Budgets and Justification

Budgets are a requirement for most, if not all, grant proposals. Although, it may be tempting to look at the budget as an afterthought as your developing your research project and framing it in just the right way to appeal to the sponsor, it is important to instead make it a priority.

Budgets and budget justification are a key convincing factor for reviewers. Good budgets tell your reviewers that your project is realistic, well thought out, and likely to be successful. Poorly constructed budgets and budget justifications tell your reviewers just the opposite.

So, how do you create a budget that will give your reviewers the confidence in you and your project to support your proposal for funding?

Do's and Don'ts

• Do start working on your budget early to ensure that it is not an afterthought
• Do work with the grants administrator in your school or college to craft the budget
• Don't pad your budget to try and have some reserve money in case your estimates are off
• Do realize that a budget is your best estimate of costs, and that if you need to amend the budget, you can work with your Program Officer after the award to revise
• Don't guess at what things will cost (work with your grants administrator to get the right costs) 

As suggested, it is important to work with your grants administrator on your budget. If you are a CU Denver faculty member and your school or college does not have a grants administrator or you need additional support for a complex project, Stefan Reiss, Senior Grants Administrator in the Officer of Research Services is available to work with you. See Stefan's bio and contact information here. To learn more about what should and should not go in a grant budget, see ORDE's Quick Guide: Budget Proposal Checklist. Note: for this link and the budget justifications link, if you get a pop up when you click asking for username/password, just hit cancel and you'll get to the pdf.

Your budget justification is another essential element of your grant, and serves as your explanation for why you've included the costs in your budget.

Your budget justification should:

• follow sponsor solicitation/announcement instructions
• mirror the sponsor's detailed budget page headings
• give additional details about items summarized on the budget page
• explain why each of the items on the budget page is needed to accomplish the proposed research
• make it clear that all budget requests are reasonable and consistent with sponsor and University policies

For more information, see ORDE's Quick Guide: Tips for Creation of a Budget Justification. 

In following these guidelines, you can use your budget and budget justification to punctuate your competence as a Project Manager and likelihood for success in your project in the eyes of your reviewers.

Resources

ORDE's Quick Guide: Budget Proposal Checklist

ORDE's Quick Guide: Tips for Creation of a Budget Justification