Writing Proposals for HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants - U.S. Conference ...

24 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REPORTS March 2003What Funders Look for in the Budget• A clear match between proposed activities and proposedexpenditures. Every item in your budget should relatedirectly back to your work plan. There should beno inconsistencies or surprises in the budget. Onecommon pitfall is to introduce a line item in the budgetfor an expenditure that does not appear in thework plan. Another is to propose an activity in theProposed Program section and then neglect to providefinancial support for that activity in the budget.• Reasonable and realistic estimates of expected costs. Abudget that contains reasonable costs shows the reviewerthat the applicant organization knows what it willcost to do the job right. Underestimating expendituresmay suggest to the reviewers that your organizationis inexperienced. Overestimating expenditures mayraise suspicions that you may be unnecessarily“padding” the budget to cover expenses not relatedto the project.• Adequate justification for all expenditures. Even if it’snot required, include a Budget Justification (also knownas a Budget Narrative) that explains in narrative formwhat each line item is for and how you calculatedthe cost of that item. This is also the place toexplain how a particular cost that seems to beunrelated to the project or appears to be too highin fact supports the goals of the project.• Appropriate staffing of project. Budgets offer importantclues to reviewers about how you plan to staff aproject, particularly when staffing details are notdiscussed in the Proposed Program section. Red flagsmay go up for reviewers if the number of staffassigned to a project seems too small to carry it outproperly or if key staff are not being paid enough orare working less than full-time. (It is often a problemto find qualified staff who can be satisfied with apart-time salary.) Similarly, reviewers may questionthe honesty of your organization if it looks likeproject funds will be used to pay for staff positionsthat are unrelated to the proposed project.• Accuracy. If the numbers in the budget do not addup and the budget gives the impression that it wasdone in a hurry without being double-checked,your organization may lose some credibility in theeyes of reviewers.The United States Conference of Mayors • 1620 Eye Street,NW • Washington, DC 20006 • (202) 293-7330www.usmayors.org/uscm