project budget research

The Research Whisperer

Just like the thesis whisperer – but with more money, how to make a simple research budget.

Every research project needs a budget*.

If you are applying for funding, you must say what you are planning to spend that funding on. More than that, you need to show how spending that money will help you to answer your research question .

So, developing the budget is the perfect time to plan your project clearly . A good budget shows the assessors that you have thought about your research in detail and, if it is done well, it can serve as a great, convincing overview of the project.

Here are five steps to create a simple budget for your research project.

1. List your activities

Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project, and who is going to do it.

Take your methodology and turn it into a step-by-step plan. Have you said that you will interview 50 people? Write it on your list.

Are you performing statistical analysis on your sample?  Write it down.

Think through the implications of what you are going to do. Do you need to use a Thingatron? Note down that you will need to buy it, install it, and commission it.

What about travel? Write down each trip separately. Be specific. You can’t just go to ‘South East Asia’ to do fieldwork. You need to go to Kuala Lumpur to interview X number of people over Y weeks, then the same again for Singapore and Jakarta.

Your budget list might look like this:

• I’m going to do 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
• I’ll need teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
• I’ll need Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
• I’ll need Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem.
• The transcription service will transcribe the 30 interviews.
• I’ll analysis the transcribed results. (No teaching release required – I’ll do it in my meagre research time allowance.)
• I’ll need a Thingatron X32C to do the trials.
• Thing Inc will need to install the Thingatron. (I wonder how long that will take.)
• The research assistant will do three trials a month with the Thingatron.
• I’ll need to hire a research assistant (1 day per week for a year at Level B1.)
• The research assistant will do the statistical analysis of the Thingatron results.
• I’ll do the writing up in my research allowance time.

By the end, you should feel like you have thought through the entire project in detail. You should be able to walk someone else through the project, so grab a critical friend and read the list to them. If they ask questions, write down the answers.

This will help you to get to the level of specificity you need for the next step.

2. Check the rules again

You’ve already read the funding rules, right? If not, go and read them now – I’ll wait right here until you get back.

Once you’ve listed everything you want to do, go back and read the specific rules for budgets again. What is and isn’t allowed? The funding scheme won’t pay for equipment – you’ll need to fund your Thingatron from somewhere else. Cross it off.

Some schemes won’t fund people. Others won’t fund travel. It is important to know what you need for your project. It is just as important to know what you can include in the application that you are writing right now.

Most funding schemes won’t fund infrastructure (like building costs) and other things that aren’t directly related to the project. Some will, though. If they do, you should include overheads (i.e. the general costs that your organisation needs to keep running). This includes the cost of basics like power and lighting; desks and chairs; and cleaners and security staff. It also includes service areas like the university library. Ask your finance officer for help with this. Often, it is a percentage of the overall cost of the project.

If you are hiring people, don’t forget to use the right salary rate and include salary on-costs. These are the extra costs that an organisation has to pay for an employee, but that doesn’t appear in their pay check. This might include things like superannuation, leave loading, insurance, and payroll tax. Once again, your finance officer can help with this.

Your budget list might now look like this:

• 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
• Teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
• Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
• Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem, plus travel insurance (rule 3F).
• Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service.
• Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required.
• Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C . Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project.
• Three trials a month with Thingatron, by research assistant.
• Statistical analysis of Thingatron results, by research assistant.
• Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs.
• Overheads at 125% of total cash request, as per rule 3H.

3. Cost each item

For each item on your list, find a reasonable cost for it . Are you going to interview the fifty people and do the statistical analysis yourself? If so, do you need time release from teaching? How much time? What is your salary for that period of time, or how much will it cost to hire a replacement? Don’t forget any hidden costs, like salary on-costs.

If you aren’t going to do the work yourself, work out how long you need a research assistant for. Be realistic. Work out what level you want to employ them at, and find out how much that costs.

How much is your Thingatron going to cost? Sometimes, you can just look that stuff up on the web. Other times, you’ll need to ring a supplier, particularly if there are delivery and installation costs.

Jump on a travel website and find reasonable costs for travel to Kuala Lumpur and the other places. Find accommodation costs for the period that you are planning to stay, and work out living expenses. Your university, or your government, may have per diem rates for travel like this.

Make a note of where you got each of your estimates from. This will be handy later, when you write the budget justification.

• 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me (see below for travel costs).
• Teaching release for three months for fieldwork = $25,342 – advice from finance officer.
• Flights to KL ($775), Singapore ($564), Jakarta ($726), Melbourne ($535) – Blue Sky airlines, return economy.
• Accommodation for a month in each place (KL: $3,500; Sing: $4,245; Jak: $2,750 – long stay, three star accommodation as per TripAdviser).
• Per diem for three months (60 days x $125 per day – University travel rules).
• Travel insurance (rule 3F): $145 – University travel insurance calculator .
• Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service: 30 interviews x 60 minutes per interview x $2.75 per minute – Quote from transcription service, accented voices rate.
• Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required. (In-kind contribution of university worth $2,112 for one week of my time – advice from finance officer ).
• Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C. Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project. ($2,435 in-kind – quote from partner organisation, at ‘favoured client’ rate.)
• Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs. $12,456 – advice from finance officer.

Things are getting messy, but the next step will tidy it up.

4. Put it in a spreadsheet

Some people work naturally in spreadsheets (like Excel). Others don’t. If you don’t like Excel, tough. You are going to be doing research budgets for the rest of your research life.

When you are working with budgets, a spreadsheet is the right tool for the job, so learn to use it! Learn enough to construct a simple budget – adding things up and multiplying things together will get you through most of it. Go and do a course if you have to.

For a start, your spreadsheet will multiply things like 7 days in Kuala Lumpur at $89.52 per day, and it will also add up all of your sub-totals for you.

If your budget doesn’t add up properly (because, for example, you constructed it as a table in Word), two things will happen. First, you will look foolish. Secondly, and more importantly, people will lose confidence in all your other numbers, too. If your total is wrong, they will start to question the validity of the rest of your budget. You don’t want that.

If you are shy of maths, then Excel is your friend. It will do most of the heavy lifting for you.

For this exercise, the trick is to put each number on a new line. Here is how it might look.

5. Justify it

Accompanying every budget is a budget justification. For each item in your budget, you need to answer two questions:

• Why do you need this money?
• Where did you get your figures from?

The budget justification links your budget to your project plan and back again. Everything item in your budget should be listed in your budget justification, so take the list from your budget and paste it into your budget justification.

For each item, give a short paragraph that says why you need it. Refer back to the project plan and expand on what is there. For example, if you have listed a research assistant in your application, this is a perfect opportunity to say what the research assistant will be doing.

Also, for each item, show where you got your figures from. For a research assistant, this might mean talking about the level of responsibility required, so people can understand why you chose the salary level. For a flight, it might be as easy as saying: “Blue Sky airlines economy return flight.”

Here is an example for just one aspect of the budget:

Fieldwork: Kuala Lumpur

Past experience has shown that one month allows enough time to refine and localise interview questions with research partners at University of Malaya, test interview instrument, recruit participants, conduct ten x one-hour interviews with field notes. In addition, the novel methodology will be presented at CONF2015, to be held in Malaysia in February 2015.

Melbourne – Kuala Lumpur economy airfare is based on current Blue Sky Airlines rates. Note that airfares have been kept to a minimum by travelling from country to country, rather than returning to Australia.

1 month accommodation is based on three star, long stay accommodation rates provided by TripAdvisor.

30 days per diem rate is based on standard university rates for South-East Asia.

Pro tip: Use the same nomenclature everywhere. If you list a Thingatron X32C in your budget, then call it a Thingatron X32C in your budget justification and project plan. In an ideal world, someone should be able to flip from the project plan, to the budget and to the budget justification and back again and always know exactly where they are.

• Project plan: “Doing fieldwork in Malaysia? Whereabouts?” Flips to budget.
• Budget: “A month in Kuala Lumpur – OK. Why a month?” Flips to budget justification.
• Budget justification: “Ah, the field work happens at the same time as the conference. Now I get it. So, what are they presenting at the conference?” Flips back to the project description…

So, there you have it: Make a list; check the rules; cost everything; spreadsheet it; and then justify it. Budget done. Good job, team!

This article builds on several previous articles. I have shamelessly stolen from them.

• Constructing your budget – Jonathan O’Donnell.
• What makes a winning budget ? – Jonathan O’Donnell.
• How NOT to pad your budget – Tseen Khoo.
• Conquer the budget, conquer the project – Tseen Khoo.
• Research on a shoestring – Emily Kothe.
• How to make a simple Gantt chart – Jonathan O’Donnell.

* Actually, there are some grant schemes that give you a fixed amount of money, which I think is a really great idea . However, you will still need to work out what you are going to spend the money on, so you will still need a budget at some stage, even if you don’t need it for the application.

Also in the ‘simple grant’ series:

• How to write a simple research methods section .
• How to make a simple Gantt chart .

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29 comments.

This has saved my day!

Happy to help, Malba.

Like Liked by 1 person

[…] you be putting in a bid for funding? Are there costs involved, such as travel or equipment costs? Research Whisperer’s post on research budgets may help you […]

I’ve posted a link to this article of Jonathan’s in the Australasian Research Management Society LinkedIn group as well, as I’m sure lots of other people will want to share this.

Thanks, Miriam.

This is great! Humorous way to talk explain a serious subject and could be helpful in designing budgets for outreach grants, as well. Thanks!

Thanks, Jackie

If you are interested, I have another one on how to do a timeline: https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/gantt-chart/

[…] really useful information regarding budget development can be found on the Research Whisperer Blog here. Any other thoughts and suggestions are welcome – what are your tips to developing a good […]

[…] it gets you to the level of specificity that you need for a detailed methods section. Similarly, working out a budget for your workshops will force you to be specific about how many people will be attending (venue […]

A friend of mine recently commented by e-mail:

I was interested in your blog “How to make a simple research budget”, particularly the statement: “Think through the implications of what you are going to do. Do you need to use a Thingatron? Note down that you will need to buy it, install it, and commission it.”

From my limited experience so far, I’d think you could add:

“Who else is nearby who might share the costs of the Thingatron? If it’s a big capital outlay, and you’re only going to use it to 34% of it’s capacity, sharing can make the new purchase much easier to justify. But how will this fit into your grant? And then it’s got to be maintained – the little old chap who used to just do all that odd mix of electrickery and persuasion to every machine in the lab got retrenched in the last round. You can run it into the ground. But that means you won’t have a reliable, stable Thingatron all ready to run when you apply for the follow-on grant in two years.”

[…] (For more on this process, take a look at How to Write a Simple Project Budget.) […]

[…] Source: How to make a simple research budget […]

This is such a big help! Thank You!

No worries, Claudine. Happy to help.

Would you like to share the link of the article which was wrote about funding rules? I can’t find it. Many thanks!

Hello there – do you mean this post? https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/reading-guidelines

Thank @tseen khoo, very useful tips. I also want to understand more about 3C 3F 3H. What do they stand for? Can you help me find out which posts talk about that. Thank again.

[…] mount up rapidly, even if you are in a remote and developing part of the world. Putting together a half decent budget early on and being aware of funding opportunities can help to avoid financial disaster half way […]

This is so amazing, it really helpful and educative. Happy unread this last week before my proposal was drafted.

Happy to help, Babayomi. Glad you liked it.

really useful! thanks kate

[…] “How to Make a Simple Research Budget,” by Jonathan O’Donnell on The Research Whisperer […]

[…] offering services that ran pretty expensive. until I found this one. It guided me through making a simple budget. The information feels sort of like a university graduate research paper but having analysed […]

[…] Advice on writing research proposals for industry […]

[…] research serves as the bedrock of informed budgeting. Explore the average costs of accommodation, transportation, meals, and activities in your chosen […]

[…] How to make a simple research budget […]

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Detailed Research Proposal Budget Example: Plan Your Finances

Planning the budget for your research proposal is a critical step that can determine the success of your project. A well-crafted budget not only outlines the financial needs of your research but also assures funders that you have a clear understanding of the costs involved. This article will guide you through the essential elements of creating a detailed research proposal budget, helping you to plan your finances effectively.

Key Takeaways

• A research proposal budget is a financial plan that details the costs of a research project.
• Including both direct and indirect costs in your budget is crucial for accuracy.
• Justifying each budget item helps in gaining approval from stakeholders.
• Avoiding common budgeting mistakes can improve the chances of funding success.
• Using tools and resources can simplify the budget planning process.

Understanding the Importance of a Research Proposal Budget

Defining a research proposal budget.

A research proposal budget is a detailed financial plan that outlines the costs associated with your project. It includes both direct and indirect costs, ensuring that every aspect of your research is financially covered. Creating a clear budget helps you avoid unexpected expenses and keeps your project on track.

