# Build a grant budget and budget justification

A line-item project budget with indirect costs, cost sharing, and a narrative that explains every number to the funder.

- Topic: Finance & Accounting
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Finance, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/build-a-grant-budget-and-budget-justification

## Prompt

```text
Help me build a budget and budget justification for a grant application.

**Funder type:** [federal / state / private foundation / corporate]
**Funder's budget rules:** [PASTE guidelines: allowable costs, indirect cap, match requirement, budget categories]
**Project and period:** [DESCRIPTION, start and end dates]
**Staff on the project:** [roles, salaries, % effort, fringe rate]
**Other costs:** [supplies, travel, contracts, equipment, participant support, evaluation]
**Our indirect cost rate:** [negotiated rate, de minimis rate, or funder cap]
**Match or cost share:** [cash or in-kind, source]

Steps:
1. Build a line-item budget by year, in the funder's categories, showing request, match, and total.
2. Calculate personnel as salary x % effort, plus fringe, with any cost-of-living increase stated.
3. Apply indirect costs to the correct base. For US federal awards, note whether we use a negotiated rate or the de minimis rate on modified total direct costs, and which costs are excluded from that base. [CONFIRM the current rate and rules in the award's terms.]
4. Flag costs that are commonly unallowable (e.g. entertainment, alcohol, lobbying, fundraising costs) or that need prior approval.
5. Write a justification for each line: what it is, how it was calculated, and why the project needs it.
6. Check that the budget matches the narrative: every activity has a cost and every cost has an activity.

Return: the budget table, the justification, a list of assumptions, and the questions to ask our finance lead. This is general guidance; verify against the funder's rules and our auditor's advice.
```

## What to fill in

- federal / state / private foundation / corporate
- DESCRIPTION, start and end dates
- roles, salaries, % effort, fringe rate
- negotiated rate, de minimis rate, or funder cap
- cash or in-kind, source
- CONFIRM the current rate and rules in the award's terms.

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.