Budget Instructions for Brindle Grant Application
In order to understand your plans accurately, we are interested in learning as much as possible about the work you would like to do.
With this in mind, please review the time period, definitions and instructions below, as well as the sample budget (which you can click to from the main portal grant application page, under button 6) before filling in the budget template in the PDF form provided. Please print or have these instructions available to guide you through the process of constructing your budget.
If you have questions at any point along the way, please feel free to reach out to Mary Nell (marynell@brindlefoundation.org) who will be happy to discuss ideas with you and answer any questions.
The Brindle Foundation asks you to draft a budget to accompany your proposal comprised of direct costs (see Box A below) and indirect costs (see Box B further below). Brindle will allow up to 15% of the total budget to be indirect costs. Finally, in Box C, please list any revenue your organization receives. When you have completed these three boxes, you are done with your budget. (If you are requesting multi-year support, you will see that you are asked to fill in the same budget template for each of the years.)
Please note that the budget instructions apply to a one-year grant. If you would like to request a multi-year grant, please touch base with Mary Nell first and then create budgets for any additional years following the same format and email them to her after you upload your first-year grant in the portal. (While the portal will only accept the one budget file, Mary Nell will make sure that the budgets for subsequent years are combined with your application packet prior to its review.)
Grant Timeframe
The majority of grants that the foundation makes are for one year. The foundation also considers multi-year grants as well, typically for 2 or 3 years. If you are interested in a multi-year grant, please contact Mary Nell to discuss your ideas further before you begin to work on your proposal or budget. For all successful applicants, funds will be transferred by the end of 2024 for use beginning January 2025.
Definitions
We are using the term direct costs to describe expenses that are directly incurred for the work described in your proposal or, in other words, the specific project(s) or program for which you are requesting funds. Examples include salaries for program staff (or percentage time thereof), consultants, travel expenses, and materials or services required to execute the work. (An easy way to think of direct costs is as expenses that would not be incurred if the project(s) or program did not exist.)
We are defining indirect costs as overhead and administration expenses necessary to support an organization’s general operation, which are shared across projects or programs. Examples include rent and utilities, office furniture, computers (if used for more than one program or project) and information systems, and the costs of functions like development, finance and accounting, human resources, etc. Some organizations also use services for cleaning or security, and those would fall under indirect costs, as well as organizational bank fees. If your organization is using a fiscal agent or sponsor, their fee would be included in indirect costs, too. Additionally, information technology is often considered an indirect cost unless specific information technology exists only to benefit a specific project or program. Expenses like the ones listed above would be incurred in some amount with or without a specific project or program grant. While not incurred solely because of a project or program, they are necessary for the organization to execute their work.
With this in mind, please review instructions below, noting that they correspond both to a sample budget, as well as the blank budget template.
Instructions
Please keep in mind that the yellow column represents funds requested of Brindle; the peach column reflects the total costs of the project(s) or program. In other words, the peach column will often have a bigger number since it represents the additional expenses beyond that for which you are requesting Brindle support. For example, if you are requesting $100 from Brindle for materials and supplies for your infant and toddler classroom, but the true cost of these supplies is $300, then the yellow column would have $100 and the peach column would have $300.
Please also note that the Brindle Foundation fully recognizes that creating a budget is an exercise in imagining what the cost of a body of work will be and sometimes that imagined cost (even with extensive research in advance) turns out not to be on target. With this in mind, if you end up realizing once your project has started, that your budget needs to be changed significantly, please let us know by emailing us (at: marynell@brindlefoundation.org). We will be happy to discuss it with you and, in some situations, it may be important to adapt plans.
At the top of the form, please fill in the cell after "for:" with the name of your organization.
Box A: Direct costs
To construct your budget, please consider the entirety of what you are asking Brindle to fund and begin by listing your direct costs (in Box A) in the following way:
With this in mind, please review the time period, definitions and instructions below, as well as the sample budget (which you can click to from the main portal grant application page, under button 6) before filling in the budget template in the PDF form provided. Please print or have these instructions available to guide you through the process of constructing your budget.
If you have questions at any point along the way, please feel free to reach out to Mary Nell (marynell@brindlefoundation.org) who will be happy to discuss ideas with you and answer any questions.
The Brindle Foundation asks you to draft a budget to accompany your proposal comprised of direct costs (see Box A below) and indirect costs (see Box B further below). Brindle will allow up to 15% of the total budget to be indirect costs. Finally, in Box C, please list any revenue your organization receives. When you have completed these three boxes, you are done with your budget. (If you are requesting multi-year support, you will see that you are asked to fill in the same budget template for each of the years.)
