Grant Budget Template: How to Cost Your Project
A plain grant budget template for UK charities and community groups: what to include, how to cost staff and overheads, and the mistakes that put funders off.
Funders read your budget to check that your plan is real. A clear, honest budget tells them you've thought it through. A vague one makes them doubt everything else in the bid. Below is a template you can copy, line by line, plus the mistakes assessors notice most.
What a funder wants from your budget
Three things:
- It matches your plan. Every activity in your application has a cost, and every cost links to an activity.
- It's realistic. Prices come from quotes, payslips or last year's bills, not guesses.
- It shows the full picture, including other money you've secured and what you're putting in yourself.
Check the fund's limits before you start. Awards for All England, for example, gives £300 to £20,000 for projects of up to two years. A bid outside that range fails before anyone reads it.
The template, line by line
Copy this into a spreadsheet and fill in your own figures. The examples are for a weekly community activity running for a year.
| Budget line | How to work it out | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Staff | Hours per week × hourly rate × weeks, plus employer costs | 6 hrs × £14 × 48 weeks, plus on-costs |
| Freelance or sessional workers | Day or session rate × number of sessions | 24 sessions × £120 |
| Volunteer expenses | Travel and lunch per volunteer per session | 4 volunteers × £8 × 48 |
| Venue hire | Hourly rate × hours booked | 3 hrs × £20 × 48 |
| Equipment | Supplier quote for each item | Quote attached |
| Materials and food | Cost per session × sessions | £25 × 48 |
| Publicity | Printing, posters, adverts | Quote attached |
| Training and DBS checks | Cost per person × number of people | 4 × course fee |
| Evaluation | Time or cost to measure results | Feedback forms, staff time |
| Overheads | Your fair share of core costs (see below) | Show your working |
| Total cost | ||
| Less other income secured | Other grants, fees, donations | |
| Amount requested |
The Movement Fund from Sport England is a good test of this: it asks you to apply at least 12 weeks before you spend anything, so your budget needs to be ready well ahead.
Costing staff time and volunteers
For paid staff, include employer National Insurance and pension contributions as well as pay. If someone works on the project part-time, cost only the hours they spend on it.
Volunteer time is not a cash cost, so don't put it in your total. You can still show it as an in-kind contribution (see below), which tells the funder how much your community puts in.
Overheads and full cost recovery
Overheads are costs that support the project but also support the rest of your work, such as rent, insurance, bookkeeping or a share of a manager's time.
The National Lottery Community Fund lets you ask for a fair share of these, which it calls full cost recovery. It gives a simple rule: if this project is the only thing you run, you don't need to work out overheads separately. Put all your costs in as direct costs. If you run several projects, split shared costs fairly between them. It offers a free spreadsheet to help.
Some funders are open about paying core costs. The Leeds Building Society Foundation's small grants, for example, give up to £2,500 for core, project or capital costs to housing and homelessness charities with a turnover under £500,000. The current window closes on 11 November 2026.
NCVO has more detail in its guide to project budgeting and full cost recovery.
In-kind and match contributions
List what you're putting in that isn't the funder's money: volunteer hours, a free room, donated equipment, or another grant. Some funders require part of the cost to come from elsewhere. Our guide to what match funding means explains how to show it.
Five budget mistakes assessors notice
- Round numbers everywhere. £1,000 for this and £500 for that looks like a guess. Show your sums.
- Costs that don't match the activities. If the plan says 48 sessions and the budget says 40, they'll notice.
- Forgetting VAT. If you can't reclaim VAT, include it in your costs.
- No quotes for equipment or building work. Funders like the Screwfix Foundation, which gives grants in the region of £5,000 for repairs and improvements to buildings, will want to see where your figures come from.
- Asking for things the fund excludes. Read the exclusions list before you write a single line.
Questions people ask
Can I include salaries? Many funders will pay staff costs for the project. Some won't. Check the guidance, and only cost the hours spent on the project.
What if costs change after we get the grant? Tell the funder before you change how you spend the money. Most will agree to sensible changes if you ask first.
How detailed should the budget be? Detailed enough that someone outside your group could see how you got each figure. A line of working next to each cost is enough.
For the rest of the bid, read our guide on how to write a grant application, or browse grants for charities.
Want help building your budget? GrantMatch Premium includes Build a budget, which drafts a budget template for the grant you're applying to. You then check and edit every figure. Try Premium free for 14 days, no card needed. See what's included.
We check every deadline on the funder's own website before publishing. Funders do change dates, so always confirm on their site before you apply.