Guides → Writing the grant budget narrative

Writing the grant budget narrative

Written for organizations doing this without a development department.

The budget spreadsheet says what you will spend. The budget narrative says why, and it is often the first thing a finance-minded reviewer turns to. Small organizations tend to write it in fifteen minutes at the end. It deserves better.

Explain every line a reviewer might question

You do not need a paragraph per line. You need one for anything that would make a stranger pause: an unusually large line, a vague one like "supplies", anything above ten percent of the request, and every personnel cost.

Show your math

"Program coordinator, 0.5 FTE at $52,000 annually = $26,000" is answerable. "Personnel: $26,000" invites suspicion. The arithmetic is the argument.

Be straight about indirect costs

Rent, insurance, accounting and administration are real costs of delivering the program. If the funder allows indirect costs, include them at the rate they permit. Organizations that zero out overhead to look lean are not fooling anyone and are quietly underfunding themselves.

Name other funding

If the project has committed or pending funds elsewhere, say so and be clear which is which. Funders rarely want to be the only source, and a partly-funded project signals that someone else has already assessed you.

Match the narrative to the spreadsheet

The single most common error is a narrative that describes a budget different from the one attached, usually because the numbers changed and only one document got updated. Check the totals against each other before submitting. Every time.

A workable structure

1. One sentence on the total request and period
2. Personnel, with roles, FTE and rates
3. Direct program costs, grouped sensibly
4. Indirect, at the allowed rate
5. Other committed or pending funding
6. One sentence on what the total makes possible