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Free Grant Budget Template for Excel

Plan operating expenses by category and use our dashboard to compare expenses across prior year, current year and plan year.

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How To Manage Your Grant Budget in Excel With Our Free Template 

 Watch our video for a step-by-step guide on how to use this template or review the instructions below. 

 

Step 1: Download the Template 

  • Start by downloading the free Grant Budget Excel Template.  

  

Step 2: Populate the Profile Tab 

  • Open the template and go to the 'Profile' tab. 

  • Here, you can enter details of all existing and planned grants, along with the projects associated with them. 

  • To add a new grant, copy the formulas from an existing row to a new row. 

  • Enter the grant details including the start date, end date, and total grant amount. 

  • For each grant, input the total grant guidance across all projects. 

  

Step 3: Plan for Grant Guidance 

  • Based on the start and end dates you entered, the template will automatically update the grant guidance period. 

  • Under the 'Totals' column, you'll see the sum of grant guidance per year. 

  

Step 4: Populate the Allocations Tab With Expenses and Funds 

  • Switch to the 'Allocations' tab. 

  • Begin by entering your operating expenses and grant expenses. 

  • Expand the column grouping to view pre-populated values, which you can modify based on your data. 

  • Allocate funds from the grants to specific General Ledger (GL) accounts. 

  • As you input values, the 'Remainder' column will update, showing the GL accounts that still need funds allocated. Adjust the values until the remainder column balances out. 

  

Step 5: Use the Dashboard Tab 

  • Navigate to the 'Dashboard' tab to see the projected operating expenses pre and post allocation. 

  • Use the slicers provided to view different levels of expenses. 

  

The Importance of Grant Budget Management 

 You already know that managing grant budgets is important, but why?  

 

Effective grant budget management is essential for ensuring financial compliance, optimizing resource allocation and improving transparency within an organization. It also helps improve the accuracy of financial planning and forecasting, supports timely and clear reporting and improves decision-making capabilities for organizations. 

  

Managing grant budgets enables organizations to better demonstrate impact of their projects, which is crucial for securing continued or additional funding. 

  

For more information around grant management, and securing more grants, you can check out our Ultimate Guide to Grant Management for Nonprofits and read our blog article, 3 Questions Every Winning Grant Proposal Answers. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Track Expenses in this Spreadsheet?

Yes. You can track expenses in this template. Expenses can even be broken down into operating expenses and grant expenses. 

Is this Grant Budget Template Really Free?

Yes. This template is completely free to use, as are our other financial excel templates.

Do I Need Vena to Use The Grant Budget Template?

No. You just need a licensed & working copy of Microsoft Excel!

Can I Use This Grant Budget Template in Google Sheets?

This template will provide optimal performance in Microsoft Excel.

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