Why You Should Write Your Grant Budget First
Almost every grant application and report will ask for a program/project budget. However, even when we know it’s required, many people make the mistake of putting the budget off until the last minute. In addition to introducing the possibility of errors to your application, this strategy also doesn’t give the mighty budget its fair shake!
Here are three reasons why you should write your grant budget first – before you even start your narrative.
Budgets communicate your program’s priorities
Have you ever heard that a government or organizational budget can provide a clearer perspective on priorities than anything else they say or publish? That’s because money talks! When you start with the budget first, you’ll use the structure of dollars and cents to communicate your priorities in the program.
Let’s say you’re starting a program budget from scratch. Your team will need to consider the overall goal of the program, objectives and tactics to help you accomplish that goal, personnel to run it, materials you’ll need, and other logistical details. Starting at the bird’s eye view of your program and slowly zooming in, take each element of your program and find a place for it in your program budget. (Even if you’re not starting from scratch, this can be a helpful exercise.)
Budgets might have fewer restrictions than the narrative
Sometimes when faced with restrictive character limits in a narrative, I’ll instead incorporate more programmatic details in budget line items or the budget narrative.
Whenever possible, take the opportunity to define specific line items and tell the funder how you calculated them. This can help emphasize how many clients you’re serving (“print costs for classroom materials to be provided to 3,000 students in three school districts”), how you’re implementing the program (“20 musicians perform one-on-one mentorship sessions with aspiring composers”), and how vital your program staff is to the program’s success (“Program Manager is responsible for overseeing 100 volunteers at 4 semester-ending concerts, as well as mentoring 40 6th grade students”).
Unfortunately, it’s not always the case that you have free reign in a budget document. Sometimes a funder requires you to use their own budget template, or you need to input budget figures into a portal or into a Word document (my least favorite!!).
You have plenty of time to be sure the budget is correct
In the introduction, I mentioned that saving the budget until last means it might introduce errors in your application. With all the moving parts that can be part of a large program budget, it’s easy to miss little things, like an added row not being summed into a subtotal or an outdated budget note. These are also red flags for funders, who, if presented with a budget that doesn’t total correctly, might wonder what else you forgot or made a mistake on.
Moreover, your brain has a hard time switching between disparate tasks. I’ve found I need to take a break between tasks so my narrative writing brain, budget review brain, and editing brain all have a chance to do the best work. When I start with the budget and come back to it later in the process, it’s easier for me to catch errors.
Conclusion
I know budgets can be scary! But put on your big girl pants and get it out of the way. I promise you’ll feel a sense of satisfaction when you check this off your list first.
How do you feel about budgets? What about spreadsheets and pivot tables?? I joke that my brain is a spreadsheet, so this can sometimes be my favorite part of the grant process.
Cover photo by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash