a research proposal budget

The Research Whisperer

Just like the thesis whisperer – but with more money, how to make a simple research budget.

A napkin diagram of the basic concepts in a project: interviews in South East Asia and trails with a Thingatron

Every research project needs a budget*.

If you are applying for funding, you must say what you are planning to spend that funding on. More than that, you need to show how spending that money will help you to answer your research question .

So, developing the budget is the perfect time to plan your project clearly . A good budget shows the assessors that you have thought about your research in detail and, if it is done well, it can serve as a great, convincing overview of the project.

Here are five steps to create a simple budget for your research project.

1. List your activities

Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project, and who is going to do it.

Take your methodology and turn it into a step-by-step plan. Have you said that you will interview 50 people? Write it on your list.

Are you performing statistical analysis on your sample? Write it down.

Think through the implications of what you are going to do. Do you need to use a Thingatron? Note down that you will need to buy it, install it, and commission it.

What about travel? Write down each trip separately. Be specific. You can’t just go to ‘South East Asia’ to do fieldwork. You need to go to Kuala Lumpur to interview X number of people over Y weeks, then the same again for Singapore and Jakarta.

Your budget list might look like this:

I’m going to do 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
I’ll need teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
I’ll need Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
I’ll need Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem.
The transcription service will transcribe the 30 interviews.
I’ll analysis the transcribed results. (No teaching release required – I’ll do it in my meagre research time allowance.)
I’ll need a Thingatron X32C to do the trials.
Thing Inc will need to install the Thingatron. (I wonder how long that will take.)
The research assistant will do three trials a month with the Thingatron.
I’ll need to hire a research assistant (1 day per week for a year at Level B1.)
The research assistant will do the statistical analysis of the Thingatron results.
I’ll do the writing up in my research allowance time.

By the end, you should feel like you have thought through the entire project in detail. You should be able to walk someone else through the project, so grab a critical friend and read the list to them. If they ask questions, write down the answers.

This will help you to get to the level of specificity you need for the next step.

2. Check the rules again

You’ve already read the funding rules, right? If not, go and read them now – I’ll wait right here until you get back.

Once you’ve listed everything you want to do, go back and read the specific rules for budgets again. What is and isn’t allowed? The funding scheme won’t pay for equipment – you’ll need to fund your Thingatron from somewhere else. Cross it off.

Some schemes won’t fund people. Others won’t fund travel. It is important to know what you need for your project. It is just as important to know what you can include in the application that you are writing right now.

Most funding schemes won’t fund infrastructure (like building costs) and other things that aren’t directly related to the project. Some will, though. If they do, you should include overheads (i.e. the general costs that your organisation needs to keep running). This includes the cost of basics like power and lighting; desks and chairs; and cleaners and security staff. It also includes service areas like the university library. Ask your finance officer for help with this. Often, it is a percentage of the overall cost of the project.

If you are hiring people, don’t forget to use the right salary rate and include salary on-costs. These are the extra costs that an organisation has to pay for an employee, but that doesn’t appear in their pay check. This might include things like superannuation, leave loading, insurance, and payroll tax. Once again, your finance officer can help with this.

Your budget list might now look like this:

10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
Teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem, plus travel insurance (rule 3F).
Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service.
Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required.
Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C . Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project.
Three trials a month with Thingatron, by research assistant.
Statistical analysis of Thingatron results, by research assistant.
Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs.
Overheads at 125% of total cash request, as per rule 3H.

3. Cost each item

For each item on your list, find a reasonable cost for it . Are you going to interview the fifty people and do the statistical analysis yourself? If so, do you need time release from teaching? How much time? What is your salary for that period of time, or how much will it cost to hire a replacement? Don’t forget any hidden costs, like salary on-costs.

If you aren’t going to do the work yourself, work out how long you need a research assistant for. Be realistic. Work out what level you want to employ them at, and find out how much that costs.

How much is your Thingatron going to cost? Sometimes, you can just look that stuff up on the web. Other times, you’ll need to ring a supplier, particularly if there are delivery and installation costs.

Jump on a travel website and find reasonable costs for travel to Kuala Lumpur and the other places. Find accommodation costs for the period that you are planning to stay, and work out living expenses. Your university, or your government, may have per diem rates for travel like this.

Make a note of where you got each of your estimates from. This will be handy later, when you write the budget justification.

10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me (see below for travel costs).
Teaching release for three months for fieldwork = $25,342 – advice from finance officer.
Flights to KL ($775), Singapore ($564), Jakarta ($726), Melbourne ($535) – Blue Sky airlines, return economy.
Accommodation for a month in each place (KL: $3,500; Sing: $4,245; Jak: $2,750 – long stay, three star accommodation as per TripAdviser).
Per diem for three months (60 days x $125 per day – University travel rules).
Travel insurance (rule 3F): $145 – University travel insurance calculator .
Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service: 30 interviews x 60 minutes per interview x $2.75 per minute – Quote from transcription service, accented voices rate.
Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required. (In-kind contribution of university worth $2,112 for one week of my time – advice from finance officer ).
Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C. Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project. ($2,435 in-kind – quote from partner organisation, at ‘favoured client’ rate.)
Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs. $12,456 – advice from finance officer.

Things are getting messy, but the next step will tidy it up.

4. Put it in a spreadsheet

Some people work naturally in spreadsheets (like Excel). Others don’t. If you don’t like Excel, tough. You are going to be doing research budgets for the rest of your research life.

When you are working with budgets, a spreadsheet is the right tool for the job, so learn to use it! Learn enough to construct a simple budget – adding things up and multiplying things together will get you through most of it. Go and do a course if you have to.

For a start, your spreadsheet will multiply things like 7 days in Kuala Lumpur at $89.52 per day, and it will also add up all of your sub-totals for you.

If your budget doesn’t add up properly (because, for example, you constructed it as a table in Word), two things will happen. First, you will look foolish. Secondly, and more importantly, people will lose confidence in all your other numbers, too. If your total is wrong, they will start to question the validity of the rest of your budget. You don’t want that.

If you are shy of maths, then Excel is your friend. It will do most of the heavy lifting for you.

For this exercise, the trick is to put each number on a new line. Here is how it might look.

5. Justify it

Accompanying every budget is a budget justification. For each item in your budget, you need to answer two questions:

Why do you need this money?
Where did you get your figures from?

The budget justification links your budget to your project plan and back again. Everything item in your budget should be listed in your budget justification, so take the list from your budget and paste it into your budget justification.

For each item, give a short paragraph that says why you need it. Refer back to the project plan and expand on what is there. For example, if you have listed a research assistant in your application, this is a perfect opportunity to say what the research assistant will be doing.

Also, for each item, show where you got your figures from. For a research assistant, this might mean talking about the level of responsibility required, so people can understand why you chose the salary level. For a flight, it might be as easy as saying: “Blue Sky airlines economy return flight.”

Here is an example for just one aspect of the budget:

Fieldwork: Kuala Lumpur

Past experience has shown that one month allows enough time to refine and localise interview questions with research partners at University of Malaya, test interview instrument, recruit participants, conduct ten x one-hour interviews with field notes. In addition, the novel methodology will be presented at CONF2015, to be held in Malaysia in February 2015.

Melbourne – Kuala Lumpur economy airfare is based on current Blue Sky Airlines rates. Note that airfares have been kept to a minimum by travelling from country to country, rather than returning to Australia.

1 month accommodation is based on three star, long stay accommodation rates provided by TripAdvisor.

30 days per diem rate is based on standard university rates for South-East Asia.

Pro tip: Use the same nomenclature everywhere. If you list a Thingatron X32C in your budget, then call it a Thingatron X32C in your budget justification and project plan. In an ideal world, someone should be able to flip from the project plan, to the budget and to the budget justification and back again and always know exactly where they are.

Project plan: “Doing fieldwork in Malaysia? Whereabouts?” Flips to budget.
Budget: “A month in Kuala Lumpur – OK. Why a month?” Flips to budget justification.
Budget justification: “Ah, the field work happens at the same time as the conference. Now I get it. So, what are they presenting at the conference?” Flips back to the project description…

So, there you have it: Make a list; check the rules; cost everything; spreadsheet it; and then justify it. Budget done. Good job, team!

This article builds on several previous articles. I have shamelessly stolen from them.

Constructing your budget – Jonathan O’Donnell.
What makes a winning budget ? – Jonathan O’Donnell.
How NOT to pad your budget – Tseen Khoo.
Conquer the budget, conquer the project – Tseen Khoo.
Research on a shoestring – Emily Kothe.
How to make a simple Gantt chart – Jonathan O’Donnell.

* Actually, there are some grant schemes that give you a fixed amount of money, which I think is a really great idea . However, you will still need to work out what you are going to spend the money on, so you will still need a budget at some stage, even if you don’t need it for the application.

Also in the ‘simple grant’ series:

How to write a simple research methods section .
How to make a simple Gantt chart .

How to plan and write a budget for research grant proposal?

Medical research can have an enormous positive impact on human health. Health research improves the quality of human lives and society which plays a vital role in social and economic development of the nation. Financial support is crucial for research. However, winning a research grant is a difficult task. A successful grant-winning application requires two key elements: one is an innovative research problem with best probable idea/plan for tackling it and appropriate planning of budget. The aim of the present paper is to give an insight on funding agencies providing funding for health research including traditional Indian medicine (from an Indian perspective) and key points for planning and writing budget section of a grant application.

1. Introduction

Why health science research is important and why should it to be funded? Science and technology innovations and health research can have an enormous impact on human health. They improve public health, quality of human lives, longevity and have made society better [1] , [2] . Healthy humans with better quality of life are crucial for the social and economical development of the nation [3] . Medical research led to the expansion of knowledge about health problems/conditions and their mechanism, risk factors, outcomes of treatments or interventions, preventive measures and proper management. Clinical studies or trials provide important information about the safety and efficacy of a drug/intervention. Innovative basic science research had led to the discovery of new technology, efficient diagnostic and therapeutic devices. So, currently, an effort with multidisciplinary approach is a demand for better understanding of clinical conditions and providing safest health care to the community [2] , [4] .

Whether it is basic or applied, clinical or non-clinical, all research needs financial support. Considering the importance of research in economic growth of a nation, many countries are increasing their budget for research and development in science. A study on impact of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on research and development in science among Asian countries has found that one who spends more on research has more research outcomes in the form of total number of research documents, citations per documents and h-index [5] . About 95% of the NIH (National Institutes of Health, USA), budget goes directly to research awards, programs, and centers; training programs; and research and development contracts [6] . Total expenditure carried out for research in India is too less than USA and China. Percentage of GDP for research and development in India is 0.88%, while South Korea, USA and China have 4.292%, 2.742 and 2.1% respectively [7] .

Owing to the increasing competition among the researchers, especially the young ones, for their academic growth, preparing and planning a winning research proposal becomes very essential. A successful grant-winning application requires two key elements: (1) innovative research problem with best probable idea/plan for tackling it and (2) appropriate planning of budget. The aim of the present paper is to give an insight on funding agencies (from an Indian perspective) and key points for planning and writing budget section of a grant application.

2. What is the purpose of the budget plan in a grant application?

A budget is the quantitative expression of a financial plan for future expenses on the project in a given period of time [8] . Budget plan is a key element of a grant application. It demonstrates the required cost for the proposed project. It is a prediction of expenses and serves a plan for funders on how the organization will operate the project, spend the money in a given set of period and where their money will go. It shows the funders exactly what they can support and also helps the institution and investigating team in management of the project. Moreover, budget plan requires for accountability [9] .

3. Which are the funding agencies that sponsor health research in India?

Various national and international sponsoring agencies have identified health problems of priority for funding a research. Some of the leading funding agencies providing grant for health research including alternative systems of medicine in India are given in Table 1 . State Universities/deemed Universities also have a provision of funding for medical research.

Table 1

List of funding agencies those promote health research.

4. What constitutes a research project budget?

Proforma of the research grant applications and presentation of budget section may vary among the sponsoring agencies. However, major parts of budget plan in the applications of the above mentioned funding agencies are quite similar. The budget section is broadly divided into two categories: direct and indirect costs.

4.1. Direct costs:

These are the costs incurred specifically to carry out a project [10] . Direct costs include expenses towards personnel, materials, equipments, consumables and travel. These particulars are further categorized into recurring and non-recurring expenses on the basis of their occurrence during the study period. A brief description of the sub-sections under direct cost is given below:

4.1.1. Personnel:

Budget for personnel can be mentioned in this section in case human resources are required for the study and as per funding agency guidelines. Salaries with allowances can be budgeted for human resources such as site manager, research assistant, junior research fellow (JRF), senior research fellow (SRF), research associate, technician, data entry operator and attender. Most of the Indian funding agencies do not have a provision for salaries for the principal investigator (PI) and co-investigators (Co-PI). Ministry of AYUSH [11] and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science (RGUHS), Karnataka [12] provide one-time minimal fees for investigators and supporting staff respectively. There is a provision for salaries of investigators in Wellcome trust-DBT India alliance grants [13] .

4.1.2. Recurring expenses:

Recurring expenses are those which are variable and which keep on occurring throughout the entire project duration. Particulars categorized in this category are consumables, chemicals, glasswares, laboratory test charges, diagnostic kits, stationery, prints, photocopies, communication, postage, telephone charges, survey tools, questionnaires, publication charges, reprints, binding etc. Other expenses could be allowances for patients/participants, food charges and physician fees.

4.1.3. Non-recurring expenses:

Non-recurring expenses are those which are one-time in nature or which do not recur at regular intervals. Particulars included in this category are equipments or instruments with its accessories, software's, computer, printer, electrical and electronic items and accessories of the existing instrument in your lab. Percentage of budget allocated for equipment varies among the funding agencies from 25% to 90% of the entire budget. Some of the agencies do not have provision for equipment in budget. Vision Group on Science and Technology allocated their maximum grant (up to 90%) for development of infrastructure of laboratories [14] .

4.1.4. Traveling expenses:

Budget allocated for traveling can be used for attending meetings, conferences, workshops and training programs. Foreign travel is not allowed by any Indian funding agency. Traveling expenses for collection of data, survey and visit to other centers in multicentric study can be budgeted in this sub-section.

4.2. Indirect costs:

These are the costs which cannot be directly attributed to specific expenses of a project, but are required to run a project. It is also termed as overhead charges. Laboratory, electricity, water, library and other facilities are provided by the institution to run a proposed research project. Therefore, a fixed cost (usually) of about 5–15% of the total budget is provisioned as institutional overhead charges which goes to the institution directly. The range may, however, be flexible on the basis of the type of funding agency.

5. Budget justification

Most of the funding agencies require submission of a budget justification with all the items described above. Sometimes it is also called as budget narrative. Explanation of need for each line item in the budget with item-wise and year-wise breakdown has to be provided. Quantification of total costs of each line-item and document cost calculation should be done. When writing a budget justification, it is important to follow the same order as that in an itemized budget. For example, if equipment such as color doppler is required, then justify the need of a device with respect to the proposed methodology of the study. Similarly, for non-recurring expenses, breakdown the consumables item-wise and year-wise with its cost and calculation according to the protocol of the study and justify accordingly.

6. Budget summary

An item-wise and year wise summary of the total budget is usually required in most of the applications. Budget summary outlines the proposed grant and often (most of the format) appears at the beginning of the proposal. It should always be prepared at the end, after the grant proposal has been completely developed. A sample budget summary (as an example) for a proposed study for the duration of three years is shown in Table 2 . In the personnel section, a research fellow salary with allowances is budgeted year-wise. The salary of the research fellow for the first and second year is Rs. 2,30,000 per year (JRF) with an enhancement to Rs 2, 59,000 for the third year (SRF) as per the guidelines of the funding agency. As non-recurring expenses are one time in nature, a budget for equipment was budgeted only for the first year. Under the section of recurring expenses, more budgets are allocated in the second year for consumables because recruitment of subjects in large number will be done during the second year of the proposed study. Similarly, expenses toward travel, investigator fee and other miscellaneous costs year-wise have been budgeted. The emoluments and guidelines on service conditions for research personnel employed in research project by ICMR has been given in reference section [15] , [16] .

Table 2

Sample budget summary (year wise).

7. How to plan a simple research budget?

Planning of the research budget begins with an innovative research question, objectives and design of the study. Before starting to write a budget plan, it is essential to understand the expectations of funding agencies, University/Institute and the team of researchers. It is imperative to keep in mind that the research proposal will be reviewed by both scientific and financial (non-scientific) experts. Hence, the proposal should be prepared in such a way that it can be easily understood by even non-scientific experts.

Firstly, a list of what is essential and would add value for research such as focus of research, primary and secondary outcomes of the study, the source of the sample, study setting, sample design and sample size, techniques used to collect data, method of data analysis and available resources should be made [17] .

Secondly, the instructions, format of the application and rules of the funding agency should be read thoroughly. Budget specifications, limitations of recurring and non-recurring costs, and necessity of budget justification with cost breakdown should be checked. Note that one should not deviate or modify the proforma of the funding agency.

Thirdly, a list of items should be made and categorized into recurring and non-recurring expenses. Breakdown of the budget into item-wise and year-wise with cost calculation should be done. It should be ensured that costs are reasonable, allowable and related to the research proposal, so that the budget appears realistic. Travel expenses should be calculated as per the rules of the funding agency.

Fourthly, item-wise and year-wise justification of the requirement in a same sequence of format should be provided. A well-justified budget can enhance the evaluation of the research proposal by reviewers and funding body.

The last most important part is to review the budget and verify the costs and calculation. It is better, if other research team members can review the budget plan and re-calculate the costs thoroughly. Remember, too high budget and too low budget with respect to the research proposal are suspicious and chances of receiving a grant are less.

Sources of funding

Conflict of interest.

Peer review under responsibility of Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore.

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Creating a Budget

In general, while your research proposal outlines the academic significance of your study, the budget and budget narrative show that you have an understanding of what it will cost for you to be able to perform this research. Your proposed budget should identify all the expenses that are necessary and reasonable for the success of your project—no more and no less. The Office of Undergraduate Research understands that estimates, by definition, are imprecise, yet we encourage students applying for funding to research all aspects of their budgets with honest diligence.

If your research requires you to be in the field or in another city, state, or country, travel expenses may include transportation (airline, train, taxi, etc.), passport and visa fees, as well as fees for any vaccinations you may need to travel. Be sure to include anticipated major incidental expenses, such as printing, copying, fees for accessing archives, etc.

Please note that our funding restrictions prevent us from providing support for lab materials, equipment, software, hardware, etc.

Keep in mind these tips:

Convert all foreign currency figures to U.S. dollars.

Round all figures to whole dollars.

Make sure your budget and your proposal are consistent.

Identify areas where you are making efforts to save money!

Browse through these sample budgets for a better idea of how to outline your expenses and contact us if you have questions!

Sample Budget 1

Sample Budget 2

Sample Budget 3

Sample Budget 4

Develop a research budget
Research Expertise Engine
Precursors to research
Funding Opportunities
Grants vs contracts
Sample Applications Library
Factors to consider
Internal Approval (formerly SFU Signature Sheet)
Develop a research proposal
Institutional support
Review & submission
Award & approval
Award management
Contracts & agreements
Inventions & commercialization
Ethics - human research
Ethics - animal research
Research safety
Mobilizing Research
Prizes & awards
Training & events
Forms & documents

Budgets should provide the sponsor with an accurate assessment of all cost items and cost amounts that are deemed necessary and reasonable to carry out your project. They should be based upon your description or the statement of work. Budget justification provides more in-depth detail and reason for each cost and is often considered by reviewers as a good indicator of the feasibility of the research.

A research budget contains both direct costs and indirect costs (overhead), but the level of detail varies from sponsor to sponsor. The first step in developing a budget is to carefully read the guidelines of the funding opportunity being pursued.

There is no magic formula available for developing a budget but there are some basic steps to follow in order to develop an accurate budget:

Define project tasks, timelines and milestones and determine the actual resources and costs required to complete these. Consider whether contingencies are needed (and confirm they are eligible expenses).
Determine the eligible expense categories and maximum amount allowed by the sponsor. Adjust scope of the project to make sure proposed activities fit within the allowance.
Categorize these costs (e.g., salaries, supplies, equipment…) per year, in some cases by quarter.
Ensure that project scope and budget match. Include indirect costs of research as permitted by sponsor and the University policy.

The examples below developed by the University of British Columbia demonstrate two ways to include indirect costs in your budget.

Price model: Indirect cost is built into each budget line item.
Cost model: Indirect cost of research is presented as a separate line item.

Unless the sponsor specifies in writing that they require the indirect costs of research to be presented as a separate line item (Cost Model), the indirect cost should be built into each budget line item (Price Model). Indirect costs are normally included in the price of goods and services worldwide.

For example, you are developing a budget for a funding opportunity with an indirect cost rate of 25%. Your direct costs are $201,000 broken down by expense categories shown in the second column of the table below. The third and fourth colums present the two ways you can include the 25% overhead in your budget using the Price Model or the Cost Model, respectively:

In-kind and cash contributions, like other costs to the sponsored project, must be eligible and must be treated in a consistent and uniform manner in proposal preparation and in financial reporting.

Cash contributions

Cash contributions are actual cash transactions that can be documented in the accounting system. Examples of cash contributions include:

allocation of compensated faculty and staff time to projects, or
the purchasing of equipment by the university or other eligible sponsor for the benefit of the project.

In-kind contributions

In-kind contributions are both non-monetary or cash equivalent resources that can be given a cash value, such as goods and/or services in support of a research project or proposal. It is challenging to report on in-kind contribution, please make sure the numbers you use are well supported, consistent and easy to quantitate.

Examples of an in-kind contribution may include:

Access to unique database or information
Professional, analytical, and other donated services
Employee salaries including benefits for time allocated to the project
Study materials, technologies, or components
Patents and licenses for use
Use of facilities (e.g., lab or meeting spaces)
Partner organization time spent participating in the project
Eligible infrastructure items

Matching on sponsored projects

Some sponsored projects require the university and/or a third party to contribute a portion of the project costs–this contribution is known as matching.

Matching requirements may be in the form of an actual cash expenditure of funds or may be an “in-kind” match. For example:

A 1:1 match would require $100 of a third-party matching for every $100 received from an agency.
A 30% match would mean that of a total budget of $100, the agency would provide $70 and a third party would need to match $30.

Examples of agency programs that include some form of matching from a third party are:

NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants
NSERC Idea to Innovation Grants
SSHRC Partnership Grants
CIHR Industry Partnered Collaborative Research Program, and
CIHR Proof of Principle Grants

Additional resources

Current salary and benefit rates for graduate students and postdocs/research associates
SFU Business and Travel Expense Policy
Animal care services

Ch. 6 - Proposal Budget Development

6.1 Principles of Sponsored Project Budgeting 6.2 Preparing a Proposal Budget 6.2.1 Preparing an NIH Modular Budget 6.3 Direct and Indirect Costs 6.3.1 Direct Costs 6.3.1.1 Personnel Costs - Salaries and Wages 6.3.1.2 Personnel Costs - Staff Benefits 6.3.1.3 Graduate Students 6.3.1.4 Consultants 6.3.1.5 Supplies and Materials 6.3.1.6 Equipment Purchases 6.3.1.7 Equipment Fabrication 6.3.1.8 Subawards and Subcontracts 6.3.1.9 Campus Transfers 6.3.1.10 Travel 6.3.1.11 Other Direct Costs 6.3.2 Facilities and Administrative Costs 6.4 Cost Sharing and Matching Contributions

return to the Table of Contents

6.1 Principles of Sponsored Project Budgeting

Because Caltech receives the majority of funding for research from the federal government, many internal policies and processes are designed to comply with the following federal requirements:

OMB Circular A-21 (2 CFR, Part 220) : Cost Principles for Educational Institutions. This document provides guidance for direct and indirect costs that may be charged to grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts.

OMB Circular A-110 (2 CFR, Part 215) : Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Other Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals and Other Non-Profit Organizations. This document sets administrative standards that federal sponsors may impose upon award recipients through their agency policies.

OMB Circular A-133 : Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations. This document establishes standards for federal audits of award recipients and for self-audits imposed upon recipients spending more than $500,000 annually in federal funds.

Charges to federal awards must comply with the following criteria:

Allowable: The charge is not limited or excluded under federal regulations or the terms of the sponsored agreement.

Allocable: The goods or services involved are chargeable or assignable to projects or cost pools in accordance with relative benefits received or other equitable relationship.

Reasonable: A prudent person would find the type and amount of the charge to be appropriate under the circumstances.

Consistently treated: An expense must be treated consistently under generally accepted accounting principles that are appropriate to the circumstances, i.e., direct costs or indirect costs.

The Caltech Way

Caltech's financial and administrative policies, systems and procedures have been established to ensure proper budgeting and stewardship of sponsored project awards.

Caltech Business Expense Guidelines

Caltech Business Expense Guidelines: Entertainment

6.2 Preparing a Proposal Budget

A carefully prepared budget increases the likelihood that a project will have sufficient funding to support the work that is proposed. A proposal budget should anticipate all costs necessary for the conduct of the scope of work described in the proposal. Estimates can be based upon quotations from vendors, consultants and collaborators; historical and current costs; or standardized projections of expenses. Since proposals have start dates that occur in the future, the budget should allow for cost fluctuations or escalations within that period. Finally, the calculations should be accurate for each budget category and the total budget requested.

Nearly all proposal guidelines call for a written narrative budget justification to accompany the numbers. It is very important that the various items that make up the budget be properly described and justified. This can significantly improve the chances that it will be understood by both scientific and administrative reviewers.

The PI for the project is responsible for ensuring that:

personnel, space, and other necessary physical resources are available or have been provided for in the budget;
commitments for Institute cost sharing or matching funds have been secured; and
commitments by proposed participating individuals and organizations have been secured.

Caltech Faculty Handbook Chapter 7

6.2.1 Preparing an NIH Modular Budget

In the late 1990's, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) instituted Modular Research Grants. The purpose of the Modular Grant Program was to make the proposal process easier by relieving applicants from providing detailed budgets for proposals that request less than $250,000 in direct costs per year. Modular grant funding is requested in $25,000 increments, or modules, and in most cases, the expectation is that the annual increments will be the same for all years of the project.

Budget narratives must describe all personnel by position, role, and level of effort and provide a total cost estimate for Consortium / Contractual arrangements.

NIH Modular Research Grant Proposal webpage

Caltech also follows the NIH approach to Modular Grant Applications by not requiring a detailed budget at the time of proposal submission. When a Modular Grant has been awarded, it is subject to nearly all of the same financial rules and regulations as "regular" NIH grants.

6.3 Direct and Indirect Costs

OMB Circular A-21 separates project expenses into Direct Costs and Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) or Indirect Costs.

Direct costs are those expenses that can be traced directly to or identified with a specific sponsored project with a high degree of accuracy. See 6.3.1 Direct Costs for detailed information.

Facilities and Administrative costs (F&A) or Indirect costs are those expenses that cannot be easily and conveniently traced to a specific project. F&A expenses are general business expenses that are indirectly related to a variety of projects, goods or services. Examples of F&A expenses include space costs, utilities, and general, sponsored projects and departmental administration costs. Caltech F&A costs are expressed as a percentage of the direct costs, minus certain budget categories. See 6.3.2 Facilities and Administrative Costs for more information.

Principal Investigators and research staff should be familiar with the definition of direct costs and comply with limitations imposed by sponsor or Institute policies.

Caltech's Business Expense Guidelines

6.3.1 Direct Costs

Direct costs are those expenses that can be traced directly to or identified with a specific sponsored project with a high degree of accuracy.

6.3.1.1 Personnel Costs -- Salaries and Wages

Personnel costs consist of salaries and staff benefits projected for the percentage of time that Caltech employees will work on a project. Requested funding should be based upon the current salary of an individual or on published salary scales for vacant or "to be named" positions.

Federal sponsors consider any quantifiable effort in the proposal narrative, budget or budget justification to be a binding commitment (voluntary cost sharing) that must be tracked, certified and reported.

Administrative or clerical staff salaries are normally viewed as indirect (F&A) costs under the federal cost principles (OMB Circular A-21). The Circular allows direct charging of these costs "where a major project or activity explicitly budgets for administrative or clerical services and individuals involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity. ‘Major project' is defined as a project that requires an extensive amount of administrative or clerical support, which is significantly greater than the routine level of such services provided by academic departments."

To compensate non-employees involved in sponsored projects, see 6.3.1.4 Consultants . Collaborators at other institutions may be paid salaries and benefits as part of a subaward budget; see 6.3.1.8 Subawards and Subcontracts .

Some federal programs limit the total amount of salary or the salary rate that can be requested. National Institutes of Health policy limits the amount of salary that can be requested on research grants.

Current NIH Salary Cap

Caltech's Salary Cap Calculator

The National Science Foundation limits the amount of a faculty member's salary that can be charged to all of his/her NSF grants to the equivalent of two months or 16.67% of the annual salary. Exceptions to this policy require specific approval from NSF.

Caltech encourages budgets that project expenses at an appropriate level of effort for faculty and staff, including the Principal Investigator.

Principal Investigators should request salary and staff benefits of at least 1% for each PI and co-PI included in research proposals to federal agencies. If the PI or co PI chooses not to request that any direct salary be charged to the grant, the minimal effort requirement still must be addressed. In this situation, the effort would be paid from Institute funds and is considered to be "voluntary committed cost sharing." PI effort commitments are not required on the following types of proposals:

Grants for instrumentation acquisition or instrumentation development
Dissertation support, training grants or other awards for "student augmentation"
Limited purpose awards, e.g., travel grants, conference support, etc.

Requested faculty salaries should be based upon the current Institutional Base Salary adjusted for anticipated annual salary increases.

An individual serving on a sponsored project may not receive compensation above their institutional base salary, unless there is compelling evidence of additional duties and the President or a designee has approved.

Caltech Policy on Institutional Base Salary for Faculty Members Working on Sponsored Projects

Caltech Policy Regarding Commitment of Effort in Federally Sponsored Awards

6.3.1.2 Personnel Costs - Staff Benefits

Staff benefits are part of the compensation package provided to an employee in addition to the salary paid for their work. Staff benefits include the cost of unemployment and workers' compensation insurance, medical and dental insurance, long term disability insurance, life insurance, and retirement contributions. Benefit costs are calculated as a percentage of the salary paid to each individual.

Caltech pays staff benefits for all employees and recovers this expense in sponsored project budgets through the assessment of a staff benefits rate. Separate staff benefit rates in the form of partial tuition remission exist for Graduate Research Assistants (GRA) employed on federal or non-federal sponsored projects.

Staff benefit rates are negotiated annually and are announced annually by the Office of the Provost. They are also posted on the Office of Sponsored Research website.

Sponsored Research, Proposal Information for Caltech

6.3.1.3 Graduate Students

Graduate students may be employed as Graduate Research Assistants (GRA) to do laboratory work or research on sponsored projects. Research assistantships typically involve 15 to 20 hours per week during the academic year, but can be more during the summer. The partial tuition remission paid in lieu of staff benefits is not subject to indirect costs.

The National Institutes of Health limits compensation of a graduate student receiving support from NIH research grants to the zero-level Kirschstein-NRSA stipend for postdoctoral fellows in effect when NIH issues the grant award. The current levels are posted at

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-073.html

Payments made for educational assistance (e.g., scholarships, fellowships, and student aid costs) may not be paid from research grant funds even when they appear to benefit the research project.

Graduate students who work as research assistants for a required number of hours will receive salary and partial remission of tuition and fees. A portion of tuition and fees is charged as a GRA Benefit to the grant or contract on which the GRA is employed. The GRA Benefit is exempt from overhead and should be listed in the budget under "other direct costs."

Partial Tuition Remission

Graduate students employed as GRAs do not receive staff benefits. Instead, they receive Partial Tuition Remission. This is calculated as a percentage of the salary earned by the GRA. The partial tuition remission rate is calculated and announced each year around October 1. Institute policy is to provide partial tuition and fees for each Graduate Research Assistant working on a sponsored project who meets a required average workweek.

/osr/proposalinfo

Sponsored Research, Frequently Asked Questions.

/osr/faq#copies

6.3.1.4 Consultants

Consultants can provide needed expertise to a project for a limited period of time. They function as independent contractors and are not employees of the Institute. Consultants are typically paid an hourly or daily fee, plus reimbursement for travel and other incidental expenses.

Caltech will issue Standard Consulting Agreements under sponsored projects and will incorporate applicable requirements of the prime award.

Consultant agreements issued for sponsored projects are executed by the Caltech Purchasing Services Department.

