River
Y CombinatorBacked by Y Combinator
Log InStart Free
FREE TEMPLATE

Grant Budget Template for Nonprofits

Three documents and three sheets that build the budget in the funder's categories and in your own chart of accounts at once, so both foot.

Edit with AIDownload Word and CSV

Free download  ·  No account needed

What you get

Pack of 6 files: 3 documents, 3 spreadsheets

Grant Budget Template for Nonprofits
  • Budget NarrativeDocument
  • Indirect Cost ExplanationDocument
  • Match and In-kind NoteDocument
  • Budget in the Funder's CategoriesSpreadsheet
  • Crosswalk to Chart of AccountsSpreadsheet
  • Match Documentation RegisterSpreadsheet
RiverGrant Budget Template for Nonprofits

Crosswalk to Chart of Accounts

One row per account and destination pair

Built at proposal time, not at report time. Every row foots back to its account. Every destination foots up to its funder category.

AccountDestinationAmountShapeAllocation basis
Salaries and wagesPersonnel-one to onenot needed
Payroll taxesFringe Benefits-many to onenot needed
Employee benefitsFringe Benefits-many to onenot needed
OccupancyOther-SPLITsquare footage
OccupancyIndirect pool-SPLITsquare footage
Professional feesContractual-SPLITengagement letter
Professional feesIndirect pool-SPLITengagement letter
Sum of account totals-
Sum of destinations-must be the same figure

Why the second direction is the point

A crosswalk that only foots forward hides the accounts that split, and the accounts that split are the entire reason to build one. Each of them needs a measurable basis, stated now, that every future report re-applies.

The two bases, kept apart

Total direct costs is what a funder cap is written against. Modified total direct costs is what a negotiated rate is written against. Build both from the accounts before any rate touches them.

River's grant budget pack is three documents and three sheets, built around the step every budget template skips: the crosswalk from the funder's categories to your own chart of accounts. A budget gets built once, in the funder's words, by whoever writes the proposal. It then gets reported against for years out of a general ledger that uses different words, usually by somebody else. The proposal is where the budget goes. The crosswalk is what makes the reporting a lookup rather than a reconstruction.

Every free budget template lists the same eight categories and tells you to apply your negotiated rate, or the de minimis rate if you have none. None of them mention that the two sit on different bases. A funder cap is written against total direct costs. A negotiated rate is written against modified total direct costs, which removes equipment, rent, participant support and the part of each subaward above fifty thousand dollars. Subtracting the two percentages is arithmetic on incompatible units, and it errs in the funder's favour every time.

Halyard Youth Collective's budget has total direct costs of $779,520 and a modified base of $597,600. Against the modified base the funder's ten percent cap is an effective 13.0 percent, so the real gap to a 24.6 percent negotiated rate is 11.6 points rather than 14.6. That is $69,058 of unrecovered indirect cost. Its match, separately, falls $86,041 short once items already pledged elsewhere come out, and the cost sharing rules let the first figure cover 80.3 percent of the second.

The crosswalk, the two bases, and the match nobody de-duplicates

One budget in two languages, then the arithmetic the two languages make possible.

Grant Budget Template for Nonprofits
RiverCrosswalk

Crosswalk to Chart of Accounts

Illustrative, for a fictional organisation called Halyard Youth Collective. A 12-month federal application, 80 participants. Thirteen accounts carry the budget.

AccountAccount totalDestinationAmountAllocation basis
5100 Salaries and wages$318,000Personnel$318,000one to one
5150 Payroll taxes$26,300Fringe Benefits$26,300one of two accounts
5160 Employee benefits$54,100Fringe Benefits$54,100two of two accounts
5200 Professional fees$61,500Contractual$47,000evaluator engagement letter
5200 Professional fees$61,500Indirect pool$14,500audit engagement letter
5250 Subawards to partners$85,000Contractual$85,000two executed agreements
5300 Occupancy$72,000Other$43,9202,440 of 4,000 sq ft
5300 Occupancy$72,000Indirect pool$28,0801,560 of 4,000 sq ft
5600 Technology and software$28,500Supplies$19,00040 of 60 licence seats
5600 Technology and software$28,500Indirect pool$9,50020 of 60 licence seats
Seven further accounts, each one to one: supplies, participant assistance, travel, insurance, equipment, training, subawards
Sum of account totals$831,600Sum of destinations$831,600foots both ways
Of which direct charges$779,520Of which indirect pool$52,080not a budget line

Three of the thirteen accounts split, and $162,000 flows through those three, which is 19.5% of the budget. Those three are the entire exercise. Each one needs a basis that is a measurable thing rather than a percentage somebody chose, and every financial report on this award for the next several years re-applies it. Note the shape of the Fringe Benefits row too: the funder has one line and Halyard has two accounts, so the report has to know to add them. None of that is hard. It is just invisible unless somebody writes it down at proposal time.