Role in Project Planning

The budget plays a crucial role in project planning by providing a roadmap for how funds will be allocated. It helps you identify the resources needed and ensures that you have the financial means to achieve your research question . This planning phase is essential for crafting an effective Ph.D. thesis proposal: tips and strategies include setting clear objectives, methodology, and originality.

Impact on Funding Decisions

Funders need to know how their money will be used. A well-prepared budget can make a significant difference in securing funding. It demonstrates that you have thought through every aspect of your project and are prepared to manage the funds responsibly. This can be the deciding factor in whether your proposal gets approved or not.

Key Components of a Research Proposal Budget

Creating a research proposal budget involves several key components that ensure a comprehensive financial plan. These components help in outlining the necessary expenses and justifying the funding required for the project. Understanding these elements is crucial for crafting a successful budget.

Direct Costs

Direct costs are the expenses directly associated with the research project. These include salaries for research staff, equipment, supplies, and travel costs. It's important to list these costs clearly to show funders that you have a realistic sense of the expenses needed to complete the work.

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs, also known as overheads, are expenses that are not directly tied to the project but are necessary for its completion. These can include administrative support, facility maintenance, and utilities. Including indirect costs in your budget ensures that all aspects of the project are covered.

Cost Sharing

Cost sharing refers to the portion of the project costs that are not covered by the sponsor but are instead funded by the research institution or other sources. This can include matching funds or in-kind contributions. Highlighting cost sharing in your budget can demonstrate your institution's commitment to the project.

Steps to Create an Effective Research Proposal Budget

Creating a research proposal budget involves several key steps to ensure that all expenses are accounted for and justified. This process is crucial for securing funding and successfully managing your project.

Identifying Expenses

Start by listing all the potential costs associated with your research. This includes direct costs like salaries, equipment, and materials, as well as indirect costs such as administrative support and facility usage. Being thorough in this step can prevent future financial shortfalls.

Estimating Costs

Once you have identified the expenses, the next step is to estimate the costs. Use historical data, vendor quotes, and expert opinions to make accurate estimates. It's important to be realistic and avoid underestimating costs, as this can lead to budget overruns.

Justifying Budget Items

After estimating the costs, you need to justify each budget item. Explain why each expense is necessary for the success of your project. This justification helps reviewers understand the importance of each cost and increases the likelihood of your budget being approved. Clear and detailed justifications can make a significant difference in the approval process.

Guidelines for Budget Justification

Explaining direct costs.

When explaining direct costs, you need to clearly outline why each expense is necessary for your project. Every item in your budget should be listed in your budget justification . This means you should answer two main questions for each cost: Why do you need this money? Where did you get your figures from? This links your budget to your project plan and back again.

Detailing Indirect Costs

Indirect costs are often overlooked but are just as important. These costs include things like administrative support and facility maintenance. Make sure to provide enough detail so that the sponsor can determine whether the proposed costs are reasonable and appropriate. Always consult the sponsor's proposal preparation guidelines for each item.

Rationale for Cost Sharing

Cost sharing involves splitting the costs of the project between different sources. This can make your proposal more attractive to sponsors. Explain why cost sharing is necessary and how it benefits the project. Be sure to follow the guidelines for sponsor requirements, as these are often included in the annotated budget justifications.

Common Mistakes in Research Proposal Budgeting

Creating a research proposal budget can be tricky, and there are several common mistakes you should avoid to ensure your project is successful. Accurately estimating costs is crucial for maximizing resources: smart budgeting for successful research projects. Allocate resources effectively, estimate costs accurately, and implement time management strategies for research project success.

Underestimating Costs

One of the most frequent errors is underestimating costs. This can lead to a shortage of funds, causing delays or even halting the project. Make sure to account for all possible expenses, including materials, labor, and unforeseen costs.

Overlooking Indirect Costs

Indirect costs, such as administrative fees and facility maintenance, are often overlooked. These costs can add up and significantly impact your budget. Always include a reasonable estimate for indirect costs to avoid financial shortfalls.

Ignoring Cost Sharing Requirements

Some funding sources require cost sharing, where your institution or another entity covers part of the project costs. Ignoring these requirements can result in your proposal being rejected. Ensure you understand and meet any cost sharing obligations to improve your chances of securing funding.

Tools and Resources for Budget Planning

Having the right tools is essential to tracking expenses and monitoring income , and you don't have to break the bank buying expensive software to do that. Effective budget planning is crucial for the success of your research proposal. Here are some tools and resources to help you plan your budget efficiently.

Case Studies of Successful Research Proposal Budgets

Examining successful research proposal budgets can provide valuable insights into effective financial planning for your own projects. These case studies highlight different fields of research and demonstrate how to structure a budget that meets funding requirements and project needs.

Example 1: Biomedical Research

In a biomedical research project, the budget must account for specialized equipment, lab supplies, and personnel costs. A well-structured budget ensures that all necessary resources are available to achieve the research goals. For instance, a project studying a new cancer treatment might allocate significant funds to advanced imaging technology and clinical trials.

Example 2: Social Sciences Research

Social sciences research often involves extensive fieldwork, surveys, and data analysis. A successful budget in this field will include costs for travel, participant incentives, and data processing software. For example, a study on community health might budget for travel to various locations, compensation for survey participants, and software for analyzing health trends.

Example 3: Environmental Studies Research

Environmental studies research typically requires funding for field equipment, lab analysis, and sometimes, collaboration with other institutions. A well-planned budget will cover these aspects to ensure comprehensive data collection and analysis. An example could be a project on climate change impacts, which might allocate funds for weather monitoring equipment, lab tests, and partnership with local research rebels® .

By studying these examples, you can learn how to find good literature and create a budget that is both realistic and compelling to funders.

Reviewing and Revising Your Budget

Regularly reviewing and revising your budget is crucial for maintaining financial accuracy. Most organizations find it reasonable to review their budgets once a month. This helps in adjusting for unexpected grants or spending estimates that were off. Keeping your budget accurate ensures that you can manage your funds effectively.

Peer Review

Having peers review your budget can provide valuable insights. They might spot errors or suggest improvements that you missed. Peer reviews can also help in validating your budget assumptions and ensuring that your figures are realistic.

Institutional Review

An institutional review involves having your budget checked by your organization’s financial department. This step is essential for aligning your budget with institutional policies and funding restrictions. It also helps in identifying any compliance issues that need to be addressed.

Continuous Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of your budget allows for adjustments to reflect reality as the year progresses. Your budget will likely start with estimates, and as time goes on, these estimates need to be adjusted to be as accurate as possible. This ongoing process helps in keeping track of what's really happening and ensures that you can use your money as planned.

Tips for Presenting Your Budget to Stakeholders

When presenting your budget to stakeholders, it's crucial to highlight the value and impact of your project. Clearly showing the benefits of your project can make a significant difference in getting your budget approved . Stakeholders will closely examine your projected expenses to ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs.

Clarity and Transparency

A well-prepared budget proposal offers financial transparency, making finances an open topic of conversation. This transparency helps stakeholders understand how their investment connects to the project's goals. It also shows team members how their work fits into the larger picture, increasing overall productivity.

Highlighting Key Budget Items

Provide a cost summary that includes an itemized list of expenses. Stakeholders need to see what you plan to spend money on and why. This section should clarify the total costs for each element and the overall budget. A clear and concise summary allows stakeholders to quickly grasp the financial scope of your project.

Addressing Stakeholder Concerns

Be prepared to address any concerns stakeholders may have about your budget. This includes explaining why certain expenses are necessary and how they contribute to the project's success. By addressing these concerns upfront, you can build trust and confidence in your budget proposal.

The Role of Budget in Grant Proposal Success

Correlation between budget and approval rates.

A well-prepared budget can significantly influence the approval rates of your grant proposal. Funders need to see a clear financial plan that outlines how the money will be spent. A detailed budget shows that you have thought through your project and are prepared to manage the funds responsibly. This can make your proposal more attractive to funders.

Importance of Detailed Budgeting

Creating a detailed budget is crucial for the success of your grant proposal. It helps in painting a clear financial picture of your research project. When you provide a comprehensive budget, it demonstrates that you have considered all aspects of your project, from start to finish. This level of detail can set your proposal apart from others.

Long-term Impact on Research Outcomes

A well-planned budget not only helps in securing funding but also has a long-term impact on your research outcomes. Proper budgeting ensures that you have the necessary resources to complete your project successfully. It also helps in avoiding financial pitfalls that could derail your research. In the long run, a well-managed budget contributes to the overall success and credibility of your research.

Here are some tips for researching and organizing your thesis :

• Importance of clear goals
• Choosing a research topic
• Utilizing online databases
• Conducting interviews
• Tools for better thesis research

A well-planned budget is crucial for the success of any grant proposal. It helps you allocate resources efficiently and shows funders that you are serious about your project. If you're struggling with your grant proposal, don't worry! Visit our website to learn more about how to create a winning budget and increase your chances of success.

In summary, crafting a detailed research proposal budget is a crucial step in securing funding and ensuring the success of your project. A well-thought-out budget not only outlines the financial requirements but also reassures funders of the project's feasibility. By clearly detailing all potential expenses and income sources, researchers can present a compelling case for support. Remember, a meticulously planned budget can make the difference between a funded project and one that remains on paper. Therefore, take the time to plan your finances carefully, ensuring every dollar is accounted for and justified.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a research proposal budget.

A research proposal budget is a financial plan that outlines all the expected costs for a research project. It helps in planning the project and securing funding.

Why is a research proposal budget important?

A budget is important because it helps researchers plan their project, ensures funds are used wisely, and reassures funders that the project is feasible.

What are direct costs in a research proposal budget?

Direct costs are expenses that are directly tied to the research project, like salaries, equipment, and materials.

What are indirect costs?

Indirect costs, also known as overhead, are expenses that are not directly linked to the project but are necessary for its completion, like utilities and administrative support.

What is cost sharing?

Cost sharing refers to the portion of the project costs that are not covered by the grant and are paid by the researcher or their institution.

How do I estimate costs for my budget?

To estimate costs, list all possible expenses and research their prices. You can use past projects as a reference or get quotes from suppliers.

Why do I need to justify budget items?

Justifying budget items shows funders why each expense is necessary for the project, helping them understand the importance and necessity of the funding.

What are common mistakes in research proposal budgeting?

Common mistakes include underestimating costs, overlooking indirect costs, and ignoring cost-sharing requirements.

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How to plan and write a budget for research grant proposal?

Medical research can have an enormous positive impact on human health. Health research improves the quality of human lives and society which plays a vital role in social and economic development of the nation. Financial support is crucial for research. However, winning a research grant is a difficult task. A successful grant-winning application requires two key elements: one is an innovative research problem with best probable idea/plan for tackling it and appropriate planning of budget. The aim of the present paper is to give an insight on funding agencies providing funding for health research including traditional Indian medicine (from an Indian perspective) and key points for planning and writing budget section of a grant application.

1. Introduction

Why health science research is important and why should it to be funded? Science and technology innovations and health research can have an enormous impact on human health. They improve public health, quality of human lives, longevity and have made society better [1] , [2] . Healthy humans with better quality of life are crucial for the social and economical development of the nation [3] . Medical research led to the expansion of knowledge about health problems/conditions and their mechanism, risk factors, outcomes of treatments or interventions, preventive measures and proper management. Clinical studies or trials provide important information about the safety and efficacy of a drug/intervention. Innovative basic science research had led to the discovery of new technology, efficient diagnostic and therapeutic devices. So, currently, an effort with multidisciplinary approach is a demand for better understanding of clinical conditions and providing safest health care to the community [2] , [4] .

Whether it is basic or applied, clinical or non-clinical, all research needs financial support. Considering the importance of research in economic growth of a nation, many countries are increasing their budget for research and development in science. A study on impact of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on research and development in science among Asian countries has found that one who spends more on research has more research outcomes in the form of total number of research documents, citations per documents and h-index [5] . About 95% of the NIH (National Institutes of Health, USA), budget goes directly to research awards, programs, and centers; training programs; and research and development contracts [6] . Total expenditure carried out for research in India is too less than USA and China. Percentage of GDP for research and development in India is 0.88%, while South Korea, USA and China have 4.292%, 2.742 and 2.1% respectively [7] .

Owing to the increasing competition among the researchers, especially the young ones, for their academic growth, preparing and planning a winning research proposal becomes very essential. A successful grant-winning application requires two key elements: (1) innovative research problem with best probable idea/plan for tackling it and (2) appropriate planning of budget. The aim of the present paper is to give an insight on funding agencies (from an Indian perspective) and key points for planning and writing budget section of a grant application.

2. What is the purpose of the budget plan in a grant application?

A budget is the quantitative expression of a financial plan for future expenses on the project in a given period of time [8] . Budget plan is a key element of a grant application. It demonstrates the required cost for the proposed project. It is a prediction of expenses and serves a plan for funders on how the organization will operate the project, spend the money in a given set of period and where their money will go. It shows the funders exactly what they can support and also helps the institution and investigating team in management of the project. Moreover, budget plan requires for accountability [9] .

