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
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Open the template and go to the 'Profile' tab.
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Here, you can enter details of all existing and planned grants, along with the projects associated with them.
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To add a new grant, copy the formulas from an existing row to a new row.
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Enter the grant details including the start date, end date, and total grant amount.
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For each grant, input the total grant guidance across all projects.
Step 3: Plan for Grant Guidance
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Based on the start and end dates you entered, the template will automatically update the grant guidance period.
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Under the 'Totals' column, you'll see the sum of grant guidance per year.
Step 4: Populate the Allocations Tab With Expenses and Funds
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Switch to the 'Allocations' tab.
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Begin by entering your operating expenses and grant expenses.
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Expand the column grouping to view pre-populated values, which you can modify based on your data.
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Allocate funds from the grants to specific General Ledger (GL) accounts.
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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
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Navigate to the 'Dashboard' tab to see the projected operating expenses pre and post allocation.
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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.
