Grant Budget Template
Use this template when you want a simple, printable table of your budget numbers — not a calculator, and not a spreadsheet built for formulas, just the standard cost categories a funder expects to see, with blank cells to fill in by hand or paste into your own spreadsheet.
If you'd rather have your totals calculated automatically, with a first-draft budget narrative written from the numbers you enter, try the free Grant Budget Narrative Builder instead. If you already know your numbers and want help explaining them in writing, see the Budget Narrative Template. This page is the plainest of the three: a blank table, one row per cost category, meant to be filled in by hand before you move your numbers into a real spreadsheet or a funder's own budget form.
How to read this page: the category names and column headers are plain text you keep. Italic text in brackets in the "What Belongs Here" column is an instruction for what that row covers — use it to decide what to enter, then fill in your own amount. The amount and notes columns are intentionally blank: no example numbers are filled in anywhere on this page.
Grant Budget — Template
[Project title] | [Funder name]
| Budget Category | What Belongs Here | Amount Requested ($) | Notes / Basis (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel | [Salaries and wages for staff time charged to this project] | ||
| Fringe Benefits | [Payroll taxes, health insurance, retirement, and other benefits tied to the personnel above] | ||
| Travel | [Project-related travel — mileage, lodging, per diem, or conference travel tied to a described activity] | ||
| Equipment | [Durable items at or above your funder's capitalization threshold — often $10,000 per unit for federal awards since the 2024 Uniform Guidance update; check this funder's specific policy] | ||
| Supplies & Materials | [Consumable items used directly in project activities] | ||
| Contractual/Consultants | [Contracted services or subawards, with the vendor or role named] | ||
| Other | [Any direct cost that doesn't fit the categories above — training costs, participant costs, publication fees] | ||
| Indirect Costs | [Overhead/F&A, calculated at your organization's negotiated rate, or the federal de minimis rate if this is a federal award and your organization qualifies] | ||
| Total |
[If this funder requires you to show in-kind contributions or matching funds alongside your cash budget, add a row for it here or track it in a separate column — this table covers the standard cash budget categories only. For the written explanation of any of these numbers, use the Budget Narrative Template's In-Kind/Matching section.]
Once the categories are totaled, here's help with the rest
This template gives you the category totals — the harder part is breaking personnel into individual roles and time percentages, pricing out equipment and supplies with real numbers, and applying an indirect cost rate correctly. The Freelance Grant Writer's AI Toolkit ($34) includes a spreadsheet-ready budget worksheet with these same categories broken into individual line items, unit costs, and formula-ready total cells, alongside 5 AI prompts for turning those numbers into a written budget narrative.
Want the numbers totaled and a first-draft narrative written from them automatically instead of doing the math by hand? Try the free Grant Budget Narrative Builder calculator.
Need the written explanation of these numbers, or the full proposal shape around this budget? See the Budget Narrative Template and the Grant Proposal Template.
If you also run the business side of freelance grant writing (rates, engagement letters, client intake), the Pro toolkit ($79) adds a Freelance Business Toolkit module on top of everything above.