3. Which are the funding agencies that sponsor health research in India?

Various national and international sponsoring agencies have identified health problems of priority for funding a research. Some of the leading funding agencies providing grant for health research including alternative systems of medicine in India are given in Table 1 . State Universities/deemed Universities also have a provision of funding for medical research.

Table 1

List of funding agencies those promote health research.

4. What constitutes a research project budget?

Proforma of the research grant applications and presentation of budget section may vary among the sponsoring agencies. However, major parts of budget plan in the applications of the above mentioned funding agencies are quite similar. The budget section is broadly divided into two categories: direct and indirect costs.

4.1. Direct costs:

These are the costs incurred specifically to carry out a project [10] . Direct costs include expenses towards personnel, materials, equipments, consumables and travel. These particulars are further categorized into recurring and non-recurring expenses on the basis of their occurrence during the study period. A brief description of the sub-sections under direct cost is given below:

4.1.1. Personnel:

Budget for personnel can be mentioned in this section in case human resources are required for the study and as per funding agency guidelines. Salaries with allowances can be budgeted for human resources such as site manager, research assistant, junior research fellow (JRF), senior research fellow (SRF), research associate, technician, data entry operator and attender. Most of the Indian funding agencies do not have a provision for salaries for the principal investigator (PI) and co-investigators (Co-PI). Ministry of AYUSH [11] and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science (RGUHS), Karnataka [12] provide one-time minimal fees for investigators and supporting staff respectively. There is a provision for salaries of investigators in Wellcome trust-DBT India alliance grants [13] .

4.1.2. Recurring expenses:

Recurring expenses are those which are variable and which keep on occurring throughout the entire project duration. Particulars categorized in this category are consumables, chemicals, glasswares, laboratory test charges, diagnostic kits, stationery, prints, photocopies, communication, postage, telephone charges, survey tools, questionnaires, publication charges, reprints, binding etc. Other expenses could be allowances for patients/participants, food charges and physician fees.

4.1.3. Non-recurring expenses:

Non-recurring expenses are those which are one-time in nature or which do not recur at regular intervals. Particulars included in this category are equipments or instruments with its accessories, software's, computer, printer, electrical and electronic items and accessories of the existing instrument in your lab. Percentage of budget allocated for equipment varies among the funding agencies from 25% to 90% of the entire budget. Some of the agencies do not have provision for equipment in budget. Vision Group on Science and Technology allocated their maximum grant (up to 90%) for development of infrastructure of laboratories [14] .

4.1.4. Traveling expenses:

Budget allocated for traveling can be used for attending meetings, conferences, workshops and training programs. Foreign travel is not allowed by any Indian funding agency. Traveling expenses for collection of data, survey and visit to other centers in multicentric study can be budgeted in this sub-section.

4.2. Indirect costs:

These are the costs which cannot be directly attributed to specific expenses of a project, but are required to run a project. It is also termed as overhead charges. Laboratory, electricity, water, library and other facilities are provided by the institution to run a proposed research project. Therefore, a fixed cost (usually) of about 5–15% of the total budget is provisioned as institutional overhead charges which goes to the institution directly. The range may, however, be flexible on the basis of the type of funding agency.

5. Budget justification

Most of the funding agencies require submission of a budget justification with all the items described above. Sometimes it is also called as budget narrative. Explanation of need for each line item in the budget with item-wise and year-wise breakdown has to be provided. Quantification of total costs of each line-item and document cost calculation should be done. When writing a budget justification, it is important to follow the same order as that in an itemized budget. For example, if equipment such as color doppler is required, then justify the need of a device with respect to the proposed methodology of the study. Similarly, for non-recurring expenses, breakdown the consumables item-wise and year-wise with its cost and calculation according to the protocol of the study and justify accordingly.

6. Budget summary

An item-wise and year wise summary of the total budget is usually required in most of the applications. Budget summary outlines the proposed grant and often (most of the format) appears at the beginning of the proposal. It should always be prepared at the end, after the grant proposal has been completely developed. A sample budget summary (as an example) for a proposed study for the duration of three years is shown in Table 2 . In the personnel section, a research fellow salary with allowances is budgeted year-wise. The salary of the research fellow for the first and second year is Rs. 2,30,000 per year (JRF) with an enhancement to Rs 2, 59,000 for the third year (SRF) as per the guidelines of the funding agency. As non-recurring expenses are one time in nature, a budget for equipment was budgeted only for the first year. Under the section of recurring expenses, more budgets are allocated in the second year for consumables because recruitment of subjects in large number will be done during the second year of the proposed study. Similarly, expenses toward travel, investigator fee and other miscellaneous costs year-wise have been budgeted. The emoluments and guidelines on service conditions for research personnel employed in research project by ICMR has been given in reference section [15] , [16] .

Table 2

Sample budget summary (year wise).

7. How to plan a simple research budget?

Planning of the research budget begins with an innovative research question, objectives and design of the study. Before starting to write a budget plan, it is essential to understand the expectations of funding agencies, University/Institute and the team of researchers. It is imperative to keep in mind that the research proposal will be reviewed by both scientific and financial (non-scientific) experts. Hence, the proposal should be prepared in such a way that it can be easily understood by even non-scientific experts.

Firstly, a list of what is essential and would add value for research such as focus of research, primary and secondary outcomes of the study, the source of the sample, study setting, sample design and sample size, techniques used to collect data, method of data analysis and available resources should be made [17] .

Secondly, the instructions, format of the application and rules of the funding agency should be read thoroughly. Budget specifications, limitations of recurring and non-recurring costs, and necessity of budget justification with cost breakdown should be checked. Note that one should not deviate or modify the proforma of the funding agency.

Thirdly, a list of items should be made and categorized into recurring and non-recurring expenses. Breakdown of the budget into item-wise and year-wise with cost calculation should be done. It should be ensured that costs are reasonable, allowable and related to the research proposal, so that the budget appears realistic. Travel expenses should be calculated as per the rules of the funding agency.

Fourthly, item-wise and year-wise justification of the requirement in a same sequence of format should be provided. A well-justified budget can enhance the evaluation of the research proposal by reviewers and funding body.

The last most important part is to review the budget and verify the costs and calculation. It is better, if other research team members can review the budget plan and re-calculate the costs thoroughly. Remember, too high budget and too low budget with respect to the research proposal are suspicious and chances of receiving a grant are less.

Sources of funding

Conflict of interest.

Peer review under responsibility of Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore.

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On this page:

Basic components of a research budget, two models of budget development, other factors affecting your budget.

• Additional Resources

Budgets should provide the sponsor with an accurate assessment of all cost items and cost amounts that are deemed necessary and reasonable to carry out your project. They should be based upon your description or the statement of work. Budget justification provides more in-depth detail and reason for each cost and is often considered by reviewers as a good indicator of the feasibility of the research.

A research budget contains both direct costs and indirect costs (overhead), but the level of detail varies from sponsor to sponsor. The first step in developing a budget is to carefully read the guidelines of the funding opportunity being pursued.

There is no magic formula available for developing a budget but there are some basic steps to follow in order to develop an accurate budget:

• Define project tasks, timelines and milestones and determine the actual resources and costs required to complete these. Consider whether contingencies are needed (and confirm they are eligible expenses).
• Determine the eligible expense categories and maximum amount allowed by the sponsor. Adjust scope of the project to make sure proposed activities fit within the allowance.
• Categorize these costs (e.g., salaries, supplies, equipment…) per year, in some cases by quarter.
• Ensure that project scope and budget match. Include indirect costs of research as permitted by sponsor and the University policy.  

The examples below developed by the University of British Columbia demonstrate two ways to include indirect costs in your budget.

• Price model:  Indirect cost is built into each budget line item.
• Cost model:  Indirect cost of research is presented as a separate line item.

Unless the sponsor specifies in writing that they require the indirect costs of research to be presented as a separate line item (Cost Model), the indirect cost should be built into each budget line item (Price Model). Indirect costs are normally included in the price of goods and services worldwide.

For example, you are developing a budget for a funding opportunity with an indirect cost rate of 25%. Your direct costs are $201,000 broken down by expense categories shown in the  second column of the table below. The third and fourth colums present the two ways you can include the 25% overhead in your budget using the Price Model or the Cost Model, respectively:

In-kind and cash contributions, like other costs to the sponsored project, must be eligible and must be treated in a consistent and uniform manner in proposal preparation and in financial reporting.

Cash contributions

Cash contributions are actual cash transactions that can be documented in the accounting system. Examples of cash contributions include:

• allocation of compensated faculty and staff time to projects, or
• the purchasing of equipment by the university or other eligible sponsor for the benefit of the project.

In-kind contributions

In-kind contributions are both non-monetary or cash equivalent resources that can be given a cash value, such as goods and/or services in support of a research project or proposal. It is challenging to report on in-kind contribution, please make sure the numbers you use are well supported, consistent and easy to quantitate.

Examples of an in-kind contribution may include:

• Access to unique database or information
• Professional, analytical, and other donated services
• Employee salaries including benefits for time allocated to the project
• Study materials, technologies, or components
• Patents and licenses for use
• Use of facilities (e.g., lab or meeting spaces)
• Partner organization time spent participating in the project
• Eligible infrastructure items

Matching on sponsored projects

Some sponsored projects require the university and/or a third party to contribute a portion of the project costs–this contribution is known as matching.

Matching requirements may be in the form of an actual cash expenditure of funds or may be an “in-kind” match. For example:

• A 1:1 match would require $100 of a third-party matching for every $100 received from an agency.
• A 30% match would mean that of a total budget of $100, the agency would provide $70 and a third party would need to match $30.

Examples of agency programs that include some form of matching from a third party are:

• NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• NSERC Idea to Innovation Grants
• SSHRC Partnership Grants
• CIHR Industry Partnered Collaborative Research Program, and
• CIHR Proof of Principle Grants  

Additional resources

• Current  salary  and  benefit  rates for graduate students and postdocs/research associates
• SFU  Business and Travel Expense  Policy
• Animal care services

• Grants and Funding

How to Plan and Write a Budget for Research Grant Proposal

To be a successful candidate for a research grant, you need perfect budget formulation and justification. Here, we will help you plan the research budget for your grant proposal and give you handy tips to transform it into a convincible form.

Budget as a Skeletal Support

Your budget is the skeleton of your grant proposal. It provides the estimated finance your research needs to be completed in a particular time range. It also gives the funders an exact knowledge about where their funds will be used and how will they be financed ( Asya, 2008 ). It is your responsibility to postulate clearly how you will manage the funds if granted. An excellent budget plan will compel your funders to assume that you have thought about every financial detail concerning your project.

Specific Terminologies to Know Beforehand

Certain wordings are preferred to convey your research budget information better. It is important to familiarize with them before constructing the budget section of the proposals. The lexis includes:

Direct Costs

These are the expenses that are utilized solely for executing your research. For example, expenses on your research staff members, tools, materials, and travel finance.

Facilities & Administrative Costs (Indirect Costs)

These are the overhead charges reserved for institutional facilities that you avail yourself while conducting your research. For example, institutional laboratory, electricity, and water usage costs.

Fringe Benefits

These are the additional benefits provided to the personnel, along with their basic salaries. Every institution has its own set of fringe benefits rates.

Research Consortium

It is a group of institutions that apply for a grant together as one. They have reached a grant agreement, and one of the institutions represents them all. The budget is divided between them.

Types of Budget

There are two budget designs used in the NIH grant applications. Specific points will decide the type of budget design form you have to use for your application. These are:

Modular Design Budget

Your budget design is considered modular when your research fulfills the following criteria:

• Your direct costs are equal to or less than $250,000 annually
• You are applying for research grants or their equivalents
• Your institution is located in the United States

Detailed Design Budget

Your budget design should be in detailed form if your research project fulfills any of the below-mentioned criteria:

• Your direct costs are more than $250,000 per annum
• You are applying for grants other than research grant type or its equivalents
• Your institution is situated outside the United States

For the modular design, you have to fill out the PHS 398 modular budget application form, and for the detailed design budget, you have to use the R & R detailed budget application form.

Planning your Budget

Your budget planning starts when you find the research question and decide on a suitable study design. You should also be able to guess the unpredictable charges that can arise while conducting your research ( Sudheesh, Devika & Nethra, 2016 ). There are five main points to keep in mind while planning your research budget:

Pin-point the Budget Essentials

Think about all the things that will affect your research budget. These are mainly the study design, testing procedures, sample collection methods, and research settings. The more complicated and unique these essentials will be, the higher will be your budget requirements. Also, observe the already present resources and will they benefit your research budget.