Please note that the budget instructions apply to a one-year grant. If you would like to request a multi-year grant, please touch base with Mary Nell first and then create budgets for any additional years following the same format and email them to her after you upload your first-year grant in the portal. (While the portal will only accept the one budget file, Mary Nell will make sure that the budgets for subsequent years are combined with your application packet prior to its review.)
Grant Timeframe
The majority of grants that the foundation makes are for one year. The foundation also considers multi-year grants as well, typically for 2 or 3 years. If you are interested in a multi-year grant, please contact Mary Nell to discuss your ideas further before you begin to work on your proposal or budget. For all successful applicants, funds will be transferred by the end of 2024 for use beginning January 2025.
Definitions
We are using the term direct costs to describe expenses that are directly incurred for the work described in your proposal or, in other words, the specific project(s) or program for which you are requesting funds. Examples include salaries for program staff (or percentage time thereof), consultants, travel expenses, and materials or services required to execute the work. (An easy way to think of direct costs is as expenses that would not be incurred if the project(s) or program did not exist.)
We are defining indirect costs as overhead and administration expenses necessary to support an organization’s general operation, which are shared across projects or programs. Examples include rent and utilities, office furniture, computers (if used for more than one program or project) and information systems, and the costs of functions like development, finance and accounting, human resources, etc. Some organizations also use services for cleaning or security, and those would fall under indirect costs, as well as organizational bank fees. If your organization is using a fiscal agent or sponsor, their fee would be included in indirect costs, too. Additionally, information technology is often considered an indirect cost unless specific information technology exists only to benefit a specific project or program. Expenses like the ones listed above would be incurred in some amount with or without a specific project or program grant. While not incurred solely because of a project or program, they are necessary for the organization to execute their work.
With this in mind, please review instructions below, noting that they correspond both to a sample budget, as well as the blank budget template.
Instructions
Please keep in mind that the yellow column represents funds requested of Brindle; the peach column reflects the total costs of the project(s) or program. In other words, the peach column will often have a bigger number since it represents the additional expenses beyond that for which you are requesting Brindle support. For example, if you are requesting $100 from Brindle for materials and supplies for your infant and toddler classroom, but the true cost of these supplies is $300, then the yellow column would have $100 and the peach column would have $300.
Please also note that the Brindle Foundation fully recognizes that creating a budget is an exercise in imagining what the cost of a body of work will be and sometimes that imagined cost (even with extensive research in advance) turns out not to be on target. With this in mind, if you end up realizing once your project has started, that your budget needs to be changed significantly, please let us know by emailing us (at: marynell@brindlefoundation.org). We will be happy to discuss it with you and, in some situations, it may be important to adapt plans.
At the top of the form, please fill in the cell after "for:" with the name of your organization.
Box A: Direct costs
To construct your budget, please consider the entirety of what you are asking Brindle to fund and begin by listing your direct costs (in Box A) in the following way:
In order to understand your plans accurately, we are interested in learning as much as possible about the work you would like to do.
With this in mind, please review the time period, definitions and instructions below, as well as the sample budget (which you can click to from the main portal grant application page, under button 6) before filling in the budget template in the PDF form provided. Please print or have these instructions available to guide you through the process of constructing your budget.
If you have questions at any point along the way, please feel free to reach out to Mary Nell (marynell@brindlefoundation.org) who will be happy to discuss ideas with you and answer any questions.
The Brindle Foundation asks you to draft a budget to accompany your proposal comprised of direct costs (see Box A below) and indirect costs (see Box B further below). Brindle will allow up to 15% of the total budget to be indirect costs. Finally, in Box C, please list any revenue your organization receives. When you have completed these three boxes, you are done with your budget. (If you are requesting multi-year support, you will see that you are asked to fill in the same budget template for each of the years.)
Grant Timeframe
The majority of grants that the foundation makes are for one year. The foundation also considers multi-year grants as well, typically for 2 or 3 years. If you are interested in a multi-year grant, please contact Mary Nell to discuss your ideas further before you begin to work on your proposal or budget. For all successful applicants, funds will be transferred by the end of 2024 for use beginning January 2025.
