Funding your organization’s initiatives is an important part of sustaining your organization’s work long-term. For many nonprofit organizations, some or the majority of that funding will likely come from grants.

When writing grant applications and proposals, it’s imperative that your organization demonstrates to the funder that your project is a trustworthy investment. Also, the funder must believe that if awarded the grant, your organization will properly manage the money. One of the key ways to demonstrate your organization’s trustworthiness is to include a strong budget in the application or proposal.

Weak budgets are one of the common reasons that grants are declined. Since funders see hundreds of applications, your organization must ensure that your budget is well thought out, thorough, and that it makes sense.

While there are resources that can help your organization develop a project budget, here are a few tips to get you started creating stronger grant budgets.

Be realistic. When creating your budget, the numbers should seem reasonable. For example, if your organization needs to rent a venue for an event, research what a reasonable rental cost will be before including it on the budget line. Strong budgets are based on proper research, and not assumptions. Additionally, the timeline associated with the project must be realistic. For example, if you are requesting money to create a new program and you plan to market the program, register participants, and develop the program within one month, consider whether that makes sense. If it does not, you will create unnecessary questions or doubts for the funder.

Tip: Providing the funder with as many details as possible about each expense can give the funder confidence that the project is well-thought-out.

Check which expenses are eligible.  While most funders share explicitly what is eligible or ineligible for a grant, this can vary widely across funders. So always ensure that what your organization is requesting is allowable. For example, some funders may limit the amount that can be spent on staff salaries. Prior to applying, check (and double-check) that you are clear that your budget items make sense, and are permitted for the funder who will review your request.

Tip: Before even starting your grant application or proposal, check the funder’s grant requirements for eligible activities. If you do not meet these eligibility requirements, you are unlikely to receive funds. So always save yourself the work of applying unnecessarily by confirming if your expenses are allowable. 

Include other sources of revenue. Funders are often limited in their ability to fully fund every project due to tight budgets and the competitive process of grants. So, organizations that can demonstrate that they have other sources of support for the project can have the upper hand. Other funding can give the grantmaker confidence that others are willing to invest in your organization’s initiative, so particularly for larger projects, it may be worth it for your organization to research multiple funding sources.

Tip: Other sources of revenue can include other approved grants, or even in-kind contributions like donated office space.

Check for errors. Make sure to check, double-check, and triple-check for any possible errors.  A mistake in your calculations could mean the difference between receiving the grant or being denied. Furthermore, your budget should also be balanced, which means that the expenses have to equal revenue.

Tip: If you are using an excel spreadsheet make sure to include all the necessary cells in the calculation. Accidentally excluding a cell can throw off the calculation and create an unnecessary error.

While considering these tips in your next project budget may seem like a lot of work, these steps result in stronger, more accurate budgets every time. Strong budgets are detailed, demonstrate transparency, and show the funder exactly how your organization intends to use the money. The more research and time that is taken to create a solid budget, the more likely your organization will be successful at submitting a winning proposal.

As someone who loves numbers, video games and fantasy fiction Rochelle can be found creating unnecessarily long formulas in excel, playing video games or watching an action or fantasy fiction movie with her family. As the Co-founder of Story Point Consulting, Rochelle uses her technical skills to help nonprofits increase their fundraising capacity and revenue by using data driven decisions. If you are looking for an inexpensive way to support your organization’s grant writing we’ve created a grant toolkit which is a step-by-step workbook that provides guidance on how to answer common grant questions in a compelling and concise way.