Grant Budget Template for Research Proposals
What the template includes
- Personnel rows with base salary, effort, annual escalation, and an NIH salary cap switch per person.
- Fringe benefits calculated from your rate.
- Other direct cost lines: equipment, supplies, travel, publications, services, core charges, participant support, tuition, patient care, and rental costs.
- Up to three subawards, each counted in MTDC only up to the included amount, once over its life.
- MTDC, F&A, total direct costs, and total costs by year and for the whole project.
- An Inputs tab for your F&A rate, fringe rate, escalation, salary cap, and subaward amount, plus instructions and a color legend.
Sample grant budget: year 1
The template ships with this example so you can see how each line flows through to F&A. The full five-year example totals $2,171,760.
| Line | Year 1 |
|---|---|
| Personnel: salaries (PI at 20% capped effort, postdoc, graduate student) | $128,600 |
| Fringe benefits at 30% | $38,580 |
| Equipment (excluded from MTDC) | $40,000 |
| Materials, travel, services, and core charges | $51,000 |
| Tuition remission (excluded from MTDC) | $18,000 |
| Subaward, year 1 of 3 | $100,000 |
| Total direct costs | $376,180 |
| Modified total direct costs (first $25,000 of the subaward counted) | $243,180 |
| F&A at 55% of MTDC | $133,749 |
| Total year 1 budget | $509,929 |
Example values only. Replace them with your own and confirm rates with your sponsored programs office.
How to use it
- On the Inputs tab, enter your F&A rate from your rate agreement, your fringe rate, and salary escalation.
- Choose the subaward amount: $25,000 for NIH and older rate agreements, or $50,000 where the 2024 Uniform Guidance applies and your rate agreement cites it.
- On the Budget tab, replace the example personnel and costs. Only edit blue cells; black cells are formulas.
- Check MTDC and F&A against your sponsored programs office's budget tools before you submit.
- Use the totals to write your budget justification, or to size an NIH modular budget.
Frequently asked questions
What should a grant proposal budget include?
Personnel salaries and fringe benefits, equipment, travel, materials and supplies, publication costs, consultant and contractor services, participant support, tuition, subawards, and F&A (indirect) costs, broken out by year, plus a budget justification explaining each line.
How are indirect costs calculated in the template?
The template builds the modified total direct cost (MTDC) base by removing equipment, participant support, tuition remission, patient care, off-site rental, and the portion of each subaward above the included amount, then multiplies it by the F&A rate you enter.
Should I use $25,000 or $50,000 for subawards?
Use $25,000 for NIH awards and under rate agreements that cite the older amount. Use $50,000 only for other federal awards under the 2024 Uniform Guidance when your negotiated rate agreement cites it. The template defaults to $25,000.
Does the template apply the NIH salary cap?
Yes. Mark a person's row with Yes and their charged salary is limited to the 2026 cap of $228,000, before effort is applied. Set it to No for sponsors without a cap.
Can I use this template for NSF or foundation proposals?
Yes. Set the salary cap column to No, use the sponsor's allowed F&A rate, and check whether the sponsor uses MTDC or another base. Many foundations cap indirect costs at a percentage of total direct costs.
Budget and track awards in GrantsManager
Once a proposal is funded, GrantsManager tracks spend, encumbrances, and burn against the budget you built, by category and across every award.
Request a demo