Creating a budget is frequently the most painful part of writing a grant proposal. On the other hand, creating a budget forces you to make all of the detailed decisions which give your project the specificity which most funding agencies require. Consequently, thinking about and writing the budget is a chore which should be undertaken relatively early in the grant-writing process--certainly before the deadline date. The Grants Office can help you think your budget through, can provide current fringe benefit and indirect cost rates, or can write a budget for you.
Most government agencies put severe constraints on what can be included in your budget, on the maximum amount you can apply for, on indirect costs, etc. Pay attention to the specifications they provide. Foundations are usually less constrictive. But for both public and private sources, your budget should clearly and concisely state both where the money is going and where it is coming from.
Most funding agencies will provide you with a budget form asking for the totals you are requesting for personnel, travel, equipment, etc. for each year. They will also ask you to attach to the form a budget narrative (or budget detail) which explains how you computed the totals you write on their form. We usually write budget narratives in spreadsheet form, using a format like the following. To construct this budget, we listed the categories from the funding agency's budget form down the left margin, concluding with a total, and two sources of funds along the top, also concluding with a total.
The "UW-River Falls Contribution" column is our local match. Many funding agencies require a local match; that is, they require the grantee (or others) to contribute something to the project. There are two sorts of match: cash and in-kind. Cash matches are real dollars. In-kind matches are the value of services for which the university is already paying. A particular project might ask the funding agency for 1/4 time support for a project director, for instance, and list an additional 1/4 time as in-kind match. In that case the grant would pay for 1/4 of the person's time and the university would contribute an additional 1/4. In some cases we list in-kind matches provided by third parties. For example, we might request a one month summer appointment of a funding agency and list an additional month as match; in that case the faculty member will contribute his/her time.z
Budget Narrative [or Budget Detail]
Requested of [funding source] UW-RF Contribution Total
1. Personnel
[list all of the personnel who will work
on the project, their rates of pay, and
the percentage of their time they will
contribute to the project]
2. Fringe benefits
[list categories of personnel--faculty and
academic staff, classified, LTE--and
their respective FB rates]
3. Travel
[list all travel by trip, with cost breakdowns]
4. Equipment, material, supplies
[list by item or category]
5. Consultants or contracts
[list any consultants to be hired, or
subcontracts to be let]
6. Other
7. Total direct costs
[the sum of 1-6]
8. Indirect costs
[The Board of Regents has decreed
that we must request the maximum indirect
cost rate which the funding agency will pay
up to our federally negotiated rate. That
rate is 44% of salaries plus fringe benefits.]
9. Total
Writing a budget on a spreadsheet makes life easier. When you change figures or add items (and you will--no budget is correct the first time it is written), the spreadsheet will recalculate percentages and totals automatically. We use the Tables feature in WordPerfect, since that's the word processor we use, but any spreadsheet will do. The Grants Office can write your budget for you, can help you set it up, or can review your figures.
Last updated: 9/13/95