Grant Management
Nonprofit Accounting
Nonprofit Management
Grant Budget Template: How to Build a Budget Funders Will Approve
Last updated: October 8, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.
A grant budget template is a line-item worksheet that groups every proposed cost into the categories funders review: personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, other direct costs and indirect costs. Each line shows the calculation behind the number, so a program officer can check your math and an auditor can later match spending to it. For federal awards, the categories follow the SF-424A form and every cost must meet the cost principles in 2 CFR 200 Subpart E. The template below is built for that standard, and it works for foundation grants as well.
How to use this template
Copy the table into a spreadsheet and replace the illustrative figures with your own. Keep the “Basis of calculation” column for every line, because it becomes your budget narrative, and keep cost share in its own column. After the award, use the second table on this page to compare actual spending with the approved budget each month. Federal rules require a comparison of expenditures with budget amounts for each award (2 CFR 200.302(b)(5), no date shown).
Grant budget template (illustrative 12-month project)
The figures below are an illustration for a one-year community education program, not benchmarks. Take fringe, mileage and per diem rates from your own payroll records and travel policy.
| Category and line item | Basis of calculation | Requested ($) | Cost share ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Personnel: Program coordinator | $58,000 annual salary × 1.00 FTE × 12 months | 58,000 | 0 |
| A. Personnel: Program director | $82,000 annual salary × 0.25 FTE | 20,500 | 0 |
| B. Fringe benefits | 28% of $78,500 personnel (FICA, health, retirement, unemployment) | 21,980 | 0 |
| C. Travel: National conference | 2 staff × $450 airfare; 2 × 3 nights × $180 lodging; 2 × 4 days × $68 meals and incidentals | 2,524 | 0 |
| C. Travel: Local mileage | 3,000 miles × $0.70 per mile (policy rate) | 2,100 | 0 |
| D. Equipment | None requested | 0 | 0 |
| E. Supplies: Laptops | 4 laptops × $1,200 | 4,800 | 0 |
| E. Supplies: Program materials | 300 participants × $15 workbook and materials kit | 4,500 | 0 |
| F. Contractual: Evaluation consultant | 120 hours × $95 per hour | 11,400 | 0 |
| F. Contractual: Subaward to partner agency | Partner runs outreach; its own budget attached | 60,000 | 0 |
| G. Construction | Not applicable | 0 | 0 |
| H. Other: Printing | Vendor quote attached | 2,000 | 0 |
| H. Other: Participant support | 30 participants × $200 transportation stipend | 6,000 | 0 |
| H. Other: Workshop room rental | 12 sessions × $250 | 3,000 | 0 |
| H. Other: Volunteer tutors (in-kind) | 500 hours × $25 per hour, the rate paid for similar work | 0 | 12,500 |
| I. Total direct costs | Sum of A through H | 196,804 | 12,500 |
| J. Indirect costs | 15% × MTDC of $177,804 (excludes rental, participant support and subaward amount above $50,000) | 26,671 | 0 |
| K. Total project budget | I + J | 223,475 | 12,500 |
The category letters match the object class lines on the SF-424A budget form (Personnel, Fringe Benefits, Travel, Equipment, Supplies, Contractual, Construction, Other and Indirect Charges), as shown in agency instructions such as the NRCS SF-424A instructions (no date shown).
Walking through each part of the template
Personnel and fringe benefits
List each position with its annual salary, the share of time on the project and the number of months. Under 2 CFR 200.430(g) (no date shown), charges must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed, and budget estimates alone do not qualify as support. Budgeted percentages can be used for interim charges only with periodic after-the-fact reviews and adjustments.
Fringe benefits are allowable when they are reasonable and required by law, by an employment agreement or by your established policy (2 CFR 200.431, no date shown). Administrative or clerical salaries can be charged directly only if the work is integral to the award, the people can be specifically identified with it, and the cost is not also recovered through indirect costs (2 CFR 200.413(c), no date shown).
