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.

Government funders and some foundations may request a logic model as the evaluation component cornerstone of your grant application.  The logic model is designed to show a logical or linear path to success for your program or grant proposal. 

The logic model is a tool used to demonstrate how and why your program will work.  It illustrates what will be accomplished and how your grant proposal will reach the goals and objectives designed in your program.  The logic model must communicate specific resources, measurable action oriented outcomes with a realistic timeline.

Logic models may be created in several ways. A template can be downloaded and used as a guide to create the logic model for the evaluation section ofyour proposal.    A Google search of Logic Model Templates provides several models to review.  Beautiful charts of all shapes and forms give a full picture of the wide range of options to design the logic model itself.

Several sites also include detailed guidelines for development of the logic model. Samples are provided in chart form.  If the grant development team includes a professional evaluator or university research staff as part of the evaluation team they will develop the logic model and incorporate all of the elements to show success. The evaluator may take the lead in writing the evaluation/logic model section of the grant.

Goals, objectives, methods, activities, outcomes—Oh my!  These terms get thrown into nearly every grant application and can be confusing.  And as mentioned last week, I am a visual thinker, so I have found that putting these terms into a picture helps me keep them straight.

I’ve developed a picture that we use in our training to help everyone understand goals, objectives, methods or activities, and outcomes.  Imagine constructing a building and here’s how that project is related:

Goal:  Picture the building.  What does it look like?  Where is it located?  What is the reason for building it? Here’s an example, “To support improvement in a neighborhood undergoing redevelopment.”  This is the goal.  In program development and in a grant application the goal is a broad statement, the one that is the driving force for everything you do.  For your grant application, there should only be one goal statement.

Objectives:  When planning our building, we create a project timeline with benchmarks to achieve along the way.  In program planning and grant development, these are the objectives.  They are specific, time limited, measurable, and achievable statements of purpose to guide you toward reaching the goal. For our building, an objective might be “By October 30, 2012 the foundation will be completed.”  There may be several objectives for each goal. 

Methods or Activities:  Notice that the Objectives can be specific and yet broad.  That is because the methods or activities are those building blocks that support the objectives.  In the case of our building, activities to support the objective named above could be (1) Dig the hole for the foundation; (2) lay the frame and rebar to support the foundation; and (3) pour the concrete.  There are usually numerous activities to support each objective. 

Outcomes:  These are the expected results of the endeavor or program.  Once the building is completed, an expected outcome could be “New business attracted to the community” or “Non-profits organizations providing community services in the building for the area residents.”  The outcomes are what effect will occur during the grant period as a result of the proposed activities.