Caltech Purchasing Services home page

Consultation among Caltech faculty colleagues is encouraged and expected. Compensation, if any, should be reflected in proposal budgets as salary, unless approved as additional duties by the Provost.

6.3.1.5 Supplies and Materials

Supplies and materials are the consumables to be used on the project. These include items such as laboratory supplies, animals, glassware, and chemicals.

Federal agencies normally view office supplies, postage, and local telephone costs as indirect costs and will not fund the items as direct costs unless the project meets the government's definition of a "major project." Investigators who have major projects can request funding for office supplies, postage, and local telephone costs in their proposal budget. Such costs must be fully justified.

Caltech Procurement Services

6.3.1.6 Equipment Purchases

An item of equipment is distinguished from supplies by the cost of the item, and the expected life. Federal regulations define equipment as an item with an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more and a useful life of two years or more. However the terms and conditions of specific awards may impose a lower threshold. Capital equipment items are exempt from indirect costs.

Budget estimates for equipment are usually based upon vendor quotes or catalog prices.

Unless otherwise indicated in the terms of an award, equipment purchased for projects undertaken by Caltech faculty becomes the property of the Institute at the time of purchase.

Caltech equipment must meet all of the following criteria:

An acquisition cost of $5,000 or more;
A useful life of two or more years; and
Exists as a stand-alone item

Caltech Property Services, Equipment Definition

Note: Property Services should be notified whenever equipment is moved to a new location or disposed of.

6.3.1.7 Equipment Fabrication

Sponsored projects at the cutting edge of research occasionally require the fabrication or construction of scientific equipment or instrumentation from individual parts because such equipment or instruments are not otherwise available. By creating a fabrication account, the investigator can budget the individual components, e.g., supplies and materials, under the heading "equipment fabrication." Since these items will end up being part of an item of equipment, indirect costs will not be charged on their purchase.

If the equipment is being fabricated as a "deliverable" of the project, i.e., the equipment and its title will be vested in the sponsor upon completion, a Fabrication Account may not be appropriate.

Proposal budget preparers should carefully review the proposed activities on a project and determine the appropriate classification of the expenses. Caltech recognizes that sponsored projects occasionally involve the fabrication of equipment and that the cost of fabrication should be identified within the proposal. Unless otherwise indicated in the anticipated award, equipment fabricated on Caltech projects will become the property of the Institute.

The Equipment Fabrication Policy includes the Caltech definition of "fabrication" and the types of allowable and unallowable expenditures on fabrication accounts.

Caltech Equipment Fabrication Policy

6.3.1.8 Subawards and Subcontracts

Subawards or subcontracts are agreements, under which a portion of the programmatic or scientific effort of an award is transferred, along with funding, to another organization, typically another University or research institution. The subaward recipient has a Principal Investigator who is responsible for the subawardee's portion of the project. A subcontract is a purchasing action under a contract, while subaward refers to a similar action under a grant or cooperative agreement. Regardless of the terminology used, both are legal contracts that will include terms consistent with the prime award.

Sponsors typically require prior approval for subcontracts under their awards. For budgeting purposes, the PI should obtain a budget and proposal from the lead investigator at the collaborating institution. The budget should reflect all direct and indirect costs and be approved by officials at the collaborating institution.

Contracts under sponsored projects may be vendor agreements or subawards. Indirect costs will be assessed as appropriate to each type of agreement.

Caltech assesses indirect costs on the first $25,000 of each separate subaward for programmatic or scientific effort, i.e., when another organization (usually another university) becomes responsible for the conduct of a portion of the project.

There is no reduction or waiver of indirect costs on subcontracts or vendor agreement for the acquisition of goods and services.

The Policy on Subcontracts and Subrecipient Monitoring defines subcontracts, identifies roles and responsibilities, and provides guidance in fulfilling those responsibilities.

Policy and Procedure on Issuance of Subawards and Subrecipient Monitoring

6.3.1.9 Campus Transfers

A Campus Transfer is the mechanism by which campus funds are transferred to JPL to pay the costs for research or other services that JPL is providing for the campus. It is the reverse of a JPL IA in which the funds are coming from JPL to the campus. Campus Transfers are similar to subawards or subcontracts issued to outside organizations that provide research collaborations or goods and services to the campus. Since JPL is a division of Caltech, we cannot legally subcontract with ourselves. Instead, the Campus Transfer is used in place of a subaward or subcontract.

Caltech Investigators who wish to include research collaborations with JPL in their research proposals should obtain a budget and statement of work, i.e., a proposal, from the JPL collaborator before the campus proposal is submitted to the sponsor. The costs associated with the Campus Transfer should be shown as a single entry on the Caltech proposal budget, generally in the "other direct costs" section.

As a matter of long standing policy and practice, Caltech does not assess indirect costs on the funds included in a campus transfer. JPL burdens are applied to those funds.

6.3.1.10 Travel

Domestic travel involves travel within the fifty United States, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and the possessions and territories of the United States (excluding Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands). Foreign travel applies to all other travel destinations.

Travel expenses include air fare, ground transportation, lodging, meals and other travel-related expenses. Proposals should justify travel on the basis of the benefit to the project.

Federal sponsors require the use of U.S. flag carriers on all project travel. A limited number of exceptions are available.

The Institute uses approved Federal standards as a practical guide for its travelers. In general, the Institute expects its travelers to use prudent, sound, and conservative judgment under the circumstances prevailing at the time expenses are incurred. The cost of airfare in Business Class or First Class is not allowable on Federal awards.

The Travel Policy describes the roles of various offices and individuals, procedures related to travel.

Note: Caltech's Travel Policy requires the traveler to submit a signed travel expenditure report within 30 days of returning from the trip.

Caltech Travel Policy

6.3.1.11 Other Direct Costs

Costs that do not fall within another budget category may be included in the Other Expense category. Typical expense items include:

publication costs
human subject fees
maintenance agreements
partial tuition remission for Graduate Research Assistants

All items included in the "Other" category should be identified and explained in the budget justification section of the proposal.

6.3.2 Facilities and Administrative

Facilities and Administrative costs (F&A), Indirect costs, or "overhead" are those expenses that cannot be easily and conveniently traced to a specific project. F&A expenses are general business expenses that are indirectly related to a variety of sponsored projects and institutional activities. Examples of F&A expenses include space costs, utilities, and administration-general, sponsored projects, and departmental (divisional).

OMB Circular A-21 spells out the process for calculating F&A rates and identifies the cognizant federal agency responsible for negotiating periodic F&A rate agreements. Separate rates are negotiated for on-campus and off-campus projects.

Expenses specifically exempt from the application of F&A costs are:

Equipment and capital expenditures
Space rent and lease charges
Tuition and fees
Scholarships and fellowships
Portion of each subaward and subcontract issued in excess of $25,000

Caltech F&A rates are negotiated with the Office of Naval Research and expressed as a percentage of modified total direct costs (MTDC), i.e., the direct costs, minus designated budget categories. Proposal budgets must incorporate the Institute's current indirect cost rate or the sponsor's rate where the sponsor has established a lower rate by policy.

Caltech's F&A rates are distributed to faculty and research administrators annually in advance of implementation.

Caltech Indirect Cost Rate Memo

Proposal Information for Caltech

If a private foundation or other non-profit sponsor has a written policy that limits the amount of F&A they will provide to at least 15% of the total project costs, and this policy is applied equally to all grantees, Caltech will accept the award under these conditions. If the private foundation or other non-profit sponsor limits the indirect costs to less than 15% of total project costs, it will be necessary for the Principal Investigator to identify a discretionary fund source that will make up the indirect cost shortfall.

Commercial, for-profit sponsors must provide full reimbursement of indirect costs in all awards.

Sponsored Research, Frequently Asked Questions

Exceptions to the required use of Caltech's indirect cost rates require approval of the Vice Provost for Research.

6.4 Cost Sharing and Matching Contributions

Cost sharing is that portion of the total cost of a research or other externally funded project that is not funded by the sponsor.

Committed Cost Sharing

Specifically identified and described in the proposal budget and made a condition of the resulting award. Sponsors require that committed cost sharing be tracked, documented, and in some cases certified and reported.

Mandatory Cost Sharing

Required by the sponsor as a condition of an award. Mandatory cost sharing results either from statutory requirements or from agency policy requirements.

Voluntary Cost Sharing

Not required by the sponsor, but offered by the grantee institution as a demonstration of its commitment to the project. When voluntary cost sharing is included in the proposal budget, it is considered committed cost sharing once the award has been made.

Uncommitted Cost Sharing

Any contributions to the project above the amount committed in a sponsored agreement. Uncommitted cost sharing does not have to be tracked, documented, or reported.

Personnel effort quantified in a proposal budget is considered a commitment to the project. Federal regulations require the Institute to compare the level of commitment with the actual effort expended on a project. The portion of the committed effort not charged to the award is considered voluntary committed cost sharing and it must be tracked.

Proposals for sponsored projects should contain formal cost sharing commitments only when cost sharing is required (mandatory) by the sponsoring agency and stated as an eligibility criterion for the project for which funding is sought.

Caltech Policy on Cost Sharing on Sponsored Projects

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Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples

Tejas Prasanna

There is no magic formula for creating a research budget. Depending on the kind of research and the potential changes it can bring about, careful planning and allocation is necessary. Budgets can, thus, vary depending on the sponsors, besides other factors. However, every research budget has some essential guidelines.

Research budgets depend on the project deliverables, timelines, and milestones. The resources required also depend on the scope of the projects and sponsors.

Best Templates for Planning Your Research Budget

Designing a research budget is not easy. You will need to consider the resources required and categorize them according to guidelines to ensure funding is not a problem. The categories may include the project’s necessary supplies and equipment and the wages you must pay your assistants. Research budgets are allocated for a year, but you can also plan for a quarter, depending on the project.

At SlideTeam, we have taken care of all these pain points and designed content-ready presentation templates that address each of these points. You save the time, the resources, and the tedium in having to make these presentations from scratch.

What is even better is that each of the templates is 100% editable and customizable. The content-ready nature means you get a starting point and a structure to guide your presentation; the editability feature means you can customize the template to audience profile.

Let’s explore these templates now.

Template 1 - Impact matrix evaluation research solution budget

This PPT Template is the perfect solution for your research budgeting needs. The matrix suggests what solutions are essential with the help of relevant keys that assign priority levels. Priorities go from low to highest influence with increasing importance. They are color-coded, with white being the lowest and red being the highest influence. For instance, Maintain Awareness and Evaluation are red in many cases, as shown in the slide. So, that means that they bear a significant impact on the research budget. Similarly, Strategic and Budget Planning are color-coded white, which means they don't impact the research budget as much in some cases.

With the impact matrix and heatmap, mapping out your research budget will be a breeze.

