Strategic Budget Development for Grants – the S in the GRANTS Formula

Are you struggling with developing a strategic budget for your grants?

Many people find the budget section of grant applications daunting and overwhelming.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Do you know how to develop a strategic budget for your grants?

Money is often a fun thing to talk about, yet so many people cringe when they think of the budget section of the grant. For me, I used to cringe, but now, I find it’s like a puzzle piece that needs to be sorted well – and early – so that the entire grant makes sense.

Today, Holly Rustick is going to show you how to create a strategic budget that you can use for every single grant that you write.

By the end of the resources inside this article, you will have the tools to create an amazing budget. Having a simple and unified budget format could save you hundreds of hours of frustration.

Here’s a quick review of the previous pieces of the G.R.A.N.T.S. Formula:

G – Get the FOA or RFP and use it as a template
R – Research needs
A – Articulate goals
N – Narrow your objectives
T – Timetable your activities

Let’s get started with the final letter of the formula today, “S” is for: Strategic Budget for Grants

Strategic Budget for Grants

Every single FOA or RFP is going to ask you to submit a budget. Remember, you can only ask for the maximum of the grant! If there is a federal grant that has a ceiling of $450,000, then you can only ask for $450,000. Don’t ask for $450,001. They will throw out your grant. Having said that you need to make sure that your project is realistic with the ceiling amount for the grant.

So, how do you figure out your budget? Well, a great starting point is to look at everything you have already developed. If you have your needs statement, goal(s), S.M.A.R.T. objectives, and sufficient activities for making it all happen, you now have your entire outline for your budget!

Make sure you include any connections between your activities and your budget. If you are hiring staff as an activity, make sure you add it in your budget and vice versa. If it’s in your budget, make sure you have an activity line for it. 

Your categories should include the following, unless specified by the RFP or FOA that they want it in a different way! (Then follow that!) However, this is the format most federal agencies will use and many times foundations do not give you a format.

• Personnel
• Fringe Benefits
• Travel
• Equipment 
• Supplies
• Consulting/Contracting
• Other
• Indirect
• Total

Our example we’ve been using is a nonprofit in New Mexico that serves pregnant teens and teenage parents.

In the article ‘R’ Research, we devised a problem statement: 

The teenage pregnancy rate in New Mexico is the highest in the nation, with 62 out of 1,000 teenage youth pregnant compared to the U.S. average of 18.8 (CDC, 2017). 

We then went onto ‘A’ Articulate the Goal, and defined the goal as: 

The Project will increase fiscal management and job wages for pregnant teenagers and teenage parents.

In ‘N’ Narrow the Objectives, we devised three objectives: 

• Objective 1: 100 pregnant youth or teenage parents will receive 20 hours of financial literacy training by July 31st, 2020. 
• Objective 2: 75 pregnant youth or teenage parents will have completed their GED or High School diploma by June 30, 2020.
• Objective 3: 20 pregnant youth or teenage parents will be employed by December 31st, 2020.

In ‘T’ Timetable your Grant Activities, we developed a timetable for activities to reach objective one.

Now let’s see what our budget would look like for objective one:

BUDGET LINE BY LINE WORKSHEET
PERSONNEL
Position Title	Computation (Hourly rate x # of hours)	Grant Request Total
Executive Director	($35 per hour x 2080 hours) x 5%	$3,640
Project Coordinator	$25 per hour x 2080	$52,000
Personnel Subtotal	The sum of all personnel	$55,640
FRINGE BENEFITS
FRINGE BENEFITS	Rate	Grant Request Total
FICA	Multiply the total of the personnel salary by 7.65%	$4,256
Workers Comp	Multiply the total by 1.5%	$835
Fringe Benefits Subtotal		$5,091
TRAVEL
Type	Computation	Grant Request Total
Mileage for driving for work	Driving the van for five months – average 100 miles per week x 20 weeks x $ .535 per mile.	$1,070
Travel Subtotal		$1,070
EQUIPMENT
Items	Computation	Grant Request Total
One Minivan	Purchasing a minivan	$20,000
Equipment Subtotal		$20,000
SUPPLIES
Types of Supplies	Computation	Grant Request Total
Consumables	Paper, staples, ink, cleaning supplies at $100 per month x 12 months	$1,200
Supplies for financial literacy training	110 pax x $25 book	$2,750
Participant supplies	Incentives such as gift certificates, pens, etc. @ $10 per 110 pax	$1,100
Supplies Subtotal		$5,050
CONTRACTUAL
Types	Computation	Grant Request Total
Digital Advertising	2 months x $1000	$2,000
Financial Consultant	100 hours at $25 per hour	$2,500
Contractual Subtotal		$4,500
OTHER
Types	Computation	Grant Request Total
Computers	$1,000 x 1 computers	$1,000
Room for financial literacy	150 sq. feet at $25 per hour for 100 hours	$2,500
Internet	$100 per month x 12 months	$1,200
Other Subtotal		$4,700
TOTAL DIRECT COSTS
	Computation	Grant Request Total
Direct Costs Subtotal	Add up all subtotals	$96,051
INDIRECT COST
Indirect Cost Rate		Grant Request Total
10.00%		$9,605
TOTAL COSTS	Add up Direct Costs with Indirect Cost Rate	$105,656

So, there you go! That is how you create a strategic budget that aligns with all of your activities. Of course, you would hash out your other activities for your other two objectives as well.

You can see how simple this really is and that budgets do not need to be rocket science! 

That wraps up our G.R.A.N.T.S. Formula!