RiverIndirect

The two bases, and the three figures

The cap and the rate are not comparable percentages. Build both bases from the accounts, apply each rate to its own base, and only then convert one so they can be read together.

BaseWhat it excludesAmountShare of direct
Total direct costsnothing$779,520100.0%
Modified total direct costsfour categories, itemised below$597,60076.7%
EquipmentEquipment line on the form$34,000
Participant support costsOther line on the form$96,000
Rental costsOther line on the form$43,920
Each subaward above the first $50,000Contractual line on the form$8,000
Difference between the bases$181,92023.3%

Three rates, three results

RateBase it applies toBase amountResult
Funder cap, 10.0%Total direct costs$779,520$77,952
Negotiated, 24.6%Modified total direct costs$597,600$147,010
De minimis, 15.0%Modified total direct costs$597,600$89,640, unavailable

The cap and the rate, finally on one base

As the headline readsOn one base
Negotiated rate24.6%24.6%
Funder cap10.0%13.0%
Gap14.6 points11.6 points
Unrecovered indirect cost$69,058

Two traps live in this table. The de minimis rate is electable only by a recipient without a current negotiated rate, so Halyard cannot take it, and the figure is computed only because somebody always asks. And the subaward exclusion is per subaward: Halyard's $85,000 goes to two partners at $58,000 and $27,000, so $8,000 comes out. The same $85,000 to one partner would exclude $35,000, drop the modified base to $570,600 and cut recovery to $140,368. Two partners rather than one is worth $6,642, which is not a reason to choose partners but is a reason to compute the base after the subawards are settled.

RiverMatch

Match Documentation Register

The notice requires 25% of the federal share. 25% of $857,472 is $214,368. Read the base in that sentence: 25% of total project cost would be $285,824 from the same percentage.

ItemComputationGrossExcludedCounts
Donated clinical supervision240 hrs x $84.50 x 1.27 fringe x 1.312 indirect$33,791-$33,791
Volunteer mentor hours1,860 hrs x $22.40$41,664$13,888$27,776
Donated programme space2,400 sq ft x $18.75$45,000$45,000$0
Donated laptops14 x $340 fair market value$4,760-$4,760
Cash, family foundationcommitted in writing$62,000-$62,000
Totalgross, excluded, net$187,215$58,888$128,327

Why two items came out

620 of the 1,860 volunteer hours are already claimed against another federal award, so the hours get split rather than the item dropped. The donated space is committed in full against a state grant that is itself federal pass-through money, and money does not stop being a federal award because a state agency's name is on the agreement. Look through the pass-through, not at the name on the cheque.

Closing the gap with the indirect the cap refuses to pay

StepAmountNote
Match required$214,36825% of the federal share
Net verified after de-duplication$128,32731.5% of the file came out
Shortfall$86,041
Unrecovered indirect cost$69,058may count as cost share with prior approval
Still to raise$16,98380.3% of the gap closed

This is the move the whole pack exists to make possible, and it is only available at proposal stage. Unrecovered indirect cost may be counted as cost sharing with prior approval, and prior approval means it has to be in the approved budget. So the largest single source available for a match gap costs nothing to raise, because it is money the organisation is already spending and cannot bill, and it disappears entirely the moment the budget is submitted without it. A de-duplication check run at proposal time removes 31.5% of a development file. The same check run by an auditor removes it too, and calls it a finding.

What is in the pack

01

Crosswalk to Chart of Accounts

One row per account and destination pair, both footing checks stated as figures, and a measurable allocation basis with its source document on every line that splits.

02

Budget in the Funder's Categories

The funder's own categories in the funder's own order, every figure derived from a nameable document, with the two indirect bases built out at the foot.

03

Indirect Cost Explanation

Both bases with every exclusion itemised, the three rates each on its own base, the cap converted to an effective rate, and the unrecovered amount in dollars.

04

Match Documentation Register

Every commitment with its computation, its valuation rule, its source document, and the other award it was excluded to when it turns out to be already promised.

