Preparing your budget
General budget guidelines
Every grant or funding proposal will have unique requirements and specific instructions relevant to preparing the budget. From here you can access a pdf of the ALTC's 2009 Grant Scheme Budget Instructions. Also, link to the ALTC site for instructions on budgets and download the excel file called Grants Scheme Budget Template.
When writing your budget you should consult the full range of UNE's institutional information resources. These include
- Personnel (all salary, hourly rates, consultancy rates, honorarium - don’t forget oncosts)
- TLC Costings (costs of web programming, editorial services etc.)
- Travel Policy and Allowances (Per diem/Travel Policy)
- Indirect Costs (Library, ITD, TLC, Research Services)
- Supplies (books, recordings, stationary, phone charges, printing costs, web site maintenance etc.)
- Equipment (Purchasing policy & procedures)
You should read the specific grant scheme guidelines carefully to ensure you are meeting specific requirements. Some grant bodies have specific forms and costing formulae. A sample is provided here that may be used as a template if it meets your needs.
For ALTC Grants check with Prof Belinda Tynan, for TDGs check with TLC, and for all other grants check with Research Services.
General Budget justification and explanations
It is important that all items are justified. For example, if you require a project manager detail what they would be doing and relate this back to the percentage of time you require them for. If you are seeking funds for a consultant you need to state why you want to use a consultant and how this meets the aims and outcomes of your project. Adding in 10% of your time as the principle investigator for example requires explanation of what you would be doing and what the 10% is allocated to.
If you are requesting monies for computers it is critical to explain why this grant should cover such expenditure for the project in particular. Remember, for some grants this may mean that the items are owned by the university and not the individual or school. Funding bodies want to know why they should fund items which would possibly be used for other tasks and might be considered to be part of usual infrastructure costs.