Definitions
We are using the term direct costs to describe expenses that are directly incurred for the work described in your proposal or, in other words, the specific project(s) or program for which you are requesting funds. Examples include salaries for program staff (or percentage time thereof), consultants, travel expenses, and materials or services required to execute the work. (An easy way to think of direct costs is as expenses that would not be incurred if the project(s) or program did not exist.)
We are defining indirect costs as overhead and administration expenses necessary to support an organization’s general operation, which are shared across projects or programs. Examples include rent and utilities, office furniture, computers (if used for more than one program or project) and information systems, and the costs of functions like development, finance and accounting, human resources, etc. Some organizations also use services for cleaning or security, and those would fall under indirect costs, as well as organizational bank fees. If your organization is using a fiscal agent or sponsor, their fee would be included in indirect costs, too. Additionally, information technology is often considered an indirect cost unless specific information technology exists only to benefit a specific project or program. Expenses like the ones listed above would be incurred in some amount with or without a specific project or program grant. While not incurred solely because of a project or program, they are necessary for the organization to execute their work.
With this in mind, please review instructions below, noting that they correspond both to a sample budget, as well as the blank budget template.
Instructions
Please keep in mind that the yellow column represents funds requested of Brindle; the peach column reflects the total costs of the project(s) or program. In other words, the peach column will often have a bigger number since it represents the additional expenses beyond that for which you are requesting Brindle support. For example, if you are requesting $100 from Brindle for materials and supplies for your infant and toddler classroom, but the true cost of these supplies is $300, then the yellow column would have $100 and the peach column would have $300.
Please also note that the Brindle Foundation fully recognizes that creating a budget is an exercise in imagining what the cost of a body of work will be and sometimes that imagined cost (even with extensive research in advance) turns out not to be on target. With this in mind, if you end up realizing once your project has started, that your budget needs to be changed significantly, please let us know by emailing us (at: marynell@brindlefoundation.org). We will be happy to discuss it with you and, in some situations, it may be important to adapt plans.
At the top of the form, please fill in the cell after "for:" with the name of your organization.
Box A: Direct costs
To construct your budget, please consider the entirety of what you are asking Brindle to fund and begin by listing your direct costs (in Box A) in the following way:
With this in mind, please review the time period, definitions and instructions below, as well as the sample budget (which you can click to from the main portal grant application page, under button 6) before filling in the budget template in the PDF form provided. Please print or have these instructions available to guide you through the process of constructing your budget.
If you have questions at any point along the way, please feel free to reach out to Mary Nell (marynell@brindlefoundation.org) who will be happy to discuss ideas with you and answer any questions.
The Brindle Foundation asks you to draft a budget to accompany your proposal comprised of direct costs (see Box A below) and indirect costs (see Box B further below). Brindle will allow up to 15% of the total budget to be indirect costs. Finally, in Box C, please list any revenue your organization receives. When you have completed these three boxes, you are done with your budget. (If you are requesting multi-year support, you will see that you are asked to fill in the same budget template for each of the years.)
Grant Timeframe
The majority of grants that the foundation makes are for one year. The foundation also considers multi-year grants as well, typically for 2 or 3 years. If you are interested in a multi-year grant, please contact Mary Nell to discuss your ideas further before you begin to work on your proposal or budget. For all successful applicants, funds will be transferred by the end of 2024 for use beginning January 2025.
Definitions
We are using the term direct costs to describe expenses that are directly incurred for the work described in your proposal or, in other words, the specific project(s) or program for which you are requesting funds. Examples include salaries for program staff (or percentage time thereof), consultants, travel expenses, and materials or services required to execute the work. (An easy way to think of direct costs is as expenses that would not be incurred if the project(s) or program did not exist.)
We are defining indirect costs as overhead and administration expenses necessary to support an organization’s general operation, which are shared across projects or programs. Examples include rent and utilities, office furniture, computers (if used for more than one program or project) and information systems, and the costs of functions like development, finance and accounting, human resources, etc. Some organizations also use services for cleaning or security, and those would fall under indirect costs, as well as organizational bank fees. If your organization is using a fiscal agent or sponsor, their fee would be included in indirect costs, too. Additionally, information technology is often considered an indirect cost unless specific information technology exists only to benefit a specific project or program. Expenses like the ones listed above would be incurred in some amount with or without a specific project or program grant. While not incurred solely because of a project or program, they are necessary for the organization to execute their work.
With this in mind, please review instructions below, noting that they correspond both to a sample budget, as well as the blank budget template.
