Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Overhead covered by grants
$52,500
Shortfall absorbed by unrestricted funds
$147,500
% of overhead covered
26.3%
Grant 1 contribution to overhead
$30,000
Grant 2 contribution to overhead
$0
Grant 3 contribution to overhead
$22,500
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How to use this
- 1Enter total organizational overhead ($).
- 2Enter grant 1 direct costs ($).
- 3Enter grant 1 allowed indirect rate (%).
- 4Enter grant 2 direct costs ($).
- 5Enter grant 2 allowed indirect rate (%).
- 6Enter grant 3 direct costs (unrestricted/other) ($).
- 7Enter grant 3 allowed indirect rate (%).
- 8Read your overhead covered by grants on the right — it updates as you type.
- 9Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
When you're managing several grants at once and each has a different allowed indirect rate, or some grants disallow indirect recovery entirely, you need a way to see whether your total overhead is actually getting covered across the portfolio or whether unrestricted funds are quietly subsidizing restricted grants that should be paying their fair share. This calculator takes your total organizational overhead and a list of up to four grants with their direct cost size and allowed indirect rate, calculates how much each grant contributes toward covering overhead, and flags the shortfall that unrestricted revenue has to absorb if grant-allowed rates don't fully cover your real indirect cost pool.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Total organizational overhead: 200000 $
- Grant 1 direct costs: 300000 $
- Grant 1 allowed indirect rate: 10 %
- Grant 2 direct costs: 200000 $
- Grant 2 allowed indirect rate: 0 %
- Grant 3 direct costs (unrestricted/other): 150000 $
- Grant 3 allowed indirect rate: 15 %
Results
- Overhead covered by grants: $52,500
- Shortfall absorbed by unrestricted funds: $147,500
- % of overhead covered: 26.3%
- Grant 1 contribution to overhead: $30,000
- Grant 2 contribution to overhead: $0
- Grant 3 contribution to overhead: $22,500
What each field means
Inputs
- Total organizational overhead ($)
- The total organizational overhead used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 200000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Grant 1 direct costs ($)
- The grant 1 direct costs used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 300000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Grant 1 allowed indirect rate (%)
- The grant 1 allowed indirect rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 10 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–50 %.
- Grant 2 direct costs ($)
- The grant 2 direct costs used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 200000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Grant 2 allowed indirect rate (%)
- The grant 2 allowed indirect rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 0 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–50 %.
- Grant 3 direct costs (unrestricted/other) ($)
- The grant 3 direct costs (unrestricted/other) used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 150000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Grant 3 allowed indirect rate (%)
- The grant 3 allowed indirect rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 15 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–50 %.
Results
- Overhead covered by grants
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Shortfall absorbed by unrestricted funds
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- % of overhead covered
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Grant 1 contribution to overhead
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Grant 2 contribution to overhead
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Grant 3 contribution to overhead
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why do some grants disallow indirect cost recovery entirely?
Some private foundations and government programs cap or refuse indirect recovery for policy reasons, even though this contradicts the federal 2 CFR 200 requirement that federal pass-through entities must honor a subrecipient's federally negotiated rate or the 10% de minimis at minimum. Non-federal funders aren't bound by that rule though.
What do we do about a persistent overhead shortfall?
Options include negotiating better indirect terms into new grant agreements, growing unrestricted revenue (individual giving, unrestricted board gifts) specifically to close the gap, or in the worst case declining grants whose restrictive terms would meaningfully erode the organization's sustainability.
Should we track this by grant year or fiscal year?
Fiscal year, aligned with your audited financials, since that's the period your board and auditors evaluate overhead coverage against. Grant years that don't match your fiscal year need to be pro-rated into the fiscal year view to get an accurate real-time picture.
Does this replace a formal indirect cost rate proposal?
No, this is a portfolio monitoring tool to see if your current mix of grants is sustainable, not a substitute for negotiating an actual federally approved indirect cost rate, which is a formal process with your cognizant agency.
Accuracy and 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.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Multi-Grant Overhead Allocation Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/multi-grant-overhead-allocation
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/multi-grant-overhead-allocation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Multi-Grant Overhead Allocation Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Multi-Grant Overhead Allocation Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/multi-grant-overhead-allocation) (2026).