Impact Matrix Evaluation Research Solution Budget

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Template 2 Half-yearly research and development departmental budget

Research and Development departments can plan the budget required for projects for the two halves of the year using this PPT Template. The presentation template highlights areas for which you will need funding such as research and development, skills, innovation and patenting, and cooperation. You can also list your requirements for each area. For instance, under R&D and skills, you may need funding for medical research, chemical research, etc. Similarly, for innovation and patenting, you may need funding for product innovation and to cover patenting costs. Likewise, cooperation may involve setting up new laboratories and research centers. With this outlined, you can split the budget required for your research project for the two halves of the year.

Download now!

Template 3 - Budget Estimate for Research and Development Project

This presentation template for the budget estimate for your research and development project is apt for arriving at the calculation for the four quarters in a year. You can define and assign tasks as per the requirements of the project and allocate a set budget for each. The tasks may involve conducting market research and competitive analysis or be innovative or developmental. In either case, you can use this template to set a fixed budget for each task in the research project.

Get it today!

Template 4 Clinical Trial Phases with Communication and Budget Research Design for Clinical Trials

Clinical trials involve many phases, and you should let your research associates know about each step. For instance, you could post the information on the company website and provide relevant insights during the pre-trial phase. Similarly, you can offer the welcome letter and training materials during the trial start-up. During the trial, you can send newsletters to your associates, giving them relevant information and other valuable insights. All this requires funding, and you will need to allocate a budget. However, you don't need to worry, as this PPT Preset has you sorted, with dedicated sections for the pre-trial, trial start-up, during-trial, and trial-end phases. It also has communication, insights summary, and budget sections. You can use the budget section in the matrix to allot a budget for each trial phase and each section, including communication and insights.

Download here!

Template 5 Market research strategy with budget and area

The PPT Template has all the core elements required for your market research strategy, including the budget and area. This slide lets you list your clients, the items, and when to send them. You can also list background information related to your research, the aim and objectives of the project, the areas covered, and the budget.

The presentation template also provides a dedicated space to list your brands and products and a timeline for completing the research.

Market Research Strategy with Budget and Area

Template 6 - Determine Budget for Psychology Research Proposal One-Pager Sample Example Document

This presentation template is an easy-to-use tool for determining the budget required for psychology research. With this slide, you can allocate a budget for each area, including diagnostic assessment, training, technology and tools, supplies, travel, and workforce. It is a practical, hands-on template with information required to plan the budget for conducting psychological tests and evaluations. Please note that depending on your geography, taxes might or might not deserve a separate column.

Template 7 - Budgeting for Product Launch Market Research

Every company needs to conduct market research before launching a new product. The PowerPoint Presentation that you have here can help you plan the budget required for conducting such market research. It includes necessary information, including business and research objectives, priorities, methodologies, and forecasts. The presentation template also has the metrics required for the research, such as improving customer engagement, introducing new products, and increasing market share. For example, to improve customer engagement, you may be looking to improve marketing approaches and gather customer feedback. The methods you may use include conducting marketing mix studies and tests. Similarly, you may want to optimize your social media posts and profiles and conduct A/B tests when introducing new products. Improving your market share may involve analyzing the competition. You may even use this handy template for conducting market research, estimating, and forecasting budgets.

RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT BUSINESS

You can plan your research and the budget required using these templates. Remember that each new product launch has lots of research behind it. When going for a new launch, don’t just research the products and its uses, but also the markets – particularly, your target audience and how they will benefit from your brands. When allocating the budget for your research, don't forget to note your total resources and try to be as cost-effective as possible. You must consider the expected costs that you may incur and use these templates to work out a research budget that fits within your resources.

FAQs on Research Budget

What should be included in a research budget.

Research budgets should include all direct costs, and facilities and administrative costs (F&A). The facilities and administrative expenses are needed to achieve the primary objectives of the research. The project description should state the proposed budget and serve as a financial expression for the research. The idea is to ensure that the budget is comprehensive.

How do you create a research budget?

You can create a simple research budget by following these steps:

List activities that will help you carry out the research.
Check the rules for getting the funding required.
Check all costs involved.
Lay out the costs using a spreadsheet.
Justify your budget by asking why and for what you need the money and where you got your figures.

What is the role of budget in research?

A budget can provide a detailed and clear picture of the structure of the research project, not to mention that it also lets you know how well it can be managed. The research project budget usually lets you see whether it will go according to plan and if it is feasible. So, it must be complete and reasonable.

What is the average budget for a research project?

The budget for a research project depends on the type of research and the proposed difference it could make to a field of study. For instance, the average budget for a market research project may vary between $20,000 and $50,000. Similarly, larger scientific research projects may cost millions or even billions of dollars, as in pharmaceuticals.

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Conduct , Grants and Funding

How to Plan and Write a Budget for Research Grant Proposal

To be a successful candidate for a research grant, you need perfect budget formulation and justification. Here, we will help you plan the research budget for your grant proposal and give you handy tips to transform it into a convincible form.

Budget as a Skeletal Support

Your budget is the skeleton of your grant proposal. It provides the estimated finance your research needs to be completed in a particular time range. It also gives the funders an exact knowledge about where their funds will be used and how will they be financed ( Asya, 2008 ). It is your responsibility to postulate clearly how you will manage the funds if granted. An excellent budget plan will compel your funders to assume that you have thought about every financial detail concerning your project.

Specific Terminologies to Know Beforehand

Certain wordings are preferred to convey your research budget information better. It is important to familiarize with them before constructing the budget section of the proposals. The lexis includes:

Direct Costs

These are the expenses that are utilized solely for executing your research. For example, expenses on your research staff members, tools, materials, and travel finance.

Facilities & Administrative Costs (Indirect Costs)

These are the overhead charges reserved for institutional facilities that you avail yourself while conducting your research. For example, institutional laboratory, electricity, and water usage costs.

Fringe Benefits

These are the additional benefits provided to the personnel, along with their basic salaries. Every institution has its own set of fringe benefits rates.

Research Consortium

It is a group of institutions that apply for a grant together as one. They have reached a grant agreement, and one of the institutions represents them all. The budget is divided between them.

Types of Budget

There are two budget designs used in the NIH grant applications. Specific points will decide the type of budget design form you have to use for your application. These are:

Modular Design Budget

Your budget design is considered modular when your research fulfills the following criteria:

Your direct costs are equal to or less than $250,000 annually
You are applying for research grants or their equivalents
Your institution is located in the United States

Detailed Design Budget

Your budget design should be in detailed form if your research project fulfills any of the below-mentioned criteria:

Your direct costs are more than $250,000 per annum
You are applying for grants other than research grant type or its equivalents
Your institution is situated outside the United States

For the modular design, you have to fill out the PHS 398 modular budget application form, and for the detailed design budget, you have to use the R & R detailed budget application form.

Planning your Budget

Your budget planning starts when you find the research question and decide on a suitable study design. You should also be able to guess the unpredictable charges that can arise while conducting your research ( Sudheesh, Devika & Nethra, 2016 ). There are five main points to keep in mind while planning your research budget:

Pin-point the Budget Essentials

Think about all the things that will affect your research budget. These are mainly the study design, testing procedures, sample collection methods, and research settings. The more complicated and unique these essentials will be, the higher will be your budget requirements. Also, observe the already present resources and will they benefit your research budget.

Follow the Instructions of the Funding Agency

The next point to consider while planning your budget is to abide by the budget rules and limitations of your particular funding agency. Read each instruction carefully and remember not to deviate from it. It is expected of you to provide the exact list of items necessary for your project.

Categorization of Each Item

Thirdly, a breakdown of each item into its related category should be made along with its cost. A breakdown of the budget item-wise and year-wise with cost calculation should be done. Point out the recurring and nonrecurring items that are directly related to your research. All this planning is done beforehand to ensure proper budget management.

Justification of Each Item

For every enlisted item, you should be able to provide a solid justification for its importance in your research. Only a well-justified budget document can win the confidence of the peer reviewers.

Review & Verification of the Budget Items

Reviewing is the most significant step for every document or proposal. You can ask your team members to review your budget document for you. Also, recalculate the cost of each item and the total items combined cost per annum. Keep in mind that too low or high budget will only raise suspicion in the mind of your reviewers. So, make sure you plan a research budget range, not more than the maximum limit set by your funding agency ( Michael et al., 2019 ).

Scripting your Budget onto the Grant Application

Projecting your finances into your application requires skills. When writing, we primarily divide our budget into two sub-sections. These include:

As mentioned before, these are the direct expenses on which your research is largely dependent. So, firstly, give the heading of direct costs and then further give the following subheadings with explanations.

Personnel Involved

If your research project involves resource team members, here is where you have to mention them. Your resource team includes the technicians, laboratory attendants, site caretakers, data entry personnel, junior researchers, and the senior researcher involved. Specify their allowances and salaries in an organized manner.

Recurring Expenditure

These expenses occur regularly and yet cannot be avoided. These include equipment usage, laboratory-conducted diagnostic tests, telecommunication charges, chemicals, and any other essential items. Fees for human subjects involved in your research are also stated here.

Non-recurring Expenditure

These are the costs of items for which you have to pay one-time charges, and then their use is free. These include buying charges for the printer, computer, or other electronic items. Once you buy them, they are charge-free. Thus, you have to specify all the non-recurring charges in your budget form.

Traveling Expenditure

In this subheading, specify the amount spent on your traveling for research purposes. Separately mention your traveling costs for attending research-related conferences, seminars, and training. Also, mention the travel expenses for the surveys and data collection. Visiting expenses to other institutions for the sake of a research study can also be mentioned here.

Indirect Costs

The second sub-section is indirect expenditure. It includes facilities that are indirectly related to your research project. These can be library facilities, electricity, and water usage for your experiments and test conduction. These are also called overhead charges that are paid specifically to the institution for providing such facilities ( Ahmed & Abdullah, 2017 ).

Budget Overview

In the final paragraph, write a short finalizing note relating your budget outlining the main point. This should be a 4 to 5-lined paragraph.

Budget Justification

Most of the funding agencies separately require justification for each item that you specified in your above-mentioned budget form. This document is also known as the budget narrative page. It reasons the importance of that item for your research conduction. Each item is mentioned in the same order as in your budget form and should be justified respectively ( Al-Jundi & Salah, 2016 ). It is best to make a three-columned table with the name of the item in the first column, the quantity and cost in the second column, and a justification statement in the third column.

Budget Summary

In the last, you have to provide a summarized form of your budget for your proposed research. It is written at the end when you have completed writing your whole application. In this, you have to specify every item with its cost per annum. The non-recurring items will only be specified under the first-year heading as they have a one-time expense. Likewise, the recurring items will be mentioned in both years, along with their costs.

Esthetical Considerations

The following points will enhance the esthetics of your budget section:

Headings & Bullet points

Writing the budget items under a categorized heading will make it easy for the reviewers to retrieve the necessary points in your budget. You can use bullet marks or checklist signs to highlight your main points. This will show the reviewers that you have the budget representation skills and that your enlisted budget finance is authentic.

Tabulations

Try to write your budget essentials in a tabulated form with three main columns. The first column represents the item name. The second column specifies the cost of that particular essential. The third column signifies the importance of your particular essential in performing your research. This will save both time and effort of reviewers who have to scrutinize many applications at a time.