Instructions
Please keep in mind that the yellow column represents funds requested of Brindle; the peach column reflects the total costs of the project(s) or program. In other words, the peach column will often have a bigger number since it represents the additional expenses beyond that for which you are requesting Brindle support. For example, if you are requesting $100 from Brindle for materials and supplies for your infant and toddler classroom, but the true cost of these supplies is $300, then the yellow column would have $100 and the peach column would have $300.
Please also note that the Brindle Foundation fully recognizes that creating a budget is an exercise in imagining what the cost of a body of work will be and sometimes that imagined cost (even with extensive research in advance) turns out not to be on target. With this in mind, if you end up realizing once your project has started, that your budget needs to be changed significantly, please let us know by emailing us (at: marynell@brindlefoundation.org). We will be happy to discuss it with you and, in some situations, it may be important to adapt plans.
At the top of the form, please fill in the cell after "for:" with the name of your organization.
Box A: Direct costs
To construct your budget, please consider the entirety of what you are asking Brindle to fund and begin by listing your direct costs (in Box A) in the following way:
- For staff salary and wages, consider the cost of person power needed to complete the activities described in your proposal. For example:
- How many people will be needed to execute the work?
- What percentage of their time is required to do so?
- Given what they earn, what does the total amount of person time cost?
- Please add line items to describe the level of effort from individuals within this category (for example, 50% of project manager’s time, 25% of administrative staff time, and 10% of organization director’s time) noting what each percentage represents in dollars).
Additionally, if you offer fringe benefits as a percentage of salary or wages, please add a line for the total cost of fringe benefits aligned with these salary costs
- If you are going to be using consultants, as well, add a line item that describes the consultant costs.
The goal for this category is to describe the total amount of funds needed for individuals to do the work required. - For travel expenses, consider the cost of travel required to complete the work described in the proposal. For example:
- Will staff be driving to specific locations to conduct trainings? Attending meetings? Doing home visits?
- If so, consider mileage (reimbursed at 50 cents per mile), number of trips, and anything else required such as lodging. Insert line items to represent the total cost of the travel required by trip. For home visiting or regular travel to (as yet) unknown locations, please estimate travel costs.
- If any air travel will be required, insert a line item for air travel. Consider the ground transportation and lodging, and insert line items accordingly. - Are there materials and supplies for which you need Brindle support? For example:
- In order to lead training sessions for the project(s) or program, do you need binders, paper, markers, etc.?
- Do you need to buy diapers?
- Cleaning supplies?
- Materials for presentations?
- Workbooks?
If you will be feeding participants in sessions, add a line item for food and beverage costs. - Are there equipment or one-time purchases for which you are seeking Brindle funds? For example:
- Do you need to purchase playground equipment? A particular kind of flooring for toddlers?
- Is there special furniture required for this program or these project activities such as rocking chairs for an infant classroom?
- Is there medical equipment required that you will need to perform a service?
For equipment or one-time purchase costs, please list by line item in your budget what you need, how many of these items you need and the total cost. For example, if you have an infant classroom and need 3 rocking chairs, list what each rocking chair costs, multiplied by 3 to arrive at a total cost. - Under “other expenses,” please include direct line items that do not fit into one of the four categories above, such as:
- Registration fees and memberships
- Translation and interpretation
- Licensure
- Anything else that is a direct expense to support the project(s) or program for which you are seeking Brindle support.
Please note that, if you are requesting multi-year support, the same categories need to be filled in for each year of support requested and, for any subsequent years, please email the budgets to Mary Nell as an attachment.
For applications for partnerships, please follow the same instructions for direct costs, considering your partnership the “organization.” If you are sharing staff, for example, consider the total cost of the shared staff as a direct cost.
Box A is now complete!
Box B: Indirect costs
To further our own learning, Brindle is interested in understanding more fully the costs organizations are managing in order to do what they do. For this reason, as the foundation explores ideas about how best to support organizations, it is helpful for us to know the true costs incurred. With this in mind, please estimate your organization’s top 3-5 indirect costs in Box B.
Please note: If your organization is large and running many departments or divisions (such as a university, community center, or hospital), please share the smallest relevant unit of administration. For example, if you have a department of early childhood education within a School of Education, we are interested in learning about departmental indirect costs if more relevant than the entire school’s indirect costs. If you have a daycare within a community center, please consider the daycare the unit that you describe. In a hospital setting, please describe the applicable program or service portfolio rather than the entire hospital’s indirect costs. In other words, we are asking what costs you need to cover, as opposed to what your larger organizational administration needs to cover.
