Budget Tips

A. You might feel your time is worth more but you cannot pay yourself more than what you are currently making. If you make $23 an hour, then you have to charge the grant that same amount per hour if you are buying your time - as long as the University is the fiscal agent.

B. Match - many grants require budgetary match. If you are going to receive $1,000, they want you to put up $1,000. Match can often be provided through inkind items, as well as with real dollars.

C. Inkind items refer to resources that have a monetary value from the University’s perspective, such as space, telephones, technical assistance, etc. These are often used to provide match without disrupting institutional budgets by having to divert dollars.

D. You need to use official values for match items. Business Affairs can provide you with the dollar value for certain of the campus spaces based on the number of square feet. Of course, you will have to have it cleared that you can use particular areas on campus for grant activities before you can include it in a proposal.

E. One critical point to remember when pulling together your match is that you cannot match federal dollars with federal dollars. You have to ask questions - especially in partnerships. For example, you’re going to go for a grant that will provide research equipment and professional development. You’re partnering with a larger university where they happen to have a facility and resources to handle the professional development component. In fact, you’re going to use that as match for the combined grant effort. Oops! You forgot to check. It turns out that the money for the professional development program is actually coming from a federal initiative and is, in fact, federal flow-through dollars! You can’t count it as match!!

F. When completing your budget make sure things actually add up! Get someone else to check it over for you. The stress of deadlines and multiple things to be done can cause you to miss all sorts of errors that you might see if you were rested. Trust me - this happens to all of us.

G. Before including specialized items in your budget, make sure that the University has the resources and/or space to handle them. For example, if a piece of equipment needs additional wiring and space, there may be issues that might involve Physical Plant. Sometimes, you have to allow budget to pay for the physical changes that will need to occur before the equipment can be used.

H. Try to visualize your activities taking place. If you’re providing training for teachers, take a mental “walk through” of the event. See the tables, chairs, books, materials, space required. Consider whether you have everything in your budget that you need.

I. Don’t get overly specific. You don’t have to write down that you are going to buy 3 notepads, 4 pencils, 2 books, etc. for each participant. You can indicate that these are supplies. Again, though, the final arbiter on this is the RFP. If it demands that you get that specific then ignore that comment and do exactly what it says.