Follow the Instructions of the Funding Agency

The next point to consider while planning your budget is to abide by the budget rules and limitations of your particular funding agency. Read each instruction carefully and remember not to deviate from it. It is expected of you to provide the exact list of items necessary for your project.

Categorization of Each Item

Thirdly, a breakdown of each item into its related category should be made along with its cost.  A breakdown of the budget item-wise and year-wise with cost calculation should be done. Point out the recurring and nonrecurring items that are directly related to your research. All this planning is done beforehand to ensure proper budget management.

Justification of Each Item

For every enlisted item, you should be able to provide a solid justification for its importance in your research. Only a well-justified budget document can win the confidence of the peer reviewers.

Review & Verification of the Budget Items

Reviewing is the most significant step for every document or proposal. You can ask your team members to review your budget document for you. Also, recalculate the cost of each item and the total items combined cost per annum. Keep in mind that too low or high budget will only raise suspicion in the mind of your reviewers. So, make sure you plan a research budget range, not more than the maximum limit set by your funding agency ( Michael et al., 2019 ).

Scripting your Budget onto the Grant Application

Projecting your finances into your application requires skills. When writing, we primarily divide our budget into two sub-sections. These include:

As mentioned before, these are the direct expenses on which your research is largely dependent. So, firstly, give the heading of direct costs and then further give the following subheadings with explanations.

Personnel Involved

If your research project involves resource team members, here is where you have to mention them. Your resource team includes the technicians, laboratory attendants, site caretakers, data entry personnel, junior researchers, and the senior researcher involved. Specify their allowances and salaries in an organized manner.

Recurring Expenditure

These expenses occur regularly and yet cannot be avoided. These include equipment usage, laboratory-conducted diagnostic tests, telecommunication charges, chemicals, and any other essential items. Fees for human subjects involved in your research are also stated here.

Non-recurring Expenditure

These are the costs of items for which you have to pay one-time charges, and then their use is free. These include buying charges for the printer, computer, or other electronic items. Once you buy them, they are charge-free. Thus, you have to specify all the non-recurring charges in your budget form.

Traveling Expenditure

In this subheading, specify the amount spent on your traveling for research purposes. Separately mention your traveling costs for attending research-related conferences, seminars, and training. Also, mention the travel expenses for the surveys and data collection. Visiting expenses to other institutions for the sake of a research study can also be mentioned here.

Indirect Costs

The second sub-section is indirect expenditure. It includes facilities that are indirectly related to your research project. These can be library facilities, electricity, and water usage for your experiments and test conduction. These are also called overhead charges that are paid specifically to the institution for providing such facilities ( Ahmed & Abdullah, 2017 ).

Budget Overview

In the final paragraph, write a short finalizing note relating your budget outlining the main point. This should be a 4 to 5-lined paragraph.

Budget Justification

Most of the funding agencies separately require justification for each item that you specified in your above-mentioned budget form. This document is also known as the budget narrative page. It reasons the importance of that item for your research conduction. Each item is mentioned in the same order as in your budget form and should be justified respectively ( Al-Jundi & Salah, 2016 ). It is best to make a three-columned table with the name of the item in the first column, the quantity and cost in the second column, and a justification statement in the third column.

Budget Summary

In the last, you have to provide a summarized form of your budget for your proposed research. It is written at the end when you have completed writing your whole application. In this, you have to specify every item with its cost per annum. The non-recurring items will only be specified under the first-year heading as they have a one-time expense. Likewise, the recurring items will be mentioned in both years, along with their costs.

Esthetical Considerations

The following points will enhance the esthetics of your budget section:

Headings & Bullet points

Writing the budget items under a categorized heading will make it easy for the reviewers to retrieve the necessary points in your budget. You can use bullet marks or checklist signs to highlight your main points. This will show the reviewers that you have the budget representation skills and that your enlisted budget finance is authentic.

Tabulations

Try to write your budget essentials in a tabulated form with three main columns. The first column represents the item name. The second column specifies the cost of that particular essential.  The third column signifies the importance of your particular essential in performing your research. This will save both time and effort of reviewers who have to scrutinize many applications at a time.

Organization

The pattern you follow for each essential specification in the budget form should be followed in the same manner while writing the budget justification document. There should be a flow in your budget data and which will further enhance its esthetics.

Elementary Language

Your language should be simple enough to be understood by a common person. Complicated terms and phrases will only make it difficult for reviewers to reach your point of view.

Your budget prepares you for all the financial aids you need to conduct your research. It informs you about the expenses of each research item and method. In this way, you can choose an economical procedure for your research. The budget section is considered as the key factor of success or failure for your proposal. This section requires a skillful approach and should be handled delicately. Nowadays, research writers record their budget in the form of electronic spreadsheets. It is easy to manage the budget essentials and the expenses via these excel spreadsheets. You just need to point out and categorize the direct and indirect costs in the already drawn tabulated budget spreadsheet. Hence, you will be able to plan and compose a well-scripted budget by following the instructions given in this article.

• Al-Riyami, A. (2008, April). How to Prepare a Research Proposal.  Oman Medical Journal ,  23 (2), 66–69. http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3282423
• Duggappa, D.R., Nethra, S.S. & Sudheesh, K. (2016, September). How to Write a Research Proposal?  Indian Journal of Anaesthesia ,  60 (9), 631–634. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190617
• Burkhardt, J., Carlson, J.N., Gottlieb, M., King, A.M., Lee, S., Santen, S.A. & Wong, A.H. (2019, January). Show Me the Money: Successfully Obtaining Grant Funding in Medical Education.  The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine ,  20 (1), 71–77. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2018.10.41269
• Al-Maniri, A. & Al-Shukaili, A. (2017). Writing a Research Proposal to the Research Council of Oman.  Oman Medical Journal ,  32 (3), 180–188. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2017.35
• Azzam, A. & Sakka, S. (2016, November). Protocol Writing in Clinical Research. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research, 10(11), Z10–Z13. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/21426.8865

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7 Tips to Draft a Compelling Budget for Grant Proposal

While financial support is crucial for conducting research, acquiring funds for your research is a challenging task and so is planning the budget for grant proposal !

The key requisites of a successful grant proposal are:

• Uniqueness of the research problem
• Best possible plan for solving the problem
• Appropriate budget planning

In an attempt to grab the attention of funders, researchers strive to submit innovative research proposals and often overlook other elements when creating a successful grant proposal. One such neglected section is the budget for grant proposals . It is important for funders to know how finances are being utilized. Therefore, adequately estimating how much the project will cost and how the finances will be distributed can make all the difference. In simpler words, your grant proposal must explain your request in both textual and numeral forms.

It is often a challenge for budding researchers to present an estimated cost of their research. However, remember that the grant budget is not an organizational budget! Furthermore, in today’s age of stiff competition, even senior researchers will benefit from improving their budgeting skills. In this article, we will discuss ways on how to draft a compelling budget for grant proposal.

Why is the Budget Section Important for a Grant Proposal?

A grant budget is important to paint the financial picture of your research proposal to the funders. The budget for grant proposal provides the following:

• Details of the possible expenditures for the proposed research project .
• Reassurance to funders that the researchers have a realistic sense of the expenses to complete the work proposed.
• List of other income sources for costs not covered in the grant proposal.
• Guarantees an optimal use of the funds.
• Makes practical implementation of the research project smoother.

What Constitutes a Budget for Grant Proposal?

An estimated budget quantifies the financial plan for possible expenses during the research project. The budget for grant proposals must demonstrate and serve a plan for funders on how the researcher/s will utilize the money for both operational aspects of the project and miscellaneous expenses associated with the research.

In order to stand out from other applicants, researchers can customize the budget for grant proposal as per the funding agencies’ guidelines. However, the major elements of the budget plan comprise two broad categories: Direct and Indirect Costs

• Direct Costs

Direct costs are perhaps the most critical part of your budget section. These expenses are solely incurred for executing your research. It broadly includes expenses towards:

• Personnel (payroll)
• Consumables

Furthermore, direct costs are sub-categorized into the below two forms based on their occurrence during the research:

• Recurring expenses
• Non-recurring expenses

As human resources are required for the study, salaries with allowances must be budgeted as per funding agency guidelines. The human resources may include personnel such as site manager, research assistant, junior research fellow (JRF), senior research fellow (SRF), research associate, technician, or data entry operator, and attender.

• Recurring expenses:

These expenses are variable and may keep on occurring throughout the study period. Consumables, chemicals, glassware, laboratory test charges , diagnostic kits, stationery, prints, photocopies, communication, postage, telephone charges, survey tools, questionnaires, publication charges, reprints, binding, etc. are some of the particulars in this category. Additionally, recurring expenses could also include allowances for patients/participants, food charges, and medical charges.

• Non-recurring expenses:

These are expenses that are one-time in nature and do not recur at regular intervals throughout the research duration. Equipment or instruments along with its accessories, software programs, computers, printers, electronic accessories of existing instruments in your lab, etc. are some of the particulars covered under non-recurring expenses.

• Traveling expenses:

Travelling expenses can be used for attending meetings, conferences, workshops, and training programs relevant to your research study. Some funding agencies allow both foreign and domestic travel, whereas, some do not. You can mention traveling expenses for collection of data, survey, and visit to other centers in a multi-centric study in this sub-section.

The detailed budget for grant proposal should be clear, well organized and easy to understand. Below is an example for grant proposal. The costs described below are direct costs:

• Indirect Costs

These do not directly attribute to specific expenses of a research, but rather act as an accomplice to run a project. These are also termed as overhead charges. Particulars such as electricity bill, water, library membership, accommodation charges, administrative charges, etc. are included in indirect costs. Generally, about 5–15% of the total budget is provisioned as overhead charges, which is credited to the institution directly. However, this range may vary as per the funding agency.

Tips to Draft a Compelling Budget for Grant Proposal

So when does your budget planning begin? It’s usually when you have your research question and a suitable study design ready!

Here are seven top tips to follow whilst drafting a compelling budget for grant proposal :

• Focus on Uniqueness of Study Essentials

Study design, testing procedures, sample collection methods, and research settings are the essential factors that need to be focused on to resolve the research problem. The uniqueness and complexity of these essentials increases the chances of being incorporated in the budget.

• Follow Funding Agency Guidelines

You must abide by the budget rules and limitations provided by your potential funder and draft the budget accordingly. Scrutinize each instruction and do not deviate from its actual meaning. Most importantly, stick to the list of requisites provided by the funding agencies.

• Categorization of Each Item

Breakup all particulars with their costs under related categories as mentioned earlier. Furthermore, follow an item-wise and year-wise tabulation method to present your budget.

• Value for Money

Funders like to see that the investigators are valuing the finances provided and not splurging on irrelevant particulars. For instance, you must mention if you can redirect resources such as equipment or instruments that are already available from your previous study and can be used in your present study.

• Include Expenses and Revenue

While you are seeking for funds , the funder is interested in investing in projects that bring other resources to the table. Owing to this, your budget section must include two sections:

Inclusion of expenses is obviously the major part of the budget section. Likewise, mentioning revenue in this case means other sources that will pay for your research.

You’d wonder—why do the potential funders care about where the other money is coming from? Well, it is to instill trust in the funders. Acquiring some or most of the needed funds gives credibility to your research and ensures the funder that organizations are willing to invest in non-profit research.

• Do Not Over-Estimate Your Budget

It is critical to base your budgeted expenses on the true costs of your project requisites. But pulling numbers out of thin air will lead to confusion and tally errors. Make sure that you find the cost of all particulars from trusted sources and quote them accurately in your budget. Avoid over-estimating your budget, as it may repel the funder. As you know, “something is better than nothing”! So stick to the narrative of your research and align the budget of grant proposal to it. Subsequently, it is important to keep in mind that a very low budget will raise eyebrows to suspicion. Thus, make sure what you request for is reasonable.

• Tracking Expenses

Describe your methodology to track the expenses throughout the project. You must mention how you plan to effectively manage your expenses and review them. Additionally, give references of some tools that you will be using to manage your finances.

Have you been facing challenges in drafting the budget for grant proposal ? What did you do to improve your budgeting skills? Try these tips while drafting the next budget for your grant proposal and let us know how it works out for you and your colleagues.

Hi , can i please get a template? for research grant

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How to Create More Accurate Budgets for Research Grant Proposals

Breaking down research costs

One of the most challenging aspects of budget development is identifying relevant costs. Remember, this financial plan quantifies only the expenses incurred while conducting research. It is not the organizational budget.

Begin by assessing the costs associated with the research essentials, i.e., the study design, study settings, testing procedures, and sample and data collection methods. These expenses can be divided into direct and indirect expenses.

