Grant/proposal budget tips

by: Kim Throndson

Aug 12, 2025

This is Part 2 of the series on Grant Revenue (see my blog on Grant Revenue for part 1)

Grant Revenue is about receiving money, and all grant applications have a budget section. Below are some tips for a successful application.

1. RFP line items

     Read the RFP or  proposal website for eligible and ineligible expenses. A grant is a contract to provide funds in return for the charity achieving a program or purpose. However, the grant funds are not free reign for the charity to spend however it wants. Most grants have specific line items for the funds. It is very important to read them before putting together the budget or drafting the submission.

2. Use a template

   Some grants applications provide a very specific budget template. Trust me, that if one is provided, the charity must use it. If it is not used, the submission may not even be reviewed. If no template is provided, create one for the team to use for the submission. Fill in the eligible expenses as line items for the template.

   
   

3. Research costs

The written portion of the grant application lists all the great things the charity will do with the funding. So research the costs from payroll to supplies.   Don’t guess or it will be harder to spend the money if you get the grant. Most grants require reporting on the expenditures. So if the budget is unrealistic, the reporting will show it.

4. Simple Budget      

Keep it simple and common sense.  Keep it simple for grant reviewers to understand. Many grant reviewers are not finance people, so the numbers need to make simple sense. Don't use an excel spreadsheet that has so many links that a CPA needs to review it.

5.  Flexibility     

Build in some flexibility – round numbers, and use general categories like software, or contractors if allowed within the guidelines. The charity needs to spend the funds as per the budget, so the more general the better.

Also have more than one budget that changes some parameters in case the funder comes back with tweeks or questions.

6. Links to written portion     

Make sure there are links to the written part.  Ie don’t put a line item in the budget like volunteer expense if it is not mentioned in the written portion. The ineligible and eligible line items in the RFP are very important. The funders look at the budget from the program perspective, so it needs to link to the proposal.

7. Drafts     

Have an internal template to make changes easier as you progress through the proposal.  Since a team will be working on it, save the drafts, and variations.

Summary

Expense Line Items

Template

Research costs

Simple

Flexibility

Links

Drafts

For a list of funding opportunities see funding in the resources section of the blog.