{
  "slug": "grant-budget",
  "title": "Grant Budget Calculator",
  "heading": "Grant Budget & Indirect Cost Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/grant-budget",
  "summary": "Direct costs, indirect recovery, and the true unfunded gap.",
  "description": "Funders that cap indirect at 10% force the rest of the organization to subsidize the grant. Build the budget, apply the funder's indirect policy, and see exactly how many dollars of unrecovered cost the award creates.",
  "formula": "Indirect = MTDC × rate; gap = (true indirect at your federal rate) − (allowed indirect).",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=grant-budget",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "personnel",
      "label": "Personnel (salaries)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 180000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "fringe",
      "label": "Fringe benefit rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 28,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 70
    },
    {
      "id": "travel",
      "label": "Travel",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 12000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "supplies",
      "label": "Supplies & other direct",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 24000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "subaward",
      "label": "Subawards (first $25k counts in MTDC)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 60000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "equipment",
      "label": "Equipment (excluded from MTDC)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 15000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "allowed",
      "label": "Funder's allowed indirect rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 10,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 100
    },
    {
      "id": "federal",
      "label": "Your negotiated indirect rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 34,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 100
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "request",
      "label": "Total grant request",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "direct",
      "label": "Total direct costs",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "mtdc",
      "label": "Modified total direct cost base",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "allowed",
      "label": "Indirect recovered from funder",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "trueInd",
      "label": "Indirect at your negotiated rate",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "gap",
      "label": "Unrecovered indirect (you subsidize)",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Personnel (salaries): 180000 $",
      "Fringe benefit rate: 28 %",
      "Travel: 12000 $",
      "Supplies & other direct: 24000 $",
      "Subawards (first $25k counts in MTDC): 60000 $",
      "Equipment (excluded from MTDC): 15000 $",
      "Funder's allowed indirect rate: 10 %",
      "Your negotiated indirect rate: 34 %"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Total grant request: $370,540",
      "Total direct costs: $341,400",
      "Modified total direct cost base: $291,400",
      "Indirect recovered from funder: $29,140",
      "Indirect at your negotiated rate: $99,076",
      "Unrecovered indirect (you subsidize): $69,936"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter personnel (salaries) ($).",
      "Enter fringe benefit rate (%).",
      "Enter travel ($).",
      "Enter supplies & other direct ($).",
      "Enter subawards (first $25k counts in mtdc) ($).",
      "Enter equipment (excluded from mtdc) ($).",
      "Enter funder's allowed indirect rate (%).",
      "Enter your negotiated indirect rate (%).",
      "Read your total grant request on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "personnel": 108000,
        "fringe": 17,
        "travel": 7000,
        "supplies": 14500,
        "subaward": 36000,
        "equipment": 9000,
        "allowed": 6,
        "federal": 20
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "personnel": 180000,
        "fringe": 28,
        "travel": 12000,
        "supplies": 24000,
        "subaward": 60000,
        "equipment": 15000,
        "allowed": 10,
        "federal": 34
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "personnel": 288000,
        "fringe": 45,
        "travel": 19000,
        "supplies": 38500,
        "subaward": 96000,
        "equipment": 24000,
        "allowed": 16,
        "federal": 54
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What is MTDC?",
      "a": "Modified Total Direct Cost — total direct costs minus equipment, capital expenditures, rent, participant support, tuition, and the portion of each subaward above $25,000. It is the base most federal indirect rates apply to."
    },
    {
      "q": "Can we refuse a 10% cap?",
      "a": "Under federal Uniform Guidance, pass-through entities must accept your negotiated federal rate or offer the 10% de minimis. Private foundations set their own policy — but you can and should show them this gap in the proposal narrative."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/nonprofit-overhead-ratio",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/fundraising-goal"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Grant Budget Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/grant-budget)"
}