by Aly Evans

Before you begin the hard work of crafting a grant application or proposal, you need to have a clear idea in your mind about the elements needed to achieve your goals.  This includes detailed knowledge of the budgets, timelines, scopes of work and expected outcomes. This is not something to do while developing the grant proposal--it is best done in advance. 

One thing to get straight is the difference between your organization’s operations, programs and specific projects.  Making sure you are using the correct term, and coordinating each will help you determining which applications to send to potential funders.

Operations of an organization are the continuing and repetitive activities that are done in order to achieve the mission and conduct business.  Operations don’t always have a definable end and are not a ‘one-time-only’ effort.  Operations or operational costs are not generally supported in grant funding so you will need to be creative illustrating operational costs in your proposal. (Example: an organization whose mission is to encourage life-long learning could have regular operational activities, such as board meeting, to oversee work toward their mission and to ensure that it is achieved over time.  )

A program is a group of related projects managed or coordinated in order to maximize outcomes or work effort. Funding agencies often award grants to support ongoing programs, but only when the application can clearly articulate the fiscal and programmatic importance of the work to achieving the organizational mission. (Example: an organization encouraging life-long learning could present a variety of outreach, membership or educational programs that are continually presented to maintain activity toward the mission.)

 A project is a ‘temporary’ work endeavor undertaken to create a unique and specific product or deliverable with a specific end date or time.  A project could be one element of a program and should reflect specific milestones to ensure success. The successful grant applications, supporting projects will include project management outcomes that identify how the organization will plan, execute, control and end a specified activity that is aligned to the organizational mission. (Example: an organization encouraging life-long learning could plan a symposium on the topic of learning as a part of their ongoing educational programming, with the intent that it will be a one-time event.)

by Marti Hess

Have you ever asked for what you thought you wanted but then when you got it you found out it wasn’t what you needed after all?  How can that be avoided when developing the budget in grant proposals?  It’s all about being realistic, detailed and forward thinking.  None of us has a crystal ball, so of course we cannot know exactly what will be necessary to make a program run successfully.  We can, however, take the time to develop a budget that is sound and reasonable so that when a funder looks at it, it makes sense.

What do we mean by making sense?  Here are some important ways to make your budget work in your proposal:

1.       Tie costs to activities—when you are planning the program activities that support your goals and objectives, attach costs to each activity.  For example, you might need to print flyers to market a community event.  Estimate how many you will print and research the cost per page at your local printer.  This will give you a realistic figure to tie to that activity and use in your budget.

2.       Estimate the personnel time—how many hours per week with each staff member spend on the program you are proposing?  Will the funder support these personnel costs?  If so, estimate what percentage of a staff member’s salary can be supported by the grant funding, if any. 

3.       Include Fringe, benefits, taxes—don’t forget that these are part of the cost of doing business and having employees.  Employers have to pay taxes, and what is sometimes referred to as ‘fringe’ or ‘benefits.’ 

4.       Consultants or Contractors—if you will be using an expert to provide a portion of your programming, this cost is included in the operational expenses section of the budget, not in personnel costs.  A contractor is responsible to pay his/her own taxes and is not considered an employee of your agency.

5.       Indirect or Administrative costs—if the funder will pay for indirect or administrative costs, by all means include it.   This is usually an amount  between 5% and 15% of the total funding amount.  It gives your agency a portion of the grant funds to use for items such as payroll fees, insurance costs, and administrative support. 

6.       Use the funder’s budget template—the funder usually includes a template to use in the proposal—don’t change it.  It may be much less detailed than what you have already developed.  But if you have taken the time to create a realistic and detailed budget for the program you designed, you can combine the figures so that they fit into the funder’s format. 

Good budget development takes time.  Don’t rush to get it done at the last minute or you may forget to include an essential line item.   Develop the budget as you are planning your program and you’ll find that you’ll be able to fill in the budget template in your grant application with confidence and ease.