Direct expenses

Direct expenses are costs arising solely from performing research. They must be allowable, allocable, reasonable, and consistent. Examples include:

• Personnel expenses: The salary and any benefits associated with the human resources necessary to conduct research, such as site managers, research assistants, research associates, data entry operators, etc.
• Recurring expenses: Costs that will continue throughout the study period, including consumables, materials, food, and medical charges
• Nonrecurring expenses: Single expenses incurred once during the study, such as the cost of equipment, instruments, software programs, computers, and electronic accessories
• Travel expenses: Costs incurred while traveling to collect data or visit other centers in cases of multicenter research. They may also include costs to attend meetings or conferences relevant to the research project.

Indirect expenses

Also known as overheads, these costs are not directly attributed to your specific study but are incurred while performing research. They include electricity and water bills, accommodation charges, administrative fees, library memberships, etc. Generally, these expenses make up 5-15% of a proposal budget.

The proposal budget should also include any direct or indirect expenses already covered. This means identifying any material or equipment previously paid for or made available by other sources.

Drafting the proposal budget

With all the relevant expenses identified, revisit the funding agency’s guidelines. Study each budgeting instruction line by line to ensure you understand the rules and limitations, from the maximum amount of funds you can request to any expenses not allowed. With this information, you now have a framework to build your grant budget.

Next, chronologically categorize each expense as direct or indirect, as well as weekly, monthly, or yearly, depending on your research project’s timeline.

With each item, justify the expense with specified rates and calculations. If the cost of an item is already covered, include the pertinent information. This meticulous approach demonstrates you will value any funding provided and will not splurge on unnecessary particulars.

Consider the example below of a sample travel budget illustrating this methodology:

* These rates are examples and will vary from actual rates.

Base all expense calculations on true costs quoted from trusted sources. Sponsors know overestimations when they see them. Underestimations also raise suspicion and may appear under-researched. Therefore, be as reasonable and accurate as possible.

Finally, include your methodology for tracking expenses throughout the research period, highlighting any tools or technologies to be used. This reassures sponsors you have all your bases covered.

Using integrated technology

Given the complexities of a grant proposal budget, traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms cannot support the level of precision and collaboration necessary for adequate budgeting. But by integrating advanced technology, such as Cayuse’s Fund Manager and Sponsored Projects, you can upgrade these legacy systems for optimized budgeting and proposal development.

Fund Manager allows for granular accounting and is accessible to all stakeholders through a customizable dashboard. Not only does it manage internal expenses and faculty salary splits, but it also supplements what-if planning and average monthly projections on a grant-by-grant basis.

With Sponsored Projects , administrators can track proposals, awards, contracts, and agreements via a user-specific dashboard. Its modern, user-friendly interface provides instant access, full visibility, and a collaboration workspace, relieving administrative burdens.

Boost your budgeting accuracy

Regardless of how appealing or innovative your research project might be, without justifiable numbers to back it up, it may be tossed aside. Don’t take this risk. Instead, leverage integrated technology, such as Cayuse’s Fund Manager and Sponsored Projects, to develop more accurate proposal budgets and maximize your chances to win funding.

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Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples

Tejas Prasanna

There is no magic formula for creating a research budget. Depending on the kind of research and the potential changes it can bring about, careful planning and allocation is necessary. Budgets can, thus, vary depending on the sponsors, besides other factors. However, every research budget has some essential guidelines. 

Research budgets depend on the project deliverables, timelines, and milestones. The resources required also depend on the scope of the projects and sponsors.

Best Templates for Planning Your Research Budget

Designing a research budget is not easy. You will need to consider the resources required and categorize them according to guidelines to ensure funding is not a problem. The categories may include the project’s necessary supplies and equipment and the wages you must pay your assistants. Research budgets are allocated for a year, but you can also plan for a quarter, depending on the project.

At SlideTeam, we have taken care of all these pain points and designed content-ready presentation templates that address each of these points. You save the time, the resources, and the tedium in having to make these presentations from scratch. 

What is even better is that each of the templates is 100% editable and customizable. The content-ready nature means you get a starting point and a structure to guide your presentation; the editability feature means you can customize the template to audience profile. 

Let’s explore these templates now. 

Template 1 - Impact matrix evaluation research solution budget

This PPT Template is the perfect solution for your research budgeting needs. The matrix suggests what solutions are essential with the help of relevant keys that assign priority levels. Priorities go from low to highest influence with increasing importance. They are color-coded, with white being the lowest and red being the highest influence. For instance, Maintain Awareness and Evaluation are red in many cases, as shown in the slide. So, that means that they bear a significant impact on the research budget. Similarly, Strategic and Budget Planning are color-coded white, which means they don't impact the research budget as much in some cases.

With the impact matrix and heatmap, mapping out your research budget will be a breeze.

Get it now!

Template 2  Half-yearly research and development departmental budget

Research and Development departments can plan the budget required for projects for the two halves of the year using this PPT Template. The presentation template highlights areas for which you will need funding such as research and development, skills, innovation and patenting, and cooperation. You can also list your requirements for each area. For instance, under R&D and skills, you may need funding for medical research, chemical research, etc. Similarly, for innovation and patenting, you may need funding for product innovation and to cover patenting costs. Likewise, cooperation may involve setting up new laboratories and research centers. With this outlined, you can split the budget required for your research project for the two halves of the year.

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Template 3 - Budget Estimate for Research and Development Project

This presentation template for the budget estimate for your research and development project is apt for arriving at the calculation for the four quarters in a year. You can define and assign tasks as per the requirements of the project and allocate a set budget for each. The tasks may involve conducting market research and competitive analysis or be innovative or developmental. In either case, you can use this template to set a fixed budget for each task in the research project.

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Template 4 Clinical Trial Phases with Communication and Budget Research Design for Clinical Trials

Clinical trials involve many phases, and you should let your research associates know about each step. For instance, you could post the information on the company website and provide relevant insights during the pre-trial phase. Similarly, you can offer the welcome letter and training materials during the trial start-up. During the trial, you can send newsletters to your associates, giving them relevant information and other valuable insights. All this requires funding, and you will need to allocate a budget. However, you don't need to worry, as this PPT Preset has you sorted, with dedicated sections for the pre-trial, trial start-up, during-trial, and trial-end phases. It also has communication, insights summary, and budget sections. You can use the budget section in the matrix to allot a budget for each trial phase and each section, including communication and insights. 

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Template 5  Market research strategy with budget and area

The PPT Template has all the core elements required for your market research strategy, including the budget and area. This slide lets you list your clients, the items, and when to send them. You can also list background information related to your research, the aim and objectives of the project, the areas covered, and the budget.

The presentation template also provides a dedicated space to list your brands and products and a timeline for completing the research.

Template 6 - Determine Budget for Psychology Research Proposal One-Pager Sample Example Document

This presentation template is an easy-to-use tool for determining the budget required for psychology research. With this slide, you can allocate a budget for each area, including diagnostic assessment, training, technology and tools, supplies, travel, and workforce. It is a practical, hands-on template with information required to plan the budget for conducting psychological tests and evaluations. Please note that depending on your geography, taxes might or might not deserve a separate column.  

Template 7 - Budgeting for Product Launch Market Research

Every company needs to conduct market research before launching a new product. The PowerPoint Presentation that you have here can help you plan the budget required for conducting such market research. It includes necessary information, including business and research objectives, priorities, methodologies, and forecasts. The presentation template also has the metrics required for the research, such as improving customer engagement, introducing new products, and increasing market share. For example, to improve customer engagement, you may be looking to improve marketing approaches and gather customer feedback. The methods you may use include conducting marketing mix studies and tests. Similarly, you may want to optimize your social media posts and profiles and conduct A/B tests when introducing new products. Improving your market share may involve analyzing the competition. You may even use this handy template for conducting market research, estimating, and forecasting budgets.

RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT BUSINESS

You can plan your research and the budget required using these templates. Remember that each new product launch has lots of research behind it. When going for a new launch, don’t just research the products and its uses, but also the markets – particularly, your target audience and how they will benefit from your brands. When allocating the budget for your research, don't forget to note your total resources and try to be as cost-effective as possible. You must consider the expected costs that you may incur and use these templates to work out a research budget that fits within your resources.

FAQs on Research Budget

What should be included in a research budget.

Research budgets should include all direct costs, and facilities and administrative costs (F&A). The facilities and administrative expenses are needed to achieve the primary objectives of the research. The project description should state the proposed budget and serve as a financial expression for the research. The idea is to ensure that the budget is comprehensive.

How do you create a research budget?

You can create a simple research budget by following these steps:

• List activities that will help you carry out the research.
• Check the rules for getting the funding required.
• Check all costs involved.
• Lay out the costs using a spreadsheet.
• Justify your budget by asking why and for what you need the money and where you got your figures.

What is the role of budget in research?

A budget can provide a detailed and clear picture of the structure of the research project, not to mention that it also lets you know how well it can be managed. The research project budget usually lets you see whether it will go according to plan and if it is feasible. So, it must be complete and reasonable.

What is the average budget for a research project?

The budget for a research project depends on the type of research and the proposed difference it could make to a field of study. For instance, the average budget for a market research project may vary between $20,000 and $50,000. Similarly, larger scientific research projects may cost millions or even billions of dollars, as in pharmaceuticals.

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How to Make a Project Budget: Project Budgeting Basics (Templates Included)

If you don’t have the funds, you’re not going to complete the project successfully. That’s why a project budget is so important: it’s the lifeblood of the project. Follow these steps to secure the funds necessary to support the project through every phase. But first, we need to define what a project budget is.

What Is a Project Budget?

A project budget is the total projected costs needed to complete a project over a defined period of time. It’s used to estimate what the costs of the project will be for every phase of the project. Creating a project budget is a critical part of the project planning process.

The project budget will include such things as labor costs, material procurement costs and operating costs. But it’s not a static document. Your project budget will be reviewed and revived throughout the project, hopefully with the help of project budgeting software .

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• Project Budget Template

Use this free Project Budget Template for Excel to manage your projects better.

Why You Need a Project Budget

The obvious answer is that projects cost money, but it’s more nuanced than that. The project budget is the engine that drives your project’s funding. It communicates to stakeholders how much money is needed and when it’s needed. Project budgets are important for any industry such as construction , marketing or manufacturing, for example.

But a project budget is not only a means to get things that your project requires. Yes, you need to pay teams, buy or rent equipment and materials, but that’s only half the story.

The other part of the importance of a project budget is that it’s an instrument to control project costs. The budget, which is part of your project plan , acts as a baseline to measure your performance as you collect the actual costs once the project has been started.

If you want help getting your budget together, ProjectManager has a free project budget template that lays out most of the basics for you. For additional support, try our free project budget template.

Project Budget Example

To further illustrate how a project budget is created, let’s pretend we’re making an app. The first thing you’ll need to figure out is the costs of labor and materials. You’ll need programmers, designers, content developers, a dev team, etc. It helps list all the tasks and assign the team to them—a hallmark of good task management . This way every penny is accounted for.

With the tasks broken down for the project and your team in place, you’ll next need to look into whatever materials will be needed. Will they need laptops, other devices and equipment? This must be accounted for.

Now note other line items. There might be travel expenses and renting space to house the team. Then there are fixed items that are true for any project. These are things where the cost is set and won’t change over the course of the project. You’ll also want a column for any miscellaneous costs that don’t fit elsewhere in the budget.

Your budget must have a planned versus actual column. When you’re making that app you’ve likely to pivot and that is going to impact the budget. These columns are a way to track the expenditure to ensure you’re staying on budget.

What Is Project Budgeting?

Project budgeting is the process of estimating the full cost of the project from the very beginning until the end. The project budgeting process involves the following:

• Budget planning: Estimating costs and making a budget based on a project estimate
• Budget tracking: Keeping track of project expenses during the project execution phase
• Project budget management: Setting guidelines and control procedures to guarantee that costs don’t exceed the project budget

Project Budgeting Approaches

There are four project budgeting approaches: analogous, parametric, top-down and bottom-up . Analogous is an estimating technique that uses historical data to help determine the cost of the current project. It looks at past projects that are similar to figure out the cost and duration of the new project. This is a popular choice when there’s little data available for the project, making accurate estimates difficult.

Parametric estimating is a statistical approach to estimating the time, cost and resources for a project . It uses historical data, but also statistical data, to make a more accurate estimate. Top-down estimating is when the organization sets the cost and/or the duration of the project. With that figure in mind, the project manager seeks expert opinions to help determine the budget. Finally, bottom-up estimating is working from the lowest possible level of detail. It builds up the estimate from the work package .

What Is Project Budget Management?

Project budget management is a process by which the finances related to the project are administered and overseen. It goes beyond estimating the cost of completing the project and includes tracking those costs and much more. Some of the aspects of project budget management include how you’ll estimate the cost of the project and how those costs will be spread across the life cycle of the project . You’ll need to determine the metrics and the method by which you’ll track those costs to keep to the budget.

Reporting on the budget is also part of project budget management, including how you’ll do it and the frequency with which you’ll do it. If you find you’re going over budget, you’ll need to come up with a plan to rein the budget back in. You’ll even need to define a process of learning from historical data.

