Fringe Benefits
The employment costs charged on top of salary: health insurance, retirement, payroll taxes: usually at a negotiated rate.
Fringe benefits are the institution's costs of employing someone beyond base salary: employer-paid health and life insurance, retirement contributions, FICA, and leave. On a grant budget they're charged as a percentage of salary, typically using a federally negotiated fringe rate.
Fringe is a direct cost that follows the salary it's attached to, so when the effort or salary charged to an award changes, the fringe moves with it.
Fringe can add 25-40% on top of every salary line, so leaving it out materially understates a budget.
Track this in GrantsManager
GrantsManager gives PIs and administrators one real-time view of proposals, awards, budgets, and compliance, so terms like this stop living in spreadsheets.