Travel
Travel follows your written travel policy. If you have no written policy, federal awards use the rates set by the GSA Administrator, and airfare above the least expensive unrestricted class is unallowable except in listed cases (2 CFR 200.475, no date shown). Current lodging and meal rates by city are on the GSA per diem page (last updated September 3, 2026).
Equipment and supplies
Equipment is tangible property with a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit cost at or above the lesser of your capitalization level or $10,000. Everything else is a supply, and a computing device below that threshold is a supply regardless of its useful life (2 CFR 200.1, no date shown). The $10,000 figure replaced $5,000 in OMB’s 2024 revision, effective October 1, 2024 (89 FR 30046, April 22, 2024). General purpose equipment needs prior written approval to be charged directly (2 CFR 200.439(b), no date shown).
Contractual: contracts versus subawards
Separate contractors from subrecipients before you price this section. A contractor provides goods or services within its normal business to many buyers in a competitive market. A subrecipient carries out part of your program and has its performance measured against program objectives (2 CFR 200.331, no date shown). Only the first $50,000 of each subaward enters the MTDC base.
Other direct costs and cost share
Participant support costs are stipends, travel allowances, registration fees and similar payments made to or for participants (2 CFR 200.1). They need prior approval to move to another category later (2 CFR 200.308(f), no date shown). Cost share must be verifiable in your records, not counted toward another federal award, and allowable; volunteer time is valued at the rate you pay for similar work (2 CFR 200.306, no date shown).
Indirect costs
If you hold a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement, use its rate and base, and federal agencies must generally accept it. If you do not, you may elect a de minimis rate of up to 15% of modified total direct costs, which needs no documentation to justify (2 CFR 200.414, no date shown). Older instructions, including the NRCS guide cited above, still show the pre-2024 10% figure. Our guide to the de minimis indirect cost rate covers the MTDC base and how to post it monthly.
The budget narrative
The budget narrative, or justification, explains for every line what the cost is, how you calculated it, and why the project needs it. Agency samples such as the ACL budget justification sample (no date shown) follow the same category order, show federal and non-federal amounts separately, and note that the indirect rate agreement is attached.
Tracking actuals against the approved budget
After the award, set up the grant as a fund, class, project or dimension in your accounting system, and map your general ledger accounts to the budget categories so that each transaction rolls up to one line. The illustration below shows the tracking sheet at month 6 of 12.
| Category | Approved budget ($) | Actual to date, month 6 ($) | Percent spent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel | 78,500 | 36,200 | 46.1% |
| Fringe benefits | 21,980 | 10,140 | 46.1% |
| Travel | 4,624 | 3,950 | 85.4% (review) |
| Supplies | 9,300 | 6,100 | 65.6% |
| Contractual | 71,400 | 18,000 | 25.2% (review) |
| Other | 11,000 | 2,400 | 21.8% |
| Indirect (15% of actual MTDC of $75,290) | 26,671 | 11,294 | 42.3% |
| Total | 223,475 | 88,084 | 39.4% |
In this illustration, travel is running ahead of the calendar and the subaward is running behind. If you plan to move money between categories, check the award terms first. When the federal share exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, the agency may restrict transfers whose cumulative amount exceeds 10% of the total approved budget, including cost share (2 CFR 200.308(i), no date shown). Here that limit would be 10% of $235,975, or about $23,598.
At the end of the award, you have 120 calendar days after the period of performance to submit final reports and liquidate obligations (2 CFR 200.344, no date shown). The same coding also feeds your schedule of expenditures of federal awards if your federal expenditures reach the $1,000,000 Single Audit threshold set in the same 2024 revision (89 FR 30046).
Common mistakes
- Numbers without math. A line that says “Travel: $4,624” with no trips, travelers or rates invites questions and cuts.
- Using the old thresholds. Equipment now starts at the lesser of your capitalization level or $10,000 per unit, the de minimis rate is up to 15%, and the subaward MTDC cap is $50,000. Templates written before October 2024 often show $5,000, 10% and $25,000.
- Charging the same cost twice. If accounting staff are in your indirect pool, they cannot also appear as a direct personnel line (2 CFR 200.403(d), no date shown).