Project management software simplifies project budgeting and project budget management. Take ProjectManager;  all you have to do is open up the settings on your Gantt and set a budget baseline. Now you have the planned effort saved and you can use budget tracking features such as real-time dashboards to compare it to your actual effort as you execute the project. You can reset the baseline as many times as you need during the project to always be able to measure your project variance instantly. Get started today for free.

How to Make a Project Budget

As noted, there are many components necessary to build a budget, including direct and indirect costs, fixed and variable costs, labor and materials, travel, equipment and space, licenses and whatever else may impact your project expenses.

To meet the financial needs of your project, a project budget must be created thoroughly, not missing any aspect that requires funding. We’ve outlined seven essential steps toward creating and managing your project budget:

1. Use Historical Data

Your project is likely not the first to try and accomplish a specific objective or goal. Looking back at similar projects and their budgets is a great way to get a headstart on building your budget.

2. Reference Lessons Learned

To further elaborate on historical data, you can learn from their successes and mistakes. It provides a clear path that leads to more accurate estimates. You can even learn about how they responded to changes and kept their budget under control. Here’s a lessons learned template if you need to start tracking those findings in your organization.

3. Leverage Your Experts

Another resource to build a project budget is to tap those who have experience and knowledge—be they mentors, other project managers or experts in the field. Reaching out to those who have created rough order of magnitude estimates and budgets can help you stay on track and avoid unnecessary pitfalls.

4. Confirm Accuracy

Once you have your budget, you’re not done. You want to look at it and ensure your figures are accurate. You can use our project budget proposal template for this process. You can also seek those experts and other project team members to check the budget and make sure it’s right.

5. Baseline and Re-Baseline the Budget

Your project budget is the baseline by which you’ll measure your project’s progress once it has started. It’s a tool to gauge the variance of the project. But, as stated, you’ll want to re-baseline as changes occur in your project. Once the change control board approves any change you need to re-baseline.

6. Update in Real Time

Speaking of changes, the sooner you know about them, the better. If your project planning software isn’t cloud-based and updating as soon as your team changes its status, then you’re wasting valuable and expensive time.

7. Get on Track

The importance of having a project management software that tracks in real time , like ProjectManager , is that it gives you the information you need to get back on track sooner rather than later. Things change and projects go off track all the time. It’s the projects that get back on track faster that are successful.

If you manage your project expenses using these building blocks you’re going to have a sound foundation for your project’s success.

Project Budget vs. Project Estimate

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about project estimates, but how do they differ from the project budget? A project estimate is what you think the project will cost. It’s the first step when making a project budget, so you want that project estimate to be as accurate as possible. Once you’ve done the research, looked at historical data and all the activities and resources needed to execute them, you’ll submit that estimate to be approved as your budget. But it’s only a guideline, while the project budget is a firm figure.

Project Budget vs. Budget Proposal

Again, when you’re talking about a project budget you’re talking about all the expenditures that are needed to deliver the project. It defines how the money for the project will be allocated. A budget proposal , on the other hand, is the best estimate of the costs required to complete the project. It’s similar to the aforementioned project estimate in that it’s the final project estimate, the one that’ll be presented to stakeholders. They’ll then determine if the figure matches what they think is viable and either approve it or reject it.

More Project Budgeting Templates

Project budgeting is one of the most important aspects of project management, no matter what industry you’re in. However, your project budget might look slightly different depending on the type of project you’re managing. Here are some free project budgeting templates for marketing, event planning and construction.

Marketing Budget Template

This marketing budget template is a great tool to start creating accurate baselines for your marketing campaigns. You can customize it to fit the needs of your team.

Event Budget Template

Like a project, an event requires resources that cost money. This free event budget template helps you list down the costs related to your event such as equipment rental, materials and labor.

Construction Estimate Template

Estimating the costs of a construction project is one of the most important construction planning activities there are, as an accurate cost estimation allows construction firms to make sure their project is not only feasible, but profitable. This free construction estimate template is a great tool to start estimating the costs of your construction project.

Project Budgeting Tips

A project budget is extremely important; without the funds to execute a project, it’s dead in the water. We’ve explained what a project budget is, and how to make one and we’ve provided examples. But when you’re in the thick of it, you need tips. These will help you with project budgeting.

• Document your process when putting together a budget. Documents are essential for tracking the project and reviewing the outcomes.
• Create contingencies. Have a plan B in place. There will always be unexpected costs, delays and other issues that’ll impact your budget.
• Project budgeting is a team effort. Seek advice from your team, as they’re the ones with experience executing projects. Meet with experts who can provide you with guidance. Any person or organization that has insight should be tapped for their expertise.
• Know your resources and their associated costs. This includes any maintenance required for equipment, and don’t forget your team is also a resource. Know their availability, overtime potential and other overhead costs.
• When estimating costs don’t forget about task duration. These are also estimates and can greatly impact the budget.
• The budget is a great tool for tracking performance. It can even be used as a communication tool for teams across departments.

ProjectManager Helps Projects Stay on Budget

ProjectManager is online project management software. That means we deliver data instantly to our real-time dashboard, so you can monitor your project across six metrics. When actual costs vary from your planned budget, you know faster and can respond quicker.

You can also plan your budget on our software, adding expenses and then use our resource management feature to assign resources, workforce and hourly rates, which are automatically added to your project. Add expenses at the task level with our Gantt chart , and report on expenses at the task level, too.

Video: Project Budgeting Tips

It’s clear that building an accurate budget is key to setting up your project to succeed. Why not take a moment to listen to our resident project management expert Jennifer Bridges, PMP, who explains how to build a project budget in this tutorial video.

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Pro tip: Be sure to track the budgeted vs. actual costs when you’re in the project to see if you’re adhering to that budget. Because after you make a budget, you have to know how to manage it .

Related Content

• Budget Templates for Business & Project Budgeting
• Tracking Budget Variance in Project Management
• Project Budgeting Software
• Budget Reports

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• How to create (and stick with) a projec ...

How to create (and stick with) a project budget

A project budget is more than just money—it’s also a spending plan that guides you through the ideation, execution, and delivery of your project. When you master the art of budgeting, you can ensure your team has the resources they need to deliver quality results. In this article, we guide you through the budget creation process and offer tips to set your project up for success.

If your project was a car, a budget would be its fuel. Just like a truck needs gas in its tank, projects need money and resources to keep them going. And as a project manager, you have the power to plan and use those resources in the most effective way—so your project gets to its required destination on time, without running out of gas. 

Because a project budget is essential to move work forward, knowing how to create and follow a solid budget plan is one of the most important project management skills you can develop over the course of your career. 

What is a project budget? 

Budgeting before you begin your project helps you scope work and control costs . It’s also a good way to pitch your project to stakeholders and get the funds you need, because a detailed spending plan helps approvers understand how costs contribute to your objectives. And as your project progresses, you can use your project budget as a baseline to compare actual spend to budgeted spend and mitigate extra costs as they arise. 

9 steps to create a project budget

Creating a project budget may seem daunting, but you can do it by following a sequence of steps. We’ve laid out each part of the budgeting process below. 

1. Set project objectives

Project objectives are what you plan to achieve by the end of your project. They’re a good place to start because they help you understand where work is headed, and act as a north star while you iron out the rest of your project plan . 

The best objectives are clearly defined and falsifiable, so you can use them as a benchmark to measure success once your project is finished. To write clear objectives, use the SMART methodology. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, if you were trying to boost visitors to your website, you might set this objective: “By the end of this quarter, increase organic traffic to the website homepage by 10%.” 

2. Define project scope

Once you’ve set your objectives, you can determine the scope of work you’ll need to achieve those goals. Your project scope sets boundaries for your project, such as what work you’ll do—or not do—and what deadlines and deliverables you’re working towards. When defining your project scope, consider the following: 

Available resources: Before you determine the specific deliverables you want to target, take stock of the resources available to you. If you’re working with a hard budget cap or limited project team bandwidth, you may need to adjust your deliverables accordingly. As such, it’s useful to be aware of any limitations before you dive into the details of deliverables and required resources (which we’ll get to in later steps). 

Time restrictions : Is there a time crunch for this project, or can you take as long as you need? A tight project schedule can influence the cost of resources. For example, you may need to pay freelancers a rush rate if you’re working with a tight deadline. 

Non-goals : What’s outside the project scope? It can be helpful to identify what you’re not trying to achieve, so you can avoid scope creep and potential overspending. 

Remember that your project scope is all about setting boundaries. It helps you understand what you want to achieve, what type of work you’ll do, and what deliverables you’re working towards.

3. Break deliverables into sub-dependencies

Next up, list out all the deliverables that fall within your project scope and break them down into sub-dependencies. For example, imagine that one of your project deliverables is to publish a blog post. You might break it down into the following line items: 

Create design images

Stage in Wordpress

Share on social media

This method helps you include any hidden project expenses when you create your budget. For example, if you just tried to estimate the budget for publishing a blog post as a whole, you’d be more likely to omit extra costs—such as the hourly rate for a freelance editor, or the price of paid social posts. 

If you prefer diagrams over lists, try creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) . This visual tool breaks down work into multiple levels, starting with your main objective at the top and branching out into deliverables and sub-dependencies below. 

4. List required resources

Now that you’ve laid out all of your deliverables and sub-dependencies, it’s time to list the resources required for each item. Be as specific as possible, and remember that “resource” can mean more than just staff or equipment—it may also include indirect costs like training or a physical space to work in. 

To get you started, here are some common project cost categories to consider: 

Team members : Who are you relying on to do the work? Make a note if they’re salaried in-house staff, or if you need to hire additional hourly contractors.

Procurement : What do you need to do to acquire external resources? For example, you may need a team member to research the best products to use, communicate with sales reps, and purchase a tool.  

Training : Do team members need time or resources to get up to speed? Think of the time needed for staff to train new employees or courses required to learn new skills. 

Equipment : What tools are required? This can include things like extra computer monitors, design software, or even internet service. 

Space : Where is your team going to work? For example, consider if you’ll require meeting rooms or desk space for new team members, 

Research : What data do you need? Think if you’ll rely on information like user research studies, web analytics, or polling. 

Professional services : Do you need to hire external experts, like legal or marketing consultants? 

Travel : Does your team need transportation, lodging, or an allowance for on-the-go meals? 

5. Estimate amounts

Ultimately, a budget is an estimate of costs. But while we can’t predict the future, there are a few methods to help you make the most accurate estimates possible. And you don’t have to stick to just one—you can use a combination of these approaches, depending on your unique project circumstances. 

Here are a few of the estimation techniques you can use:

Estimate and sum the cost of each individual piece 

Often called a bottom-up estimate, this is the best approach if you know exactly what deliverables and sub-dependencies will comprise your current project. If you’ve created a work breakdown structure , you’re already set up nicely to use this method.

To cover your bases, you can also compare your cost estimates with another one of these methods—for example, you could note how the budget was spent for a similar project in the past.  

Work backwards from a fixed amount 

In this approach, you start with a fixed budget amount and break it up into deliverables or project milestones . While working backwards can get a bit hairy—especially if you don’t already know how much project deliverables might cost—it can be helpful if you need to determine what objectives you’re able to achieve with a limited budget. 

If you need to use this method, try combining it with another one of these options. For example, once you determine what you’re able to achieve, take a bottom-up approach to ensure you’re not missing any critical pieces. 

Compare budgets from similar projects

Previous projects are a gold mine of historical data, because they’re a real-life record of where spend stayed on (or off) track. As such, they can help you see costs you might have overlooked, or how unexpected circumstances might influence spend. If possible, see if you can review lessons learned from a similar project in the past. 

Consider different scenarios

Estimation can be hard for complex projects with a wide range of potential outcomes. For example, if you’re planning an outdoor event in April, costs may vary depending on the weather—you might need tents or fans to mitigate unexpected heat, heaters if it’s too cold, or an indoor venue if it rains. 

In this case, it’s useful to estimate spend for each of these scenarios. Depending on your budget flexibility, you can play it safe and plan for the most expensive scenario. Or, you could calculate expected spend for the worst, best, and most likely outcome—then take the average of all three. 

6. Set aside a contingency fund

Sometimes, the unexpected happens. Tools break, schedules change, and once-in-a-century pandemics make things a bit harder. Or, you might uncover an unexpected opportunity during your project—like the chance to purchase a business asset at a reduced cost. Contingency reserves give your budget extra padding when plans change. The typical recommendation is to set aside 5-10% of your total budget for contingencies. 

Budgeting is a process of estimation, so you should always include a contingency fund. And if you’ve created a 100% accurate budget and don’t end up needing that extra padding, you can bolster your company’s bottom line with the leftover funds. 