In Box B, please think about the universe of indirect cost your organization or program has. What are the biggest expenses incurred to keep your organization or program going that you cannot charge to a specific project that might be funded directly? For example:
For applications for partnerships, please follow the same instructions for direct costs, considering your partnership the “organization.” If you are sharing staff, for example, consider the total cost of the shared staff as a direct cost.
Box A is now complete!
Box B: Indirect costs
To further our own learning, Brindle is interested in understanding more fully the costs organizations are managing in order to do what they do. For this reason, as the foundation explores ideas about how best to support organizations, it is helpful for us to know the true costs incurred. With this in mind, please estimate your organization’s top 3-5 indirect costs in Box B.
Please note: If your organization is large and running many departments or divisions (such as a university, community center, or hospital), please share the smallest relevant unit of administration. For example, if you have a department of early childhood education within a School of Education, we are interested in learning about departmental indirect costs if more relevant than the entire school’s indirect costs. If you have a daycare within a community center, please consider the daycare the unit that you describe. In a hospital setting, please describe the applicable program or service portfolio rather than the entire hospital’s indirect costs. In other words, we are asking what costs you need to cover, as opposed to what your larger organizational administration needs to cover.
In Box B, please think about the universe of indirect cost your organization or program has. What are the biggest expenses incurred to keep your organization or program going that you cannot charge to a specific project that might be funded directly? For example:
- Administrative fees paid to a fiscal agent or sponsor?
- Rent and utilities?
- Office furniture?
- Computers?
- Staff salaries not covered by a specific program? (administrative, legal, human resources, finance, etc.)?
- Information technology?
- Security services?
- Cleaning services?
- Bank fees?
Please feel free to add or delete rows as appropriate. We are interested in learning your 3-5 most expensive annual direct costs, and an estimate is fine.
Brindle will cover up to 15% of indirect costs and you may add up to this amount on top of your direct costs in your grant application budget request.
Once you have listed 3-5 of your most expensive costs, you are done with Box B!
For applications for partnerships, we realize that it may be difficult to note indirect costs. If possible, please list your partnership’s top 3-5 indirect costs.” You may request 15% indirect cost coverage. To further our own learning, Brindle is interested in understanding more fully the costs organizations are managing in order to do what they do. For this reason, as the foundation explores ideas about how best to support organizations, it is helpful for us to know the true costs incurred. With this in mind, please estimate your organization’s top 3-5 indirect costs in Box B.
For Box C: Revenue
Finally, for Box C, the foundation is interested in learning about your organization’s or department’s sources of income. As noted above for Box B, we are interested in the smallest relevant administrative unit. Please consider what revenue you typically earn that supports your work and, if part of a larger organization, please consider what supports your specific work in early childhood. For example:
Brindle will cover up to 15% of indirect costs and you may add up to this amount on top of your direct costs in your grant application budget request.
Once you have listed 3-5 of your most expensive costs, you are done with Box B!
For applications for partnerships, we realize that it may be difficult to note indirect costs. If possible, please list your partnership’s top 3-5 indirect costs.” You may request 15% indirect cost coverage. To further our own learning, Brindle is interested in understanding more fully the costs organizations are managing in order to do what they do. For this reason, as the foundation explores ideas about how best to support organizations, it is helpful for us to know the true costs incurred. With this in mind, please estimate your organization’s top 3-5 indirect costs in Box B.
For Box C: Revenue
Finally, for Box C, the foundation is interested in learning about your organization’s or department’s sources of income. As noted above for Box B, we are interested in the smallest relevant administrative unit. Please consider what revenue you typically earn that supports your work and, if part of a larger organization, please consider what supports your specific work in early childhood. For example:
- Are there sources of federal support?
- State subsidies?
- Client fees?
- Membership dues?
- Fundraising efforts?/special events?
- Grants from private donors or foundations?
As above, please list your typical, basic sources of revenue. Estimates are fine.
For applications for partnerships, we realize that there may or may not be projected revenue. If there are any sources of income that you can identify that are applicable to the partnership, please list them. Otherwise, leave this box blank.
Once these are listed, you are done with Box C!
For applications for partnerships, we realize that there may or may not be projected revenue. If there are any sources of income that you can identify that are applicable to the partnership, please list them. Otherwise, leave this box blank.
Once these are listed, you are done with Box C!