- Applying the indirect rate to every line. Equipment, rent, participant support and the subaward amount above $50,000 sit outside MTDC.
- No budget-to-actual review until the report is due. A quarterly scramble finds misposted transactions too late to fix cleanly.
When to move from a spreadsheet to software
A spreadsheet works for the proposal. Once you manage several awards with different grant years or cost share, re-keying actuals from the ledger becomes error-prone, and the approved budget belongs inside the accounting system.
QuickBooks Online supports budgets by class in the Plus and Advanced editions, and you can run a Budgets vs. Actuals report from the Budgeting settings (Intuit, updated August 5, 2026). Sage Intacct budgets can carry any general ledger dimension, including Project (Sage Intacct help, last modified October 1, 2026). Sage notes that using multiple budgets makes reporting more complicated. Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT markets grant-level budgets across user-defined timelines and grant periods independent of the fiscal calendar (Blackbaud, May 14, 2026); Blackbaud does not publish pricing and quotes each organization separately (Blackbaud pricing, last modified July 14, 2026). For wider comparisons, see our guides to nonprofit accounting software and grant management software.
How we researched this
We read the 2 CFR 200 cost principles that apply to each budget category, OMB’s April 2024 Federal Register notice, an SF-424A instruction set and a federal budget justification sample. We reviewed the top-ranking template pages for this search, from BILL (which sells payables and spend software), OpenGrants (a grant search platform) and Technical Writer HQ. None of them cited the federal cost principles or showed how to track actuals after the award. Vendor capabilities come from vendor documentation. All figures in the two tables are illustrations. We checked the regulatory text on October 8, 2026.
Related guides
- NICRA: How Negotiated Indirect Cost Rates Work
- Functional Expense Allocation: Methods and Entries
- Nonprofit Budget Template: Program and Functional Views
Frequently asked questions
What are the standard categories in a grant budget?
Federal budgets use the SF-424A object classes: personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, construction, other and indirect charges. Most foundations accept the same categories.
What is the difference between a grant budget and a budget narrative?
The budget is the table of numbers by category. The budget narrative, or justification, explains each line in words: what the cost is, how it was calculated, and why the project needs it. Reviewers expect the totals to match exactly.
Can I include indirect costs if I do not have a negotiated rate?
Yes, for federal awards. Under 2 CFR 200.414(f), an organization without a current negotiated rate may elect a de minimis rate of up to 15% of modified total direct costs. Private foundations set their own indirect cost policies, so check each funder’s guidelines.
Is a laptop equipment or a supply in a federal grant budget?
A computing device that costs less than the lesser of your capitalization level or $10,000 is a supply under 2 CFR 200.1. Most laptops therefore belong on the supplies line.
Can I move money between budget lines after the grant is awarded?
Often yes, within limits. When the federal share exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, an agency may restrict cumulative transfers above 10% of the total approved budget. Moving participant support funds, or changing scope, key personnel or cost share, requires prior written approval.
Sources
- Legal Information Institute, 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Guidance), sections 200.1, 200.302, 200.306, 200.308, 200.331, 200.344, 200.403, 200.413, 200.414, 200.430, 200.431, 200.439, 200.475, no date shown, checked October 8, 2026.
- Office of Management and Budget, Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, 89 FR 30046, April 22, 2024, effective October 1, 2024.
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Instructions for SF-424A, no date shown, checked October 8, 2026.
- Administration for Community Living, Budget Justification Sample Template and Instructions, no date shown, checked October 8, 2026.
- U.S. General Services Administration, Per diem rates, last updated September 3, 2026.
- Intuit (sells QuickBooks), Set budget targets for each class in QuickBooks Online, updated August 5, 2026.
- Sage (sells Sage Intacct), Before you create a budget, last modified October 1, 2026.
- Blackbaud (sells Financial Edge NXT), Grant and program accounting, May 14, 2026.
- Blackbaud, Pricing, last modified July 14, 2026.
Sherman Hsieh
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