Organization

The pattern you follow for each essential specification in the budget form should be followed in the same manner while writing the budget justification document. There should be a flow in your budget data and which will further enhance its esthetics.

Elementary Language

Your language should be simple enough to be understood by a common person. Complicated terms and phrases will only make it difficult for reviewers to reach your point of view.

Your budget prepares you for all the financial aids you need to conduct your research. It informs you about the expenses of each research item and method. In this way, you can choose an economical procedure for your research. The budget section is considered as the key factor of success or failure for your proposal. This section requires a skillful approach and should be handled delicately. Nowadays, research writers record their budget in the form of electronic spreadsheets. It is easy to manage the budget essentials and the expenses via these excel spreadsheets. You just need to point out and categorize the direct and indirect costs in the already drawn tabulated budget spreadsheet. Hence, you will be able to plan and compose a well-scripted budget by following the instructions given in this article.

Al-Riyami, A. (2008, April). How to Prepare a Research Proposal. Oman Medical Journal , 23 (2), 66–69. http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3282423
Duggappa, D.R., Nethra, S.S. & Sudheesh, K. (2016, September). How to Write a Research Proposal? Indian Journal of Anaesthesia , 60 (9), 631–634. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190617
Burkhardt, J., Carlson, J.N., Gottlieb, M., King, A.M., Lee, S., Santen, S.A. & Wong, A.H. (2019, January). Show Me the Money: Successfully Obtaining Grant Funding in Medical Education. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine , 20 (1), 71–77. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2018.10.41269
Al-Maniri, A. & Al-Shukaili, A. (2017). Writing a Research Proposal to the Research Council of Oman. Oman Medical Journal , 32 (3), 180–188. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2017.35
Azzam, A. & Sakka, S. (2016, November). Protocol Writing in Clinical Research. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research, 10(11), Z10–Z13. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/21426.8865

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About Grants
How to Apply - Application Guide
Write Application

Develop Your Budget

Cost considerations, budgets: getting started.

Allowable direct vs. allowable F&A costs
Modular vs. Detailed Budgets

Modular Budgets

Detailed Budget: Personnel (Sec A & B)
Detailed Budget: Equipment, Travel, and Trainee Costs (Sec C, D, and E)
Detailed Budget: Other Direct Costs (Sec F)

Consortiums/Subawards

Understanding the out years.

Other resources

As you begin to develop a budget for your research grant application and put all of the relevant costs down on paper, many questions may arise. Your best resources for answering these questions are the grants or sponsored programs office within your own institution, your departmental administrative officials, and your peers. They can answer questions such as:

What should be considered a direct cost or indirect cost?
What is the fringe benefit rate?
What is the graduate student stipend rate?
What Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs rate should I use?

Below are some additional tips and reminders we have found to be helpful for preparing a research grant application, mainly geared towards the SF424 (R&R) application. (Note: these tips do not supersede the budget instructions found in the relevant application instruction guide found on the How to Apply - Application Guide page.

An applicant's budget request is reviewed for compliance with the governing cost principles and other requirements and policies applicable to the type of recipient and the type of award. Any resulting award will include a budget that is consistent with these requirements. Information on the applicable cost principles and on allowable and unallowable costs under NIH grants is provided in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, Section 7.2 The Cost Principles Statement under Cost Considerations /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7_cost_consideration.htm . In general, NIH grant awards provide for reimbursement of actual, allowable costs incurred and are subject to Federal cost principles /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7.2_the_cost_principles.htm .

The cost principles address four tests that NIH follows in determining the allowability of costs. Costs charged to awards must be allowable, allocable, reasonable, necessary, and consistently applied regardless of the source of funds. NIH may disallow the costs if it determines, through audit or otherwise, that the costs do not meet the tests of allowability, allocability, reasonableness, necessity, and consistency.

II.1 (Mechanism of Support),
II.2 (Funds Available),
III.2 (Cost Sharing or Matching), and
IV.5 (Funding Restrictions).
Identify all the costs that are necessary and reasonable to complete the work described in your proposal.
Throughout the budgeting process, round to whole dollars and use only U.S. dollars.
Reviewers look for reasonable costs and will judge whether your request is justified by your aims and methods.
Reviewers will consider the person months you've listed for each of the senior/key personnel and will judge whether the figures are in sync with reviewer expectations, based on the research proposed.
Significant over- or under-estimating suggests you may not understand the scope of the work. Despite popular myth, proposing a cost-sharing (matching) arrangement where you only request that NIH support some of the funding while your organization funds the remainder does not normally impact the evaluation of your proposal. Only a few select programs require cost-sharing, and these programs will address cost-sharing in the funding opportunity.

Direct Costs: Costs that can be identified specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.

F&A Costs: Necessary costs incurred by a recipient for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved. To facilitate equitable distribution of indirect expenses to the cost objectives served, it may be necessary to establish a number of pools of F&A (indirect) costs. F&A (indirect) cost pools must be distributed to benefitted cost objectives on bases that will produce an equitable result in consideration of relative benefits derived.

The total costs requested in your budget will include allowable direct costs (related to the performance of the grant) plus allowable F&A costs. If awarded, each budget period of the Notice of Award will reflect direct costs, applicable F&A, and in the case of SBIR or STTR awards, a "profit" or fee .
For most institutions the negotiated F&A rate will use a modified total direct cost base, which excludes items such as: equipment, student tuition, research patient care costs, rent, and sub-recipient charges (after the first $25,000). Check with your sponsored programs office to find out your negotiated direct cost base.
When calculating whether your direct cost per year is $500,000 or greater, do not include any sub-recipient F&A in the base but do include all other direct costs as well as any equipment costs. NOTE: Direct cost requests equal to or greater than $500,000 require prior approval from the NIH Institute/Center before application submission. For more information, see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-02-004 .
For many SBIR/STTR recipients, 40% of modified total direct costs is a common F&A rate, although rates at organizations may vary.

Modular versus Detailed Budgets

The NIH uses 2 different formats for budget submission depending on the total direct costs requested and the activity code used.

The application forms package associated with most NIH funding opportunities includes two optional budget forms—(1) R&R Budget Form; and, (2) PHS 398 Modular Budget Form. NIH applications will include either the R&R Budget Form or the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form, but not both. To determine whether to use a detailed versus modular budget for your NIH application, see the flowchart below.

NIH uses a modular budget format to request up to a total of $250,000 of direct costs per year (in modules of $25,000, excluding consortium F&A costs) for some applications, rather than requiring a full detailed budget. The modular budget format is NOT accepted for

SBIR and STTR grant applications,
applications from foreign (non-U.S.) institutions (must use detailed budget even when modular option is available), or
applications that propose the use of human fetal tissue (HFT) obtained from elective abortions (as defined in NOT-OD-19-128 for HFT) whether or not costs are incurred.

Creating a modular budget

Select the PHS398 Modular Budget form for your submission package, and use the appropriate set of instructions from the electronic application user's guide. You do not need to submit the SF424 (R&R) Budget form if you submit the PHS398 Modular Budget form.
Consider creating a detailed budget for your own institution's use including salaries, equipment, supplies, graduate student tuition, etc. for every year of funds requested. While the NIH will not ask for these details, they are important for you to have on hand when calculating your F&A costs base and writing your justification, and for audit purposes.
In order to determine how many modules you should request, subtract any consortium F&A from the total direct costs, and then round to the nearest $25,000 increment.

A modular budget justification should include:

Personnel Justification: The Personnel Justification should include the name, role, and number of person-months devoted to this project for every person on the project. Do not include salary and fringe benefit rate in the justification, but keep in mind the legislatively mandated salary cap when calculating your budget. [When preparing a modular budget, you are instructed to use the current cap when determining the appropriate number of modules.]
Consortium Justification: If you have a consortium/subcontract, include the total costs (direct costs plus F&A costs), rounded to the nearest $1,000, for each consortium/subcontract. Additionally, any personnel should include their roles and person months; if the consortium is foreign, that should be stated as well.
Additional Narrative Justification: Additional justification should include explanations for any variations in the number of modules requested annually. Also, this section should describe any direct costs that were excluded from the total direct costs (such as equipment, tuition remission) and any work being conducted off-site, especially if it involves a foreign study site or an off-site F&A rate.

See the NIH Modular Research Grant Applications page and the NIH Grants Policy Statement for more information.

Detailed Budget: Personnel (Sections A & B)

Personnel make up sections A and B of the SF424 (R&R) Budget form. All personnel from the applicant organization dedicating effort to the project should be listed on the personnel budget with their base salary and effort, even if they are not requesting salary support.

Effort : Effort must be reported in person months. For help converting percent effort to person months, see Usage of Person Months FAQs .
Salary Caps: NIH will not pay requested salary above the annual salary cap, which can be found at Salary Cap Summary . If salary is requested above the salary cap, NIH will reduce that line item to the salary cap, resulting in a reduced total award amount. In future years, if the salary cap increases, recipients may rebudget to pay investigator salaries up to the new salary cap, but NIH will not increase the total award amount. If you are preparing a detailed budget, you are instructed to base your request on actual institutional base salaries (not the cap) so that NIH staff has the most current information in hand at the time of award and can apply the appropriate salary cap at that time.
Fringe Benefits: The fringe benefits rate is based on your institution's policy; the NIH does not have a pre-set limit on fringe benefits. More information on what is included as fringe benefits can be found in the Grants Policy Statement at /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_12/12.8.1_salaries_and_fringe_benefits.htm . If you have questions about what rate to use, consult your institution's sponsored programs office.
Senior/Key Personnel: The Senior/Key Personnel section should include any senior or key personnel from the applicant organization who are dedicating effort to this project. "Other Significant Contributors" who dedicate negligible effort should not be included. Some common significant contributors include: 1) CEOs of companies who provide overall leadership, but no direct contribution to the research; and 2) mentors for K awardees, who provide advice and guidance to the candidate but do not work on the project. Likewise, any consultants or collaborators who are not employed by the applicant organization should not be included in section A, but rather should be included in section F.3 of the budget (for consultants) or in section A of the consortium/subaward budget page (for collaborators).
Postdoctoral Associates: Postdocs can be listed in either section A or B depending on their level of involvement in project design and execution. If listed in section B, include the individuals' names and level of effort in the budget justification section.
Other Personnel: Other personnel can be listed by project role. If multiple people share the same role such as "lab technician", indicate the number of personnel to the left of the role description, add their person months together, and add their requested salaries together. The salaries of secretarial/clerical staff should normally be treated as F&A costs. Direct charging of these costs may be appropriate where a major project or activity explicitly budgets for administrative or clerical services and individuals involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity [see Exhibit C of OMB Circular A-21 (relocated to 2 CFR, Part 220)]. Be specific in your budget justifications when describing other personnel's roles and responsibilities.