7. Build your budget

At this point you’ve identified all of your project’s deliverables, allocated resources , and estimated costs. Now, it’s time for the fun part—creating your actual budget document. Here are some key components to include: 

Line items for each deliverable, sub-deliverable, and required resource—plus the expected cost of each. 

A timeline of when you’ll need each resource, and when you expect to spend funds. 

The person responsible for each budget component. For example, you might note that your assistant editor is responsible for tracking freelancer hours and invoices. 

Clear documentation of which part of the company budget you’ll pull from for each line item. For example, you may use the marketing department budget to create video ads, and the IT department budget for computer upgrades. 

A total of expenditures for your entire project. If applicable, include individual totals for each department budget you’ll be using. 

A place to track actual costs vs. budgeted costs once your project kicks off. 

Project budgeting tools

Selecting the right project budgeting tool is important, too. Make sure the program you choose has functionality to automatically total dollar amounts, so you don’t have to manually recalculate every time you need to adjust a line item. Also, your chosen tool should let you easily share and update your budget in real time, so you can make sure all team members are working with the most current version. 

There are lots of options to choose from, including basic excel spreadsheets and more robust project management software . Not surprisingly, we’re partial to Asana because it lets you input and total line items, build custom fields, assign owners, and easily share information with teammates. And aside from your actual budget, you can iterate on past workflows , create process documents , and save project budget templates to ensure you’re not missing any steps.

8. Make a plan to monitor spend

A budget is only good as long as you stick to it. Plan in advance how often you’ll keep tabs on actual costs vs. budgeted costs, so you can mitigate potential issues before they get too big. You can also decide up-front what you’ll do if you go over (or under) budget.

The benefit of a tool like Asana is that it lets you share, manage, and track your budget in real time. For example, Asana’s Universal Reporting feature automatically pulls data from your projects and displays spend, task status, and completed milestones in one place—so you don’t have to dig to figure out if you’re on track or not. 

9. Get approval from key stakeholders 

Now that you have your project budget plan in hand, it’s time to share it with project stakeholders and ask for sign-off. Thankfully, the detailed plan you’ve made should give approvers a crystal clear picture of how each individual line item will contribute to your project objectives. 

Example of a project budget

Let’s say you’re updating the checkout flow for your mobile app, and your project objective is to decrease average checkout time by 25% in Q3. To achieve that goal, you’ve scoped two priority deliverables and laid out the resources required. 

Here’s a simple example of what your project budget might look like. Note that you’ve included the timeline, owner, and estimated cost for each. You’ve also indicated which department budget you’ll use for each line item, and added columns to track budget approval and actual spend. 

Spend smart with project budgets

A well-crafted budget helps you through the entire project lifecycle—including planning, approval, and execution. Once you’ve mastered the skill of budgeting, you can ensure your project team has the resources they need to conquer key objectives and deliver quality results. And when you set up a process to stay on track with spend, you can tackle unexpected costs as they arise, build trust with budget approvers, and set a solid track record of successful projects. 

Want to learn more about project management? Here are 25 essential project management skills you need to succeed .

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Let your curiosity lead the way:

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Creating a Budget

In general, while your research proposal outlines the academic significance of your study, the budget and budget narrative show that you have an understanding of what it will cost for you to be able to perform this research. Your proposed budget should identify all the expenses that are necessary and reasonable for the success of your project—no more and no less. The Office of Undergraduate Research understands that estimates, by definition, are imprecise, yet we encourage students applying for funding to research all aspects of their budgets with honest diligence.

If your research requires you to be in the field or in another city, state, or country, travel expenses may include transportation (airline, train, taxi, etc.), passport and visa fees, as well as fees for any vaccinations you may need to travel. Be sure to include anticipated major incidental expenses, such as printing, copying, fees for accessing archives, etc.

Please note that our funding restrictions prevent us from providing support for lab materials, equipment, software, hardware, etc.

Keep in mind these tips:

Convert all foreign currency figures to U.S. dollars.

Round all figures to whole dollars.

Make sure your budget and your proposal are consistent.

Identify areas where you are making efforts to save money!

Browse through these sample budgets for a better idea of how to outline your expenses and contact us if you have questions!

Sample Budget 1

Sample Budget 2

Sample Budget 3

Sample Budget 4

• Faculty/Staff
• MyMichiganTech
• Safety Data Sheets
• Website Settings
• Research Projects
• Develop a Proposal

Proposal Budgets

The budget should list all cost details for the year or another appropriate period of time. It should include any applicable salaries & wages, fringe benefits, services, supplies, equipment, publications, travel, other direct expenses, and any facility and administrative costs. A brief outline for developing a budget is included in Michigan Tech's policies and procedures manual .

Sample budgets are available for Michigan Tech researchers in the RD Toolkit .

You can download a budget worksheet (Excel) to help you with this process. Refer to the Guidelines for Budget Development for additional calculation help and information.

Follow these cost considerations when developing your budget:

• Direct Costs — Costs that can be specifically linked to your project.
• Fringe Benefits — Compensation made to an employee beyond the regular benefit of payment for work. Fringe benefits are charged using a negotiated rate approved by the federal government in accordance with Michigan Tech’s fringe benefit rate agreement.
• Indirect costs / F&A / Overhead (these are all the same thing) — Costs that cannot be attributed to a particular project. Examples include utilities, facilities maintenance, library support and general departmental and university administration. These costs are covered in the Current Rate Agreement . Indirect costs may be limited by the sponsor. Be sure to check for this in the solicitation.
• Cost Sharing and Matching — Cash or in-kind support provided by Michigan Tech or a source other than the main sponsor. Cost-sharing or matching can be prohibited or required by the sponsor. Check for this in the solicitation.
• Allowable and Unallowable Costs — Allowable costs can be budgeted and expensed under a sponsored agreement, while some costs are simply unallowable. Cost allowability is determined in accordance with federal guidelines and Michigan Tech policy.
• Subawards / Subcontracts / Vendors — Costs for payment to an organization outside of Michigan Tech to conduct a portion of the sponsored project activity. There are different use cases for these different categories, and with each comes implications in the budget. Subawards and subcontracts have the applicable indirect cost rate applied to the first $25,000. Vendors have indirect cost rate applied on the entire amount. See this Subaward, Consultant, and Service page for more in-depth info.
• Employees / Independent Contractors — Costs for individuals who are not paid with salary lines in the personnel section of the budget. There is a helpful questionnaire to determine whether someone should be paid as an employee or independent contractor .
• Student and Postdoc Support — Costs for supporting students can vary by type of student (undergrad, masters, PhD, postdoc) and by department. See the current rates for tuition, stipends, and salary or hourly wages in the “Resources” section of this page. Supporting students may be limited or required by the sponsor. Check for this in the solicitation.

Project Budget Management: How To Create, Tips & Best Practices

Project budget management is the process of planning, allocating, tracking, and controlling project resources throughout a project’s lifecycle.

But creating a project budget that works for you and your client is an art form. It’s the profitability of each project that will decide if your business sinks or swims. 💰

So in this post, you’ll learn how to create and manage a winning project budget like a pro.

What is a project budget?

A project budget is the total cost of all the tasks, activities, and materials associated with a client project.

A well-defined project budget helps you track the estimated costs versus the actual cost. And you can use it to track project expenses and reduce the likelihood of running out of resources or going over budget.

Project budget vs. estimate—what’s the difference?

A cost estimate approximates what the project (or piece of it) will cost. The budget is the final cost that’s allocated to the project.

The estimate is more of a ballpark figure, and the budget provides hard edges. You can’t go over-estimate, but you can go over budget.

Typical project costs

Project costs will vary from business to business, so we’ll stick with the most common ones:

You may also want to consider adding a percentage to the final project budget to cover indirect costs—such as your business’s overhead expenses (rent, utilities, employee training, etc.) 

Generally, you can use a percentage range between 10% to 30% of the total direct costs to cover indirect costs—but this will vary from business to business.

Techniques for estimating a project budget

Before you go ahead and rush into creating a project budget, it’s wise to get familiar with the different budget estimation techniques.

There are a wealth of proven project estimation techniques , but here are the ones we think will be most helpful to you:

Expert judgment

Analogous estimation.

• Top-down estimation
• Bottom-up estimation

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Start with your team and add use SMEs if you have knowledge gaps. Expert judgment is helpful when you don’t have historical data, or the project is simple enough.

But the biggest downside to this approach is the subjectivity—one person’s estimate could be wildly different from yours, for example.

This is where historical data can be useful…

Analogous estimating is a pretty easy way to determine how much something might cost.

You look at similar projects you’ve done and use them to create a ballpark estimate for the project.

But be careful; this is only a reliable method for estimating a project budget if you can access past project data and the project isn’t overly complicated.

Using Toggl Track , you can view past project data using the Report Dashboard .

You can access data at project and task-level such as:

• Total tracked hours
• Total billable hours
• Total cost in labor

You can use this to put together quick estimates of costs and time.

Top-down estimating

Top-down estimating looks at the high-level project scope and budget, avoiding digging into the nitty-gritty of the work to create a ballpark estimate.

It is a form of analogous estimating, where existing knowledge of similar projects is used in the estimation process to produce a ballpark figure for the total cost.

Top-down estimating can also involve the client setting the budget—this means it’s up to you to allocate funds to different tasks, phases, or deliverables.

Top-down estimating can be super efficient and straightforward but often needs more detail and nuance. Plus, if the client has a tight budget, it can be challenging to fulfill the goals and objectives of the project.

Bottom-up estimating

Bottom-up estimating considers the time, cost, and effort for each task within the project. It then adds it up to create an estimation for the entire project.

It’s best to use a combination of a  Work Breakdown Structure  (WBS) and historical project data when using this technique.

This approach is much more detailed and accurate but can be incredibly time-consuming as it requires more input from your team.

Project budgeting tools

Here’s a list of tools you may find helpful when creating and managing your next project budget.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a way to break down a project into smaller, manageable tasks. That way, you can estimate the cost of individual tasks or phases to create a far more accurate budget for your client and statement of work .

You can use our free WBS template for this.

But creating a detailed WBS can take time—so it’s best to create one for projects when:

• You fully understand the project requirements .
• The client is committed to working with you and signing an SOW .

Learn more about the different types of project budget estimates in the ‘ When to create a project budget ’ section.

Spreadsheets

Using a spreadsheet to create a project budget is a practical way to organize and track your project’s expenses . 

Spreadsheets are great for creating and managing project budgets as they are versatile, efficient, and user-friendly.

Our WBS template incorporates project costs, so feel free to use that as your template.

Once the project has started, you can use our free project budget template to track expenses. The template focuses on tracking hours for specific tasks within a project and includes columns such as:

• Estimates hours
• Estimates cost
• Actual hours
• Actual cost
• Over / under (budget)

I’d recommend you check out the ‘ Free Project Budget Template ‘ guide to learn how it works best.

You can also incorporate a project time tracking tool into your project budget management process.

You can use Toggl Track’s Project Dashboard for your cost estimation process . You’ll get access to historical project data you can use to create quick estimates.

The Project Dashboard will let you dig into data such as:

• Total time tracked
• Total billable amount tracked
• Task level time and costs tracked

Once the project is up and running, you can easily track expenses and assess profitability in real-time.

You can use the Project Dashboard to track the project’s expenses (labor and contractor costs) against the fixed fee you set.

How to create a project budget in 7 Steps

A typical project budgeting process may look like this:

• Define the project scope and client requirements
• Break down the project into tasks
• Create a cost estimate for each task
• Build your project budget estimate
• Add a project buffer and contingency fund
• Get approval from the client
• Track and monitor the project budget

Note:  for a more thorough step-by-step guide on cost estimates, please head over to our  project cost and time estimate guide .

1. Define the project scope and client requirements

The first step in managing a project budget is knowing what must be done to deliver the project successfully.

This should be done during the project’s discovery phase, and you will best be able to define the project scope once you’ve gathered all project requirements .

Defining the project scope will give you a lot of necessary info like:

• What’s going into a project (resources)
• What’s coming out of it (deliverables)
• What needs doing (tasks)
• How long will it take (timeline)
• Everything the client is requesting

2. Break down the project into phases and tasks

The key to protecting any project budget is knowing the exact tasks you need to complete to deliver the project.

Once you’ve collected all project requirements and defined the project scope, you can break the project down into manageable phases and tasks.

The best way to do this is to use a  Work Breakdown Structure  (WBS). This will help you uncover everything you need to know to get the project over the line and protect the budget.

But what to list? What about the little tasks? How deep to go? Check out our guide ‘ Work Breakdown Structure: A Guide For Agencies ‘ to learn more.

3. Create a cost estimate for each task

Now that you know what tasks are involved, you can start understanding the time and costs associated.

Here’s an overview of different  project estimation techniques  for this step.

Say you’re using the bottom-up estimation technique. You can use the  WBS template  to build cost and time estimates for each task.

