will need to submit a budget for each fiscal year the grant covers. Make considerations for increases in cost of living (COLA) for any staff and any adjustments for travel, supplies etc that may change each year. Funders also like to see that your reliance on their funding decreases over time and demonstrates that the program is headed towards sustainability without their support. You can demonstrate this fiscally through the subsequent budget years in addition to explaining it in your narrative.

Example Budget Template

*Most funders will provide a preferred template

More info

Align with your budget

Make sure your narrative explains the actual charges listed in your budget.- Don't overthink it!

Budget Narrative/ Justification Guidelines

Validate

Use this as a space to justify the need for your expense estimates, use the narrative to explain your reasoning.

Visual accompaniment convinces 67% ofthe audience.

Use Brevity

Be concise and to the point, extra words will end up holding you further accountable and decreases any flexibility. Keep it to one page whenever possible.

Be Realistic

Use the narrative to support your reasoning but be realistic in your needs and expectations.

Case Study

Eastern plains healthcare Consortium

Case Study

An example in action

Eastern Plains Healthcare Consortium (EPHC) is a network of rural Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) on the eastern plains of Colorado. Their purpose is to facilitate opportunities for networking, connection and collaboration to keep these rural hospitals sustainable long term. As an initiative of collaboration- EPHC decided to develop programming that would allow patients in other areas of the region to access services at another hospital via telemedicine- starting with Behavioral Health as a priliminary service. This service was selected due to the high demand, low access and minimal technology needs. One hospital in the network (at the time of the proposal) had staff providing behavioral health services. This grant proposal was meant to expand the team by an additional provider and build the infrastructure needed to provide services to the remaining service areas through telemedicine. Infrastructure to be built included: Billing, Access, Scheduling, Credentialling, Marketing, Expansion planning and development for additional service lines. The ultimate goal to be able to replicate it for other services offered throughout the region, improving access and quality of life for all patients in the region while increasing revenues for the provision of services through expanding the patient pool and improving the financial position and sustainability of the participating hospitals.

More info

Example Budget

Example of a funded project

More info

Example Budget Narrative

Example of a funded project

Revenue: We are requesting $503,000 from the FoundationExpenses:

  • Personnel:
    • 0.5 FTE Telehealth Director for a program cost of $57,500 per year
    • 1 FTE for a new Behavioral Health Provider at $65,000 per year, Lincoln Community Hospital will continue to support exisitng behavioral health staff salaries
    • 0.5 FTE Project Director for a program cost of $30,000 per year.
  • Capital:
    • EPHC is requesting a one- time installment of $9,500 for equipment needed for the telehealth infrastructure. Which is comprised of 10 iPads needed for connection between facilities to provide services. In addition to 10 iPads, the costs will be used to purchase protective cases to ensure devices are maintained.
  • Program costs:
    • Program costs include $2,000 per year for HIPAA compliant teleconference platform through Zoom. $2,000 annually for outreach and stakeholder communications for marketing the new service. $1,000 annually for travel between facilities for training and technical support. $7,000 annually to offset costs incurred at the member facilities for implementation.
We understand the competitive nature of the Colorado Health Foundation Patient Barriers grant program and would love any opportuntity to work with you regarding the total award amount if needed.

More info

Test your knowledge

Drag each word to the corresponding concept slot

Capital Purchases

Consultants

Accounting

Insurance

Supplies

Salaries

Taxes/Licenses

Office Supplies

Rent

Travel

Admin

Fringe

Indirect

Direct

Solution

Additional Resources

More detail

More detail about grant budgeting.

Tips and tricks

How to set a winning budget

Biggest mistakes

Common budget errors and how to avoid them

Grants.gov template

Basic Federal Grant template and instructions

Thank you for learning with us!

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo

How to use this training

Method of learning. The training may be facilitated by your CRES and/or as a self-study tool. Navigation. Click on the links in the beginning of each section if you'd like a targeted understanding of a certain subject. Additional resources. At the end of each section, you'll find links to further learnings, if you want to go deeper. For each topic. Each topic contains definitions, practical applications, the pros and cons, and additional resources.

Budgeting for both

Not all awards or funders will allow for these as separate budget items. When they do, take advantage of the indirect costs to help offset general operating costs. When they do not, you can attempt to clearly delineate the portion of operating costs that will directly influence the project as additional line items in the budget.