Detailed Budget: Equipment, Travel, and Trainee Costs (Sections C, D, and E)

Generally equipment is excluded from the F&A base, so if you have something with a short service life (< 1 year), even if it costs more than $5,000, you are better off including it under "supplies".
If you request equipment that is already available (listed in the Facilities & Other Resources section, for example), the narrative justification must explain why the current equipment is insufficient to accomplish the proposed research and how the new equipment's use will be allocated specifically to the proposed research. Otherwise, NIH may disallow this cost.
General purpose equipment, such as desktop computers and laptops, that will be used on multiple projects or for personal use should not be listed as a direct cost but should come out of the F&A costs, unless primarily or exclusively used in the actual conduct of the proposed scientific research.
While the application does not require you to have a price quote for new equipment, including price quotes in your budget justification can aid in the evaluation of the equipment cost to support the project.
Trainee Costs: Leave this section blank unless otherwise stated in the funding opportunity. Graduate student tuition remission can be entered in section F.8.

Detailed Budget: Other Direct Costs (Section F)

Materials and Supplies: In the budget justification, indicate general categories such as glassware, chemicals, animal costs, including an amount for each category. Categories that include costs less than $1,000 do not have to be itemized.
Animal Costs: While included under "materials and supplies", it is often helpful to include more specific details about how you developed your estimate for animal costs. Include the number of animals you expect to use, the purchase price for the animals (if you need to purchase any), and your animal facility's per diem care rate, if available. Details are especially helpful if your animal care costs are unusually large or small. For example, if you plan to follow your animals for an abnormally long time period and do not include per diem rates, the reviewers may think you have budgeted too much for animal costs and may recommend a budget cut.
Publication Costs: You may include the costs associated with helping you disseminate your research findings from the proposed research. If this is a new application, you may want to delay publication costs until the later budget periods, once you have actually obtained data to share.
Consultant Services: Consultants differ from Consortiums in that they may provide advice, but should not be making decisions for the direction of the research. Typically, consultants will charge a fixed rate for their services that includes both their direct and F&A costs. You do not need to report separate direct and F&A costs for consultants; however, you should report how much of the total estimated costs will be spent on travel. Consultants are not subject to the salary cap restriction; however, any consultant charges should meet your institution's definition of "reasonableness".
ADP/Computer Services: The services you include here should be research specific computer services- such as reserving computing time on supercomputers or getting specialized software to help run your statistics. This section should not include your standard desktop office computer, laptop, or the standard tech support provided by your institution. Those types of charges should come out of the F&A costs.
Justify basis for costs, itemize by category.
Enter the total funds requested for alterations and renovations. Where applicable, provide the square footage and costs.
If A&R costs are in excess of $300,000 further limitations apply and additional documentation will be required.
The names of any hospitals and/or clinics and the amounts requested for each.
If both inpatient and outpatient costs are requested, provide information for each separately.
Provide cost breakdown, number of days, number of patients, costs of tests/treatments.
Justify the costs associated with standard care or research care. (Note: If these costs are associated with patient accrual, restrictions may be justified in the Notice of Award.) (See NIH Grants Policy Statement NIH Grants Policy Statement, Research Patient Care Costs )
Tuition: In your budget justification, for any graduate students on your project, include what your school's tuition rates are. You may have to report both an in-state and out-of-state tuition rate. Depending on your school stipend and tuition levels, you may have to budget less than your school's full tuition rate in order to meet the graduate student compensation limit (equivalent to the NRSA zero-level postdoctorate stipend level).
Human Fetal Tissue (HFT) from elective abortions: If your application proposes the use of human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions (as defined in NOT-OD-19-128 ), you must include a line item titled “Human Fetal Tissue Costs” on the budget form and an explanation of those costs in the budget justification.
Other: Some types of costs, such as entertainment costs, are not allowed under federal grants. NIH has included a list of the most common questionable items in the NIH Grants Policy Statement ( /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7_cost_consideration.htm ). If NIH discovers an unallowable cost in your budget, generally we will discount that cost from your total award amount, so it is in your best interest to avoid requesting unallowable costs. If you have any question over whether a cost is allowable, contact your sponsored programs office or the grants management specialist listed on the funding opportunity.

If you are using the detailed budget format, each consortium you include must have an independent budget form filled out.

In the rare case of third tier subawards, section F.5 "subawards/consortium/contractual" costs should include the total cost of the subaward, and the entire third tier award is considered part of the direct costs of the consortium for the purposes of calculating the primary applicant's direct costs.
Cost Principles. Regardless of what cost principles apply to the parent recipient, the consortium is held to the standards of their respective set of cost principles.
Consortium F&A costs are NOT included as part of the direct cost base when determining whether the application can use the modular format (direct costs < $250,000 per year), or determining whether prior approval is needed to submit an application (direct costs $500,000 or more for any year). NOTE: The $500K prior approval policy does not apply to applications submitted in response to RFAs or in response to other funding opportunities including specific budgetary limits above $500K.
F&A costs for the first $25,000 of each consortium may be included in the modified total direct cost base, when calculating the overall F&A rate, as long as your institution's negotiated F&A rate agreement does not express prohibit it.
If the consortium is a foreign institution or international organization, F&A for the consortium is limited to 8%.
Consortiums should each provide a budget justification following their detailed budget. The justification should be separate from the primary recipient's justification and address just those items that pertain to the consortium.
We do not expect your budget to predict perfectly how you will spend your money five years down the road. However, we do expect a reasonable approximation of what you intend to spend. Be thorough enough to convince the reviewers that you have a good sense of the overall costs.
In general, NIH does not have policy on salary escalation submitted in an application. We advise applicants to request in the application the actual costs needed for the budget period and to request cost escalations only if the escalation is consistent with institutional policy. See Salary Cap Summary and https://grants.nih.gov/faqs#/fy2012_salary_cap_faqs.htm .
Any large year-to-year variation should be described in your budget justification. For example, if you have money set aside for consultants only in the final year of your budget, be sure to explain why in your justification (e.g. the consultants are intended to help you with the statistical interpretation of the data and therefore are not needed before the final year).
In general, NIH recipients are allowed a certain degree of latitude to rebudget within and between budget categories to meet unanticipated needs and to make other types of post-award changes. Some changes may be made at the recipient's discretion as long as they are within the limits established by NIH. In other cases, NIH prior written approval may be required before a recipient makes certain budget modifications or undertakes particular activities (such as change in scope). See NIH Grants Policy Statement - Changes in Project and Budget .

Other resources to help you create your budget

This page last updated on: September 11, 2019

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Developing a Budget for Your Research Application

Budgets and budget justifications demonstrate feasibility, value for money and detail why you need an item for your project, as well as how you arrived at the costings.

Every research project has two budget categories: direct costs and indirect costs.

The University determines a set percentage for the indirect costs of funded research. Contact Grants Services for the correct figure to use.

Direct costs are costs integral to achieving the research objectives of a grant. The costs directly address the research objectives of the grant and relate to the research plan.

Direct cost examples:

Personnel, e.g. research assistants, student stipends for PhDs, and staff costs. You need to factor in salary increases, on-costs (superannuation and payroll) and casual loadings . Always use the salary level and step corresponding with the skills and tasks required for the role. See the Position Descriptors in the relevant University Enterprise Agreement .
Equipment, maintenance and travel (outline why you are going and for how long)
Teaching relief
Other (e.g. Consumables).

Indirect costs are institution costs that benefit and support research activities at the institution. Although they are necessary for the conduct of research and may be incurred during the project, they are costs that do not directly address the approved research objectives of a grant.

Indirect cost examples:

Operations and maintenance of buildings (e.g. libraries, labs, meeting venues, IT such as computer access, specialist software, databases, secure cloud storage)
Insurance, legal and financial services
Hazardous waste disposal, and
Regulatory and research compliance and administration of research services

All external research activities are expected to contribute to indirect costs except :

Nationally competitive grants, such as ARC and NHMRC. This includes all Category 1 schemes.
Registered charities listed on the ACNC register (opens in a new window)
Grants transferred from another university
Funding bodies that exclude or limit overheads or administrative costs (i.e. indirect costs) in their rules or guidelines
Scholarships and internships
Official Western Partnership projects
Travel award type grants or facility usage type grants (e.g. Endeavour Fellowships, AINSE grants)
Projects costed under $100,000 are discounted by waiving Western’s portion of the indirect costs.

Indirect costs are calculated by determining the direct costs first and then applying the indirect costs formula:

e.g. Direct costs = $50,000 x (indirect cost % figure) = Total project cost

Cash and in-kind support

Your project budget needs to include all cash and in-kind items it requires.

In-kind support is any non-cash contributions that a party gives to the project. In-kind can be contributed by Western Sydney University or by an external party, and can include:

staff (e.g. time committed to the project which is not funded by the project)
non-staff/infrastructure (e.g. if you are using lab space to conduct the project but are not receiving direct payment from the project to 'buy out' lab space)
indirect costs

How to budget personnel and salaries

On-costs are direct costs associated with salary. These costs relate to superannuation, sick leave, payroll tax etc. and must be included your budget.

Access this link for more detail about Western on-costs

For the latest salary figures, please check with the Office of People

An example:

You are a Lead Chief Investigator (CI) on a non-Category 1 funding body project for one year. You commit 0.4 (FTE) of your time to the research = 2 days per week. You are paid at Academic Level E, Step 2, which is $188,944 per annum. You can calculate your salary inclusive of 28% on-costs as follows:

0.4 x 0.28 x 188,944 = 21,161.73

The budgeting of your salary, a direct cost of the research, should be listed as $21,161.73.

If your project covers three years, with the same or differing time commitments, you calculate this figure for each year of your project. Remember to factor in pay rises according to Step increases in multi-year grants.

You may also have a research assistant employed full-time for seven weeks at HEW Level 5, Step 3. You hire the assistant at the casual hourly rate of $48.97, which includes 25% leave loading. You add 16.5% on-costs to this figure:

48.97 x (35 x 7) = 11,997.65

11,997.65 x .165 = 1,979.50

1,979.50 + 11,997.65 = 13,977.15

The total cost to employ the research assistant is $13,977.15.

Note 1: the maximum period a person can be employed on a casual rate is 6 months.

Note 2: For some schemes, the funding provider stipulates a specific maximum rate for funding of salary on-costs, e.g. the Australian Research Council (ARC) funds on-costs at a rate of 30%, so you must use this figure.

Grant Budget Calculator (Staff Login Required) (opens in a new window)

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Budget for a research proposal

PMID: 8485177
DOI: 10.1097/00001610-199304000-00006

As a result of the growing consumer demand to cut health care costs, employing institutions cannot be expected to finance research studies. Therefore, outside funding must be found. The proposal budget is critical to the success of a study. A reviewer can determine much about the principal investigator's ability to conduct the proposed study by scrutinizing the budget; therefore, the budget should not be treated as an afterthought. A good budget consists of three separate parts: the budget, the budget explanation, and a section in the narrative devoted to the budget. Ask for the funds that are needed to complete the study and then justify the need. The goal of a good budget is to answer the reviewers' questions before they occur.

