Pre-Award Budgeting
Converting Bright Ideas Into Income!!
Pre-Award from the Budgeting Aspect
Spelman College fully encourages and supports
all solicitation to agencies, corporations
and foundations initiated by Spelman College
faculty for support of research and training.
Such solicitation is generally accomplished
through the submission of proposals.
Although, we realize that the "nuts
and bolts" of the proposal lie in the
research idea, "nuts and bolts"
must be purchased with hard dollars. This
is where the Office of Budgets and Contracts
may be a useful resource.
The budget is a crucial component of the
proposal. Generally, each sponsoring agency
has a specific format dictating how the proposed
budget must be submitted. However, there are
many common elements of the proposal budget
Developing Your Proposal Budget
Preparing the Budget and Budget Narrative
The budget is one of the most important sections
of the project proposal. A strong budget must
adequately fulfill the needs of the research
plan and adhere to grantor guidelines.
No matter how brilliant the proposed research
may be, attaching a poorly planned and presented
budget to it can only increase the chances
of negative review.
The Budget
When preparing the proposal budget, the principal
investigator must attempt to estimate (very
closely) funds needed to successfully complete
the proposed project. Such estimates should
be calculated utilizing specific budget categories
defined below. It is recommended that the
proposal budget be prepared utilizing a spreadsheet
with appropriate formulas. If you are not
sure how to use a spreadsheet, please click
on the link at the end of the information
below to use the prepared spreadsheet which
has the appropriate formulas.
Personnel
The broad category of personnel utilized
on most federal budget forms includes costs
associated with payment of all personnel working
on the project. This includes students, staff
and faculty. Please note that costs associated
with consultants (see below for detailed description)
are not included in this category. Detailed
categories attributing to personnel are listed
below. The total costs for personnel should
be the sum of all categories listed below:
Faculty Salaries
(Academic Year) - This category should include
all payments to be made to any Spelman faculty
member during the academic year. Each faculty
member name should be listed in a separate
line with the percent effort and release time
to be dedicated to the project. Spelman College
currently encourages faculty members (principal
investigators) to request 33% release time
based on the current College policy of allowable
course load. The salary base used to calculate
the amt. of salary to be paid through the
project should also be listed with each faculty
name. Please note, that this salary base should
include a salary adjustment (increase) of
3-4% for each successive fiscal year. The
role of each faculty member in the project
should also be listed. If the faculty member
has not been hired, please use TBN (to be
named) when naming the faculty member and
continue inserting the remaining information.
To calculate the amount to be paid during
the academic year, utilize the following formula:
(current salary
base* 1.04)* % effort or release time * appointment
(if applicable);
If the budget is prepared
on an excel spreadsheet, it also easy to calculate
fringe at this time. The current fringe rate
(applicable until 6/30/2003) for faculty and
staff is 21.2% of salary.
If you are including
new faculty positions, please consider how
these positions will be funded after the project
funding has ended and where these new personnel
offices will be located. Expectations that
these positions will become institutionalized
after the grant period has ended must be authorized
by the Provost. Academic Affairs should also
be alerted to the inclusion of any new faculty
positions in all proposals.
Faculty Summer
Salary - Often efforts on the project
may change during the summer months, therefore,
this category reflects time and effort devoted
to the project for 5/18ths of 9 month appointment
(June, July and half of August). This category
should include the same information as that
for the academic year, except it applies to
summer dedication to the project only. The
fringe rate for this period remains the same
as that for the academic year.
Staff Salaries
- Staff salaries are also included
in the personnel category. Information included
in the faculty lines should also be included
in the staff lines. Often staff on a project
have not been hired, in such cases, the PI
should contact the Department of Human Resources
in order to determine an appropriate base
salary for that position. If the staff member
has not been hired, please use TBH (to be
hired) when naming the staff member and continue
inserting the remaining information.
Do not forget to calculate
fringe against this category and increase
salary base 3-4% with each successive year
of funding.
Student Wages
- Students being paid an hourly or flat rate
for services on a project should be included
in the personnel category. This does not include
student stipends or scholarships. These are
generally captured in the "other"
line item of the proposal budget. Fringe is
not charged to student wages during the academic
year, however fringe is charged against student
wages during the summer months at a rate of
7.65%. Student wages generally do not increase
with successive years of the project.
Consultants
In general, consultants are expected to come
from outside of the proposing institution.
If a Spelman staff employee is to perform
supplemental duties on sponsored project,
please consult Human Resources for policies
on employment. Also please keep in mind that
consultant status is reserved for non-Spelman
employees, therefore additional duties should
for Spelman employees (staff or faculty) should
be added to personnel and the appropriate
fringe should also be charged.
Equipment
Equipment is considered any item with value
greater than or equal to $5,000 and having
a life span greater than or equal to three
years.
Travel
In the proposal, it is customary to request
funds for travel for various purposes. Examples
of legitimate requests may be: travel to meetings
to present results, travel for outside consultants
to visit Spelman, travel to meet with collaborators
(If applicable), etc. In the proposal, travel
expenses do not have to be itemized (such
as cost for plane tickets, lodging, etc.),
unless requested by the grantor. You may use
a flat rate. However, when determining the
flat rates, please consider the following
points:
- In general, travel for grant projects
must be by the least expensive means practical.