05

Match and In-kind Note

The valuation rule for each kind of contribution, the de-duplication result as a figure, and the prior-approval request that closes what is left of the gap.

06

Budget Narrative

One paragraph per line in the funder's order, each showing its derivation, plus the four disclosures a plain narrative leaves out and a reviewer notices.

07

Every line exists in both languages

The space rule every prompt reads first: both totals foot, every split names its basis, indirect never gets compared as percentages, match carries its rule.

How it works

  1. 1

    Send the form and your accounts

    The funder's budget form and instructions, the notice of funding opportunity for the cap and match rules, your chart of accounts, cost detail, and your rate agreement if you hold one.

  2. 2

    Build it in both languages

    The funder's categories in the funder's words, then the same budget mapped to your accounts, with both footing checks stated as figures rather than asserted.

  3. 3

    Compute indirect on both bases

    Every exclusion itemised, each rate on its own base, the cap converted so the real gap is visible, and the unrecovered amount priced. Never a subtraction of percentages.

  4. 4

    Value the match, then de-duplicate

    Each item under the rule for its kind with the arithmetic shown, checked against every other award, then the shortfall tested against what the award terms oblige.

Frequently asked questions

Is this free, and what format are the files?

Yes. The download is three Word documents and three CSV spreadsheets, which open in Word, Pages, Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets with no conversion. Edit with AI opens the same pack as a working space instead, where the crosswalk foots against your own chart of accounts and your own funder's form.

Why not just fill in the funder's budget form?

You still do. The form is one of the two sheets here. The other one is the mapping from that form to your own accounts, which is what the financial report will need and what nobody writes down. On Halyard's budget, three of thirteen accounts split across destinations, carrying 19.5 percent of the money.

Is the de minimis indirect rate 10 percent or 15 percent?

Fifteen, and the rule also makes it electable only by a recipient without a current federally negotiated rate. Plenty of free templates still print 10 percent, which was the old figure. It is a ceiling rather than a fixed rate, and electing it commits you across all your federal awards.

Our funder caps indirect below our negotiated rate. What can we do?

First compute both on their own bases, because the gap is usually smaller than the percentages suggest. Then ask the programme officer which ground the deviation rests on, since a negotiated rate has to be accepted unless a statute requires otherwise or the agency approves a published deviation.

Can unrecovered indirect cost really count as match?

With the prior approval of the agency or pass-through entity, yes, and that is why it belongs in the proposal rather than the post-award file. Prior approval means it has to be in the approved budget. Halyard's $69,058 closes 80.3 percent of an $86,041 match gap and costs nothing to raise.

How do we value volunteer time and donated space?

By the rule for each kind, not by one blended figure. Volunteer rates have to be consistent with what you pay for similar work, donated space is capped at the fair rental value of comparable space by independent appraisal, and a third party's donated employee carries their fringe and indirect too.

How does this relate to the proposal and the eventual report?

The narrative and figures feed the proposal and whatever the portal demands of them. Later, the reporting crosswalk and the SF-425 re-apply the allocation bases set here, which is the whole reason to set them now.

Sources

  1. eCFR2 CFR 200.1 (opens in a new tab)
  2. eCFR2 CFR 200.306 — Cost sharing (opens in a new tab)
  3. eCFR2 CFR 200.414 — Indirect costs (opens in a new tab)

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

LinkedInGitHubX

Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

LinkedInX

Related

Nonprofit grant proposal template

The proposal this budget is attached to, written against the funder's own review criteria.

Funder research and prospect pack

Which funders are worth a budget at all, scored before anybody costs a project.

Single audit preparation checklist

Where the allocation bases set at proposal time eventually get tested by somebody else.

More free templates

Grant Boilerplate Library Template

Every guide says keep your boilerplate current. None says how to know a block went stale between updates. This register tracks the real event, not the calendar.

Grant Funder Research and Prospecting

Score funders on the grants they actually paid, not the guidelines they published. Nine prospects, three survivors, and the number that decided each drop.

Grant Renewal Application Template

A 50% single-year miss on a completion target can still resolve to 96% of a two-year promise. This template traces the variance instead of hiding it.

Letter of Inquiry Template for Nonprofits

Two funders both say two pages and mean figures 618 words apart. This pack converts every limit into one unit and checks it against required content.

Find out what your indirect cap actually costs you

Send the funder's form, your chart of accounts and your rate agreement. The first things back are the crosswalk, both footing checks, and the unrecovered amount in dollars.

Edit with AI