Alternatively, using  Toggl Track , you can use historical project data to help speed up this process. You can use the  Reports Dashboard  to analyze what went into them, including resources, time, and cost.

This is especially great for any project work consistent in scope, hours, and effort required.

4. Build your project budget estimate

With your list of potential project costs in hand, it’s time to start estimating the cost of your entire project.

You can approach a budget estimate in three ways:

• Using your experience
• Using the WBS template provided
• Use past historical data to create a quick estimate

But say you used the WBS template from above. You may have something that looks like the image below.

Look at your final number and review it, and review it again. Check it for accuracy by speaking to your team and reviewing similar past projects.

5. Add a project buffer and contingency fund to protect profits

Not everything goes as planned, so expect the unexpected.

A project buffer will help account for anything that could go wrong within the project. It will be a much-appreciated cushion for minor issues and sudden changes.

Issues like:

• Scope creep
• Sudden changes 
• Moving objectives
• Increases in material costs

Note:  we’ll look deeper at some of the issues above and how to deal with them below.

Your project buffer will also cover any little expense you didn’t (or couldn’t) account for — the unknown unknowns.

How much of a project buffer should you add?

Experts recommend adding about 10% – 20% to your project estimate. Check out the video below for more tips on this.

The better solution to adding buffers to your project cost estimates is to mitigate the impact of project risks by estimating for it upfront.

This can be done by adding a 20% contingency fund to your estimate to account for change and risk.

Don’t build this into your estimate; add it as a separate line item. This helps set a precedent and educates your client that changes to scope equate to additional costs from the contingency fund.

This means you can say yes to your clients a lot more, with a small caveat that you’ll be using the additional budget for it.

6. Get approval from the client

The last step in the project budget creation process. By now, you should have a project budget you’re happy with. So it’s time to get this sent to the client for approval.

If you’re creating a project budget as part of a proposal, remember to include the following:

Need a project proposal template? Download our free one  here .

After a client has reviewed your proposal/budget, listen to their feedback and make adjustments until you reach a budget that everyone can agree on.

Do clients often say your price is too high? Check out this video below.

7. Track and monitor the project budget

Once the project is underway, track project expenses against the budget to ensure you stay on track.

In the agency or freelancer world, this will typically mean keeping track of costs such as:

• Your labor costs/team labor cost
• Your time — aka your billable hours and actual costs
• Your project expenses (materials, software, contractor costs, etc.)

If you’re comfortable with spreadsheets, you may want to use our  project budget tracking template  to manage the overall budget.

But are spreadsheets your best option to control project costs ?

Probably not.

I’ve chatted with a few agencies and freelancers that use spreadsheets to track their time – and they  always  say how chaotic they are.

• Files get copied
• Some go “missing.”
• Formulas are unintentionally edited
• People don’t tend to fill them in all that much
• You’re unable to quickly get insights you can leverage (more on this later)

Thanks to  time tracking tools , tracking project budgets have never been more manageable.

Unlike spreadsheets, many of the  best time tracking tools  come with features that help to automate and streamline the entire project budget-tracking process.

Using Toggl Track , you and your employees can quickly start tracking your time by entering a time entry description and hitting the timer button.

It takes a few seconds to switch the timer to a different task (especially if projects and tasks are already set up).

• Type in your “time entry description”
• Find your client
• Select what “project” you’re working on
• Start the timer

Once you or your team accurately tracks time against the project, you can use the  Project Dashboard  to track your progress against the project budget.

Project Time Estimates  lets you view whether you’re over on hours or on target based on the estimate you set. If you’ve exceeded the time estimate, the time tracked will turn red.

The Time Tracking Chart will show a forecast for project completion based on the project estimate and the hours clocked for that project so far.

The Billing Amounts chart shows the progress against a fixed fee amount (the project budget) set for the project.

Below these forecasting charts, you will also see a bar and pie chart representing current data containing total clocked hours,  billable hours , and remaining hours (based on the project estimate).

Want to see how profitable each project is?

Head over to the  Insights Dashboard —it’s designed to give you more details about the profitability of your projects  and  team members.

You can better monitor a project’s budget using  Alerts in Toggl Track . You can set up Alerts to be triggered based on a time estimate or a fixed fee.

When to create a project budget

You probably spend a lot of time creating proposals and going through an entire sales cycle, only to be told the client isn’t interested in working with you.

Want a hack to save you some time during this process?

Here are three different types of budget estimates you should consider:

• Ballpark estimate  – The client needs to know if the project is possible, but you need more information to give a proper estimate. So you can do this by giving them a ballpark estimate of the project’s cost based on expert judgment or historical data ($80k-$140k).
• Budget estimate  – Suppose the client is happy with the ballpark estimate. In that case, you may ask for more information about the project to assemble a more accurate estimate and plan using a WBS or historical data. Your revised estimate may change to $90k-$130k.
• Statement of work estimate – Assuming the client is still good to go, the final step in the estimate refinement is creating a detailed WBS using your team and historical data to make your final budget estimate. This is the cost you should include in your SOW. You may adjust your estimate to $100k + a 20% contingency fund.

Why do projects go over budget?

Your project budget will inevitably hit a snag no matter how well managed. So let’s look at some top reasons project budgets go overboard and what you can do to prevent them.

Additional client requests

It’s easy to get tied up in client-pleasing.

They ask for another web page–sure! They ask for another revision–you got it!

If you aren’t charging for the “little extras” you’ll risk going over budget.

You will inevitably face them—but knowing how to deal with additional requests is critical here.

Here are three ways to best handle additional requests:

It’s healthy to set boundaries with clients. Charge for little extras, or acknowledge the request and let them know it will cost extra. Communicate with them, and both parties will be better for it.

Sudden changes

Unexpected changes can take a bite out of your budget.

These additions could be something that wasn’t included in the initial planning or a sudden need to adapt due to unforeseen circumstances.

Unplanned changes can include:

• Lacking specific resources and materials
• A team member leaving the project
• A team member was sick
• Vital tasks that were forgotten and, as a result, never added included in the budget

Protecting yourself from people leaving your business or being off sick is hard. 

But you can use as much past project data and as you can get your hands on to protect budgets and profits better.

This may mean reviewing old project plans, past cost estimates or better understanding the potential risks of each project .

All this information will help you make better decisions on budgeting for and managing your projects .

Poor planning

Yes, poor planning can lead to a poorly planned budget. Another disaster averted by Captain Obvious.

In all seriousness, this is a crucial point to stress.

60%  of projects have a scoping document, defined methodology, and undergo risk management.

This means that 40% of projects don’t have a solid plan. That’s 400 projects out of 1,000. 💀

The best way to prevent this is to plan, schedule, and review each project. Preferably with multiple team members to get several sets of eyes on it.

Here’s a project schedule laid out in  Toggl Plan .

Comb through your  project’s plan  carefully,  assessing time ,  project costs , and risks as you go.

Double-check and triple-check your project before you waste boatloads of time and money.

A session or two of reviewing a project plan will allow you to spot potential problems ahead of time and ensure everything’s water-tight.

The moving target

Goals and objectives moving constantly can de-rail any project.

You may find yourself in a situation where your trying to get a deliverable over the line, but the client keeps moving the goalposts. 

Meaning you spend more time on each task than needed.

How do you deal with this? 

• Stop everything you’re doing immediately.
• Get clarity from the client.

Stop all work on the project immediately and get clarification from the client asap. You’re going to burn through the budget if not. 

Send them an email or give them a call and say something as simple as:

“In the interest of keeping this project on track and within budget, I need some help clarifying our goals and direction moving forward.”

You must let them know that you are mindful of their budget and time.

Spend time revisiting the project scope and SOW (your safety net) and ask the client, “are these still our goals and objectives?”

If not, then you can acknowledge the new direction and charge accordingly.

Project budget best practices

Wondering how some of the pros manage their budgets?

We reached out to several agency owners and project managers about what they do to keep a project budget on track. 

Here are some of our favorite tips:

Be transparent with the client

James Nesbitt of Myth , an app and software development agency, puts client transparency at the top of his list.

“ A big part of project budget management for us is being incredibly transparent with our clients from the outset and again once a project is underway. 

This all comes down to your onboarding process and taking the time to cover all project aspects extensively with the client to ensure that both parties are on board with expectations about the required deliverables. “

The best way to tackle this is to:

• Collect and fully understand the requirements of the project
• Breakdown the project into phases/deliverables using a WBS
• Document all project phases/deliverables in a statement of work
• Get the client to agree that anything out of scope will be charged extra
• Create a project timeline with all tasks and milestones that can be shared with the client

Following the steps above means you’re not going into a project afraid of additional requests that will likely lead to a spiraling budget.

• Create a risk management plan

One of the most common challenges in project management is fighting off project risks from consuming your budget.

What do common project risks look like?

Here’s a quick summary of project risk examples for you skimmers:

Common project risks will inevitably creep toward a project budget, so a risk management plan is crucial.

This is what Simon Bacher of Ling App has mastered to keep his projects on track:

“ Without a comprehensive risk management plan, unexpected risks get out of hand, which will only inflate project costs over time… I create and implement a yearly risk management plan based on historical and projected risks. “

The best way to defend yourself against project risks is to:

• Understand common project risks and how to avoid them
• Perform a risk assessment with your team

Collaborate with your clients

Who knew that communicating with clients would be beneficial to keeping a project budget on track? 🤡

John White of Complete White Label , a link-building and content marketing agency, stresses the importance of working with your clients from the outset.

“ Setting these targets collaboratively with our clients has led to fewer budget overruns since it improves our ability to plan efficiently, allowing us to allocate resources and time better, ultimately narrowing the budget. “

What can you do to get the client involved?

You should both work on the following:

• Defining project expectations
• Creating a detailed project plan
• Building a project timeline with goals and milestones

Create your project plan and timeline internally, then share it with your client for feedback.

Use Toggl Plan to create a visual timeline to share with your clients.

Shared timelines are read-only. This means your client cannot edit the timeline in any way. They can, however, view the entire timeline together with tasks and milestones.

Have regular check-ins with the client

Communication with your client shouldn’t stop when the project has started.

One strategy Ryan Mckenzie of Tru Earth uses to manage a project budget is periodic project status check-ins with key stakeholders.

“ These check-ins helped me identify scope creep or other issues that could lead to the project being over budget. During these check-ins, it’s essential to assess progress and ensure everyone is on the same page regarding any changes in scope or timeline that could increase costs. “

How often should you check in with your client?

Honestly? It depends. 🤷‍♀️

There are two main factors to consider: 

• The length of the project
• The size of the project

A multi-year project might only require a status report every quarter or every six months. But a project that lasts six months? Monthly reporting is probably a good cadence.

While keeping management or your client informed of the progress is essential, project reports often take time. So creating them too often might be considered wasteful. 

But then there is the second element to consider—the project’s size.

Straightforward projects like creating a one-page flyer probably don’t need much reporting. 

But something as complex as a website build, mobile app, or branding campaign may require regular updates. So writing a project report every month or quarter is worthwhile. 

But don’t go overboard with project progress reports. Too much project reporting can be problematic. You don’t want to drown yourself with admin work when your time could be better spent on profitable work. Try and apply some common sense.

Create a detailed statement of work

A statement of work (SOW) is probably the most important document in any project.

It helps to:

• Provide a framework for communication
• Manage and avoid common project risks
• Act as the baseline for project post-mortems
• Establishes goals, objectives, and deliverables 

An SOW is a document that Rocco Brudno , a content and SEO consultant, is all too familiar with.

“ Clients often have different expectations of what to expect once a project starts. So getting project details ironed out from the start can significantly reduce the variables that create out-of-scope work and ensure everyone is on the same page. “

In disputes or disagreements, your SOW is the document you should refer to if you think your client is requesting work out of scope.

Track project progress and expenses

Tracking project progress using project management software is another way to help keep project budgets on track.

Maria Harutyunyan, Co-founder & Head of SEO at Loopex Digital , champions this approach:

“ One strategy that has helped me keep client project budgets on track is utilizing project management software to ensure visibility and accountability across the project lifecycle…having an overview of everything related to a single client project makes it easy for everyone involved in the team (including clients) to stay updated on progress. “

Toggl Plan allows you to organize tasks on a Kanban board format and provides a clear overview of task statuses.

The Kanban board helps you to protect your project budget by allowing you to:

• Reorder and prioritize upcoming tasks with our simple drag-and-drop interface.
• Prioritize tasks during sprints without focusing on time estimations.
• Segment all tasks based on their current status for the best project overview.

Or, you can switch to a project timeline view that can be used to schedule and track a project from start to end.

The timeline view helps you to protect your project budget by allowing you to

• Get a clear overview of who’s doing what and when.
• Visually track tasks from start to finish as they get done.
• Schedule tasks without conflicting with other projects, time off, and public holidays.
• Create color-coded milestones and optionally make them visible