Preparing your budget

After you have done all the hard work of writing your grant proposal, describing you goals, program activities and evaluation plan, don’t rush your budget preparation. Carefully consider what the project costs will be, and include enough detail in your proposal that the funding body can feel confident that they know what the grant will be used for.    

When you prepare your budget, make sure that it matches up well with your project proposal. There needs to be a clear connection to the activities that you are proposing to undertake, and what you will spend the grant money on.

Finally, many grant making bodies have exclusions in their funding criteria, for example they will not fund salaries. Remember to carefully read the grant guidelines to make sure the funding body will fund your proposed activities.