How are the line items “justified” within the budget table? Which items are explained well? Are there any items that could be better explained, and how?
Please read the entire document.
You recently worked on a portion of my draft grant proposal project, and I am hoping you can complete this portion as well since you know what the grant is about. This time I would like you to complete the budget portion. Below I provided you with the lecture notes to know how the budget works. I also included a small sample that was provided as an idea of how to set it up. I also attached RFP document so please make sure you read what they need exactly for the budget section. The budget. Narrative part must be at least 2 and half pages, other than tables. The total for 3 years is 300,000 but we can only request 100,000 per year. Make sure you cover all 3 years in the narrative and tables. I have all the items and personnel I want included at the end of this document. Please use proper grammar and all tables should be made on document and no merging of cells because it needs to be accessible. Please let me know if you have any questions.
The lecture about budget proposals:
- Overview
The budget section of the grant is critical to the success of your proposal. Be aware that sometimes the budget is reviewed before the proposal; therefore, it is important to have enough information in the budget justification section for the numbers to be understood.
Readings
Koch Chapters 2 & 14
Budget information is typically presented 1) in a narrative section justifying expenses, especially unusual items, and 2) in a table in Appendices that includes Income and Expenses (or Costs). For this course, we are only concerned with Expenses.
Reflect all costs that you report in your Narrative
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- Whatever appears in the Narrative should appear in the Budget
- Whatever appears in the Budget should appear in the Narrative
In Chapter 14 under “Budget Narrative,” the budget example provided in this reading includes the narrative (“justification”) within the table. How are the line items “justified” within the budget table? Which items are explained well? Are there any items that could be better explained, and how?
For examples of how to organize budgets, refer to your text, and the Delaware Valley Grantmakers offers a “Common Application” template for writing general foundation grants, and wWithin this template is a budget section (the file is provided below).
In the end, your budget must add up. If it doesn’t, chances are that someone will discover the error at some point. And your budget must not exceed the amount of money that the funding source is able to award. But when formatting your costs, grant budgets are generally broken down in terms of Direct and Indirect costs.
- Direct Costs (represent most of the total budget)
This includes personnel and non-personnel. Personnel includes everyone who is working on the project. Non-personnel represents equipment, supplies, travel, phone, printing, postage, etc.
Personnel (50-60% of the total budget)
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- To calculate the budget cost of a salaried employee for one year, multiply their annual salary ($) by the amount of time the employee will spend on the project.
- To calculate the budget cost of an hourly employee, multiply their hourly rate ($) by the hours per week the employee will spend on the project and the number of weeks they will be involved with the project.
- To calculate fringe benefits (such as Social Security, Medicare, insurance, retirement), organizations have pre-determined rates for fringe benefits. Multiply this pre-determined percentage by the salaried employee pay
- For volunteers, you may need to indicate how much time employees spend on volunteer recruitment.
Sample Personnel Costs
Let’s say there is a low vision clinic proposing a one-year project that will run for 50 weeks. The project will require one part-time salaried Optometrist, one full-time salaried Therapist/Coordinator and one part-time hourly Therapist/Coordinator.
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- The Optometrist is a full-time salaried employee making $60,000 per year, but will only work 50% full-time equivalent (FTE) on the project.
- Therapist/Coordinator 1 is a full-time salaried employee making $35,000 per year, and will work 100% FTE on the project.
- Therapist/Coordinator 2 is a part-time hourly employee making $50 per hour, and will work 8 hours per week for 25 weeks.
- The organization assigns the rate of 30% to fringe benefits.
Using the formulae above, calculate the cost for each of the three employees, fringe benefits, and total personnel costs for the project.
Non-Personnel (30-40% of the total budget)
Non-Personnel costs include:
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- Equipment: an estimate of expensive purchases that are considered assets (for example, examination equipment and video magnifiers)
- Supplies: an estimate of the less-expensive items that are needed on a daily basis for your grant project (primarily office supplies)
- Travel: mileage, tolls, airline tickets, train tickets, bus fare, subway fare, room and board, registration fees, tuition.
Explanations should be offered concerning expensive travel costs as well as justification for these costs (for example, a reason for attending an international conference would be for project dissemination).
Sample Non-Personnel Costs
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- Equipment ($100,000): Essential optometric equipment and low vision devices will be needed to have a viable low vision service. In addition a computer system and filing system will be important. See cost breakdowns on lists in Appendix B.
- Supplies ($1,000) include computer supplies of ink, paper, and disks as well as general office supplies such as paper, pads, pens, file folders, labels, calendars, etc.
- Web site development ($1,000) includes consultant costs to assist in the design and search engine linkages for a clinic web site.
- Copying and printing ($500) include brochures and other marketing materials.
- Postage ($500) for correspondence and mass mailings to the community.
- Telephone ($600) includes communication with patients, referral sources, and the community.
What will your Direct Costs be for your XYZ project?
- Indirect Costs (8-10% of funds to be awarded)
Indirect costs refer to overhead such as mortgage or rent, electricity, water, maintenance and security of the building.
There are several ways to calculate indirect costs for a grant budget:
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- % of salaries and wages only
- % of total personnel costs
- % of personnel + non-personnel costs (total direct costs)
Or, the funding source will identify a specific percentage for you to adhere to (which is what we will do for this course–we will use 10% as our indirect rate).
In Chapter 14, determine how Koch differentiates between direct and indirect costs, and how Koch calculates indirect costs? Now review the tables on page 213 (under the section labeled “Format”). Note which line items are considered direct.
Be sure to follow funder guidelines regarding the calculation of indirect costs. Some funders do not even fund operating costs, in which case you could report the indirect costs as a part of ‘Support and Revenue’ as your organization would be ‘ contributing’ or ‘donating’ these costs.
- Support and Revenue
This includes any costs that you will not be asking the funder to fund as well as what you are bringing to the table already.
Matching Funds
The organization requesting the funds is often expected to contribute to the proposed project. Usually the percentage of contribution is 10% or more of the total costs required to achieve project objectives.
In the budget chart you can have columns showing ‘Requested’ and ‘ Contributed’ or ‘Donated’ to illustrate the parts making up the 10% contribution.
In-kind Donations
These include any tangible items that your organization is donating to the grant project, such as equipment, personnel, facility space, etc.
Future Funding
If you are requesting seed money to begin or expand a project, often grantors want to know how you will maintain the program after the grant ends.
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- Fees for services
- Profit on sale of devices
- Third party reimbursements for services
- Expanded fundraising activities
- Use of non-recurring grants for one-time only purchases
Sample Future Funding Statement
“To reduce the need for additional funding in the future, the project staff will work to assure a steady cash flow from patient services and low vision devices. State rehabilitation agencies and insurance companies will assist in payments. Separate funding is being sought to assist patients who are unable to pay so that no one in need will be turned away.”