Examples:

  • X% of rent at $X for the office space needed to serve participants
  • X% FTE of admin staff for grant management at a salary of $X

Indirect Costs

Ordinary business costs that are connected in whole or part to the program being funded but are difficult to fully separate/allocate from the general budget

Typically awards that allow indirect costs will not require that you list out each line item in your proposal but will want to know what funds were used for in your reporting so it is important to verify what is allowed by that specific funder or program before submission so that you can allocate appropriately if funded. Generally this line item can account for around 10% of your total budget unless otherwise specified. Some indirect costs may include:

  • Auditing services
  • Rent/lease/mortgage costs (usually as a portion allocated to the specific program)
  • Building maintenence
  • Taxes, licenses, insurance
  • General office supplies
  • Cost of admin staff or admin time of program staff
    • This could include any billing or financial tracking/reporting time

Proposal Revenue

How your project will be funded
  • CO Health Foundation request
    • What you are requesting from the foundation
  • Government & Foundation Grants
    • What are you expecting to receive from other funders (if any)
  • Individual Support
    • Any individual donors?
  • Corporate Support
    • Any planned or expected corporate donations/support
  • Special events
    • Any fundraisers, revenue generating events etc
  • Earned Revenue
    • Any fee for service, or program income
  • Contract Revenue
    • Other monies not considered earned revenue
  • In-Kind
    • Any monies your organization is putting towards the project (not project revenue) Also considered "matching funds"

Proposal Expenses

What your project costs
  • Program/Project
    • Should equal the total of all line items associated with the programming costs
    • Personnel
      • What staffing costs are needed
    • Programming/Project costs (in most applications this will be broken down further into Supplies, Equipment, Marketing and others)
    • Administrative Costs
      • In this example, the indirect only applies to universities so this line would be used to list any costs associated with managing the grant itself- ie supervision, fiscal management/tracking etc
  • Capital
    • Is there a building or renovation component?
*Many funders will not allow funds for this use so make sure to review the funder's limitations*
  • Total budget vs Requests to the Foundation
    • Often a proposal will be written to have 100% of the expected costs covered by the one funder- but some large projects may require more than one funding source. For these projects, Funders like to see where ALL the money is coming from so that they can verify the project is fully funded and be confident their money will lead to the project's completion/success.
  • General Operating
    • Do not use this line item unless the grant specifically says you can use funds for this purpose. Generally if this is not included on the template you shouldn't use it.
*Most funders will not ask for this line item* (however, they may ask for an organizational budget as a separate question in the application)

Admin; Insurance; Accounting; Rent; Taxes/Licenses; Office Supplies.

Salaries; Fringe; Supplies; Travel; Consultants; Capital Purchases; BONUS: Office supplies.

Program Costs

Includes any software, supplies, travel and other expenses as connected to running the programming.

Overview

Content to be covered

This training will help you identify a mission, vision, and values. It will also give you practical exercises to build them with your team. This section covers:

  • Mission
  • Vision
  • Values

Personnel

Explain and justify the costs of staff connected to the project.

Direct Costs

What costs are incurred as a "direct" result of the program or project.

These are the costs that you would otherwise not have if it weren't for the specific project. This includes things such as:

  • Staffing dedicated to the project
  • Any and all supplies or equipment needed to achieve your goal
  • Any travel necessary to complete/meet milestones
  • Any approved construction or building materials
  • Any other costs that are incurred as a direct result of the programming and not typically considered general operating costs- the primary exception being dedicating current staff to build/run the program.
Office Supplies

Office supplies can belong to BOTH categories! You may have office supplies/printing etc that is DIRECTLY connected to the programming itself, but you may also have general office supply needs for the organization in which someone may utilize them for this programming which can be accounted for as INDIRECT expenses. Leverage both if you can/need to!

Gratitude

Not required, but with private foundations a note of thanks and an offer of flexiblity could help win a grant. In some instances of heavily competitive cycles, a solid budget and an offer of flexiblity may result in being awarded a smaller but useful amount of money. In this example, it could have resulted in at least funding the first year of the program.

Capital

Some of these costs could have been listed in the program expenses but because it is also new equipment the writer decided to explain them here.

Trainings Available

We are regularly adding to our curriculum. So, if you don't see one that you need, let your CRES know!

Organizational Development

  • Strategic planning & project planning
  • Organizational lifecycles
  • Organizational structure
  • Leadership development
Grants
  • Prospecting
  • Relationship building
  • Grant writing
  • Grant submission
  • Grants management
  • Funding strategies

Policy Influence

  • The role of associations
  • How to impact policy & building social capital
  • Nonprofit policy rules and latitudes
  • The social network analysis
  • Statute versus legislation

Other Expenses

What your project costs
  • Indirect costs
    • With private foundations this is often reserved for universities where the administrative department needs to utilize funds to offset the costs of managing the grant.
    • When allowed- this can be used for ordinary business expenses that are not directly tied to your project but would still be utilized to run the programming in your proposal
      • Ie: a portion of Office space (rent, utilities, maintenence, etc), Office supplies, etc
  • Consultants
    • Are you using any staff or consultants outside of the organization?
  • Fiscal Sponsor Fee
    • Are you collaborating with a 501(c)3 to help you obtain grant funds due to an exemption for your own organization?
      • Do they charge a fee for grants management? (many will charge a percentage of the total grant funds)
      • Some foundations will set a specific limit (usually around 10%)