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Proposals (applications) normally include a detailed breakdown of the financial support being requested from a sponsor. A proposal budget is a best estimate of the costs requested to complete a project. Budgets should be prepared with as much detail as possible.

Projects costs are usually broken down into direct and indirect cost categories. Direct costs are those that can be directly attributable to a specific project. Indirect costs are those costs incurred by an institution for facilities and administration of sponsored projects that can not be directly attributable to a specific project. Both are real costs that must be included in a budget.

F & A Rates

Budgets for applications to federal agencies must reflect the appropriate rates as established in the negotiated F & A Rate Agreement . Applications to non-federal entities should reflect appropriate rate.

Budget justification

Written explanations for the inclusion of items such as equipment purchases, travel, and subawards are normally required along with a formatted budget. Budget Justification pages should be as specific as possible. Specific products and potential vendors should be identified whenever possible.

Multi-year projects

Unless otherwise indicated in an agency’s guidelines, a proposal for a project that is expected to be funded for more than one year should include an itemized budget for each year. One should employ the same format for each year and prepare a cumulative summary budget for the entire proposed project period. The summary page should be in the same format as the annual budget, with all the costs combined. Note that PHS does not require an itemized budget for each year.

Make sure to indicate the dates covered by each budget year at the top of each budget page.

Deadline for winter 2024-2025 faculty-led study abroad proposals is July 1; new policies in place for leadership, unaffiliated travelers

The deadline for faculty-led study abroad proposals for the winter 2024-2025 travel window is July 1.

Travel for the winter window must occur between Dec. 13-22, 2024, or Jan. 2-14, 2025. The proposal and its associated documents—including a budget, itinerary, syllabus and contracts—should be submitted in one email to MSU Office of Study Abroad Director Annika Campbell at [email protected] .

Other upcoming study abroad proposal deadlines include July 31 for Spring Break 2025, which is scheduled for March 10-14, and Sept. 3 for the summer 2025 window.

This summer, the Office of Study Abroad formalized rules and policies regarding faculty/staff leadership and participation, and unaffiliated travelers in study-abroad settings.

An ideal student-to-leader ratio of 15:1 can be used as a general benchmark in determining the minimum and maximum student enrollment goals. The ratio should not be less than 5:1 or greater than 20:1. While leadership teams and enrollment goals vary widely and are based on many aspects—including academic course content, location, logistical details, on-site partner(s) and financial considerations—it is important that minimum and maximum ratios are observed. Any ratios falling outside the maximum and minimum range will require approval from the OSA. Leaders should also consult with the OSA about minimum and maximum enrollment numbers throughout the proposal process.

For the full OSA policy on faculty/staff leadership and participation, click here .

When traveling with university students during official program dates, program leaders are responsible for academic and student support, and are expected to be available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

University leadership and OSA discourage program leaders to be accompanied at any point by any unaffiliated traveler on an education abroad program. Nevertheless, under special circumstances, a program leader may request to do so with the understanding that the university takes no responsibility for unaffiliated travelers. For such an exception, the program leader must seek approval from the department head and dean. Approval is subject to a final review by the associate vice president for international programs and the OSA director.

For the full OSA policy on unaffiliated travelers, click here .

For more information or questions regarding study abroad policies, email Annika Campbell at [email protected] .

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UN Women HQ

Call For Proposals (CFP) Template for Research and Documentation on Care Ecosystem and Scalable Care Delivery Models

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) India Country Office plans to contract an organization (Civil Society Organizations, registered in India) or to support implementation of the project on Research and Documentation On Care Ecosystem and Scalable Care delivery models. The total budget available for this call for proposal is of up to INR 25 lakhs only.

UNW-AP-IND-CFP-2024-001-Research and Documentation on Care Ecosystem and Scalable Care Delivery Models (Word, 276kb)

Contact information

Contact person: Sanya Seth
Email: registry.india[at]unwomen.org
Telephone: 011-4653-2333

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IMAGES

FREE 11+ Research Budget Proposal Samples & Templates in PDF
Project Research Budget
9+ Research Budget Templates
FREE 11+ Research Budget Proposal Samples & Templates in PDF
Sample research budget template
Budget Proposal Template

VIDEO

Understanding "Proposal Budget" in Simple Terms
Creating a research proposal
Research Proposal
Introduction To Research Proposal Writing 1
Overview of a Research Proposal
Creating an Outstanding Proposal

COMMENTS

PDF Writing a Proposal Budget
What is a Proposal Budget and why is it needed? Before we get started talking about all the pieces of a budget, let's make sure that we're on the same page about what a budget actually is. A budget is a financial proposal that reflects the work proposed. It outlines the expected project costs in detail, and should mirror the project description.
How to make a simple research budget
A good budget shows the assessors that you have thought about your research in detail and, if it is done well, it can serve as a great, convincing overview of the project. Here are five steps to create a simple budget for your research project. 1. List your activities. Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project, and who is ...
PDF Preparing a Proposal Budget Toolkit
Proposal Budget Overview A budget is a financial proposal that reflects the work proposed. It outlines the expected project costs in detail and should mirror the project description. A budget is presented as a categorical list of anticipated project costs representing the researcher's best estimate of the funds needed to support the proposed work.
How to plan and write a budget for research grant proposal?
A well-justified budget can enhance the evaluation of the research proposal by reviewers and funding body. The last most important part is to review the budget and verify the costs and calculation. It is better, if other research team members can review the budget plan and re-calculate the costs thoroughly.
Learn: Proposal Budgeting
Learn: Proposal Budgeting The following materials have been developed to assist with proposal budgeting. You can find other proposal and award learning resources here. Written materials: OR Budget Templates - Webpage of helpful OR budget templates with FAQs, a how-to video, an effort calculator and template descriptions Preparing a Proposal Budget Handbook - Comprehensive 27-page document
How to budget your grant proposal
A precise estimate of the budget is really the best approach to win a grant. And importantly, once your proposal has been funded, you will find that having carefully estimated the different costs at the application stage will not only guarantee an optimal use of the funds, but also make the practical implementation of the research project ...
How to Write a Research Proposal
A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it's important, and how you will conduct your research. The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will contain at least these elements: ... Budget. If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget ...
Creating a Budget
Creating a Budget. In general, while your research proposal outlines the academic significance of your study, the budget and budget narrative show that you have an understanding of what it will cost for you to be able to perform this research. Your proposed budget should identify all the expenses that are necessary and reasonable for the ...
Develop a research budget
A research budget contains both direct costs and indirect costs (overhead), but the level of detail varies from sponsor to sponsor. The first step in developing a budget is to carefully read the guidelines of the funding opportunity being pursued. ... such as goods and/or services in support of a research project or proposal. It is challenging ...
Ch. 6
NIH Modular Research Grant Proposal webpage. The Caltech Way. Caltech also follows the NIH approach to Modular Grant Applications by not requiring a detailed budget at the time of proposal submission. When a Modular Grant has been awarded, it is subject to nearly all of the same financial rules and regulations as "regular" NIH grants. 9/20/10
How To Write A Research Proposal
Here is an explanation of each step: 1. Title and Abstract. Choose a concise and descriptive title that reflects the essence of your research. Write an abstract summarizing your research question, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes. It should provide a brief overview of your proposal. 2.
The Budget Calculation (Qualitative Research Proposal Series)
This is Part 2 of a four-part series on proposal writing for qualitative research. Please read Part 1 of this series, which covers crafting an overview as a starting point of conversation with the…
Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples
Template 6 - Determine Budget for Psychology Research Proposal One-Pager Sample Example Document. This presentation template is an easy-to-use tool for determining the budget required for psychology research. With this slide, you can allocate a budget for each area, including diagnostic assessment, training, technology and tools, supplies ...
How to Plan and Write a Budget for Research Grant Proposal
Try to write your budget essentials in a tabulated form with three main columns. The first column represents the item name. The second column specifies the cost of that particular essential. The third column signifies the importance of your particular essential in performing your research.
How to Develop a Budget for a Research Proposal
Abstract. Novice investigators may be intimidated by the task of proposal budget preparation. Often a basic understanding of the mechanics of budgeting, paired with a good working relationship with the institution's sponsored programs office, can alleviate much of the stress investigators encounter in developing budgets.
Develop Your Budget
Develop Your Budget. As you begin to develop a budget for your research grant application and put all of the relevant costs down on paper, many questions may arise. Your best resources for answering these questions are the grants or sponsored programs office within your own institution, your departmental administrative officials, and your peers.
Proposal Budgets
Proposal Budgets. The budget should list all cost details for the year or another appropriate period of time. It should include any applicable salaries & wages, fringe benefits, services, supplies, equipment, publications, travel, other direct expenses, and any facility and administrative costs. A brief outline for developing a budget is ...
Developing a Budget for Your Research Application
The budgeting of your salary, a direct cost of the research, should be listed as $21,161.73. If your project covers three years, with the same or differing time commitments, you calculate this figure for each year of your project. Remember to factor in pay rises according to Step increases in multi-year grants.
How to develop a budget for a research proposal
Abstract. Novice investigators may be intimidated by the task of proposal budget preparation. Often a basic understanding of the mechanics of budgeting, paired with a good working relationship with the institution's sponsored programs office, can alleviate much of the stress investigators encounter in developing budgets.
How to plan and write a budget for research grant proposal?
A successful grant-winning application requires two key elements: (1) innovative research prob lem with best probable idea/plan for. tackling it and (2) appropriate planning of budget. The aim of ...
Budget for a research proposal
The proposal budget is critical to the success of a study. A reviewer can determine much about the principal investigator's ability to conduct the proposed study by scrutinizing the budget; therefore, the budget should not be treated as an afterthought. A good budget consists of three separate parts: the budget, the budget explanation, and a ...
Proposal Budget Development
Proposals (applications) normally include a detailed breakdown of the financial support being requested from a sponsor. A proposal budget is a best estimate of the costs requested to complete a project. Budgets should be prepared with as much detail as possible. Projects costs are usually broken down into direct and indirect cost categories.
Domestic & Foreign Travel for Sponsored Programs
Proposal/Budget. Include in the proposal estimated foreign and domestic travel costs. Identify all costs for the proposed travel such as airfare, ground transportation, lodging, meals and per diems. ... Employees and students who are traveling on sponsored research awards are encouraged to use a department's travel credit card, when possible ...
Deadline for winter 2024-2025 faculty-led study abroad proposals is
The deadline for faculty-led study abroad proposals for the winter 2024-2025 travel window is July 1. Travel for the winter window must occur between Dec. 13-22, 2024, or Jan. 2-14, 2025. The proposal and its associated documents—including a budget, itinerary, syllabus and contracts—should be submitted in one email to MSU Office of Study Abroad Director Annika Campbell at acampbell ...
Call For Proposals (CFP) Template for Research and Documentation on
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) India Country Office plans to contract an organization (Civil Society Organizations, registered in India) or to support implementation of the project on Research and Documentation On Care Ecosystem and Scalable Care delivery models. The total budget available for this call for proposal is of up to INR 25 ...