Grant writing · 6 min read
How to Build a Grant Budget
The budget is read closely, often by a different person than the one reading your narrative. It has to stand on its own.
Published September 17, 2026 · Updated September 17, 2026
Start from the activities
List every activity in the project, then cost it. Budgets built the other way round — starting from the amount available — tend to contain figures nobody can justify.
Use line items with a visible basis
- Staff: role, rate, time allocated to the project
- Equipment: item, unit cost, quantity, supplier quote where required
- Delivery costs: venue, materials, travel, per unit and per session
- Evaluation: the cost of measuring what you promised to measure
- Overheads: only if the funder allows them, at the rate they permit
Check allowable costs
Most programmes exclude certain costs — existing debt, retrospective spending, some capital items. Including a disallowed cost can sink an otherwise strong application.
Write the budget narrative
For each line, one or two sentences on why it is needed and how the figure was derived. This is where a budget stops looking like a guess.
Use the budget builder
The GrantBridge workspace includes a budget builder with line items, quantities, unit costs, totals and a justification field for each entry, so the narrative and the numbers stay together.
Next step
GrantBridge does not guarantee grant approval or funding. Funding decisions are made by the respective funders.