1. Read the transcript. Provide any iportant points.
PROGRAM BUDGETS
Narrator: Welcome to the Week Four Podcast. This week we'll discuss program budgets.
Narrator: Why are program budgets important in grant writing?
SME: There's probably only one thing worse than being rejected for a grant, and that's obtaining a grant only to realize that you didn't ask for enough money, or that you made an incorrect calculation that leaves you short of funding. If you're serious about grant writing as a career, you'll greatly benefit from taking accounting classes. In general, it's important to consider the various formats that one can use for budgeting, and methods for determining the costs of program implementation.
Narrator: What key point should students focus on this week?
SME: The best way to overcome errors is to have a budget development process that works. Focus on the various formats, especially the common line items. Those help account for the most conventional categories, and can serve as guidelines for cost development.
2. Why is it important to include overhead costs in a grant budget?
3. can a grant funded agency share overhead expenses with a non-grant funded agency? Is this legal? Ethical?
For clarity, an example of this would be a grant funded drug task force sharing office space with a local police department's gang investigations unit. Should the grant funding cover expenses for that municipality? As you consider this, remember the concept of supplanting. It is usually not allowed in the grant world.
4. Now here is where the grant funding can become a sticky problem with potential criminal or civil penalties. If the grant funded portion is covering expenses for an employee that is not part of the grant project there is potential for a supplanting issue. The closest thing to a simple test to make a determination is to ask this: are grant funds being used to cover expenses that should be covered by a state or local agency? If so, this may be a supplanting issue.
5. How does a budget narrative relate to the actual budget?