- Travel will be reimbursed at Spelman
established rates.
- It is reasonable to request reimbursement
for personal automobile use at the standard
college rate of $.31 per mile.
- Most grant programs do not allow international
travel. In no instance may foreign travel
be attempted without the express written
permission of the granting agency.
Travel for students is generally an allowable
expense. It should be added into the travel
category and listed as a separate line item
from faculty/staff travel.
Supplies
This category should include supplies costing
less than $5,000, which have a shorter life
span, and will generally need to be replaced
during the lifetime of the grant. This may
include office supplies, laboratory supplies,
etc. Generally, it is unnecessary to itemize
supply items. Exceptions to this rule include:
computer hardware and software and the grantor
requests itemization. Computer hardware and
software must be itemized and may also be
included in the "Other Expenses"
category.
Other Expenses
Subcategories which can be placed in other
expenses include those items which do not
clearly fall under the categories outlined
above. In addition, computer and large technology
purchases (under $5,000)are also typically
placed in this category. Subcategories in
"Other Expenses" are listed below.
Honoraria
- Honoraria are paid to professionals for
performing distinct, short- term tasks such
as speaking at a conference or moderating
a panel. Salaries of persons working on a
project over longer periods of time cannot
be listed as honoraria, and must be included
in the personnel category
Computers
- Includes all computer hardware and specialized
software that must be purchased to successfully
complete the project
Repairs and
Maintenance - Includes charges incurred
for the up-keep of equipment utilized in the
proposed project
Student Stipends
and Scholarships - Includes stipends
and scholarships paid to students, fringe
is not charged to this line item. These items
are usually reserved for student activity
performed that does not provide a service
to the college.
Housing
- Includes charges for room and board expenses
for students
Publication
Costs - Includes costs of publishing
results and significant findings
Communication
- Includes federal express charges, telephone
and postal expenses
Dues and Memberships
- Includes charges for relevant memberships
to national organizations
Facilities and Administrative Costs
The indirect cost category covers all costs
associated with a grant project which, for
reasons of practicality, cannot be directly
assigned to specific grant activities. For
example, virtually all projects require the
use of College facilities which must be heated
in the winter, cooled in the summer and lighted
at night. It is impossible to determine exactly
how much of the College fuel and utility bills
to assign to the grant project based on this
use. Similarly, all grants require the preparation
of financial reports. It is impractical to
divide and assign the cost of staff time in
the administrative offices by hours spent
on different accounts. Without indirect cost
recovery, each grant project which Spelman
College conducts costs the College money.
The calculated indirect cost rate for Spelman
College is currently 58.8 percent of salaries
and wages (excluding fringe) of the project.
For example, if there are $10,000 in salary
and wage costs on a project, the indirect
costs of the project would be $5,880. This
should be added to the grant request.
Some funding agencies stipulate that indirect
costs cannot be recovered as part of the request
for funding or limit indirect cost recovery
to a specific percentage. In these instances
the funding agencies rate should be utilized.
Indirect costs are funds which are unavailable
to Project Directors.
Institutional Support (Matching Funds
and/or Cost Share/In-Kind Contributions)
Many funding agencies request that the college
make a contribution to the completion of the
proposed project. The categories of institutional
support funds are essentially the same as
those for the grant request.
If matching funds are required by the sponsoring
agency, the project director should consult
with the chair of the department and Associate
Provost to determine from which accounts institutional
support funds may be drawn. When this is determined,
a signed memo detailing the account name,
amount to be contributed and budget code from
which funds will be drawn must be submitted
to the Office of Budgets and Contracts with
the proposal for approval. Proposals with
matching will not be signed off by Budgets
and Contracts without this memo.
Cost share may also come from outside of
the college from existing externally funded
projects. However, if you are applying for
federal funding, the matching requirement
can not be filled by funding from other federally
sponsored projects.
The Budget Narrative or Budget Justification
The budget narrative section of the proposal
is designed to explain the basis for calculating
the expenses contained on the budget page
and the role of the expenditures in conducting
the project.
We will examine a hypothetical example in
which the budget requests $10,999 to cover
the salary costs on the proposed project.
This single number listed on the budget page
provides the reviewers with no basis for judging
whether the request is reasonable. The budget
narrative would explain that the salary figure
includes release time for the Project Director
calculated at $3,600 per semester for two
semesters, and $1,400 for four student laboratory
assistants each semester, calculated at the
rate of $4.00 per hour for 350 hours per semester.
Further, the budget narrative would explain
that the student laboratory assistants are
necessary to the project because they will
help students using the laboratory for assigned
homework and experiments during non-class
hours. Each category should be included in
the budget narrative and similar justification
should be included for the categories.
A budget narrative is mandatory for many
grant proposals. It is a good idea to include
a budget narrative in most grant proposals,
either as a separate section or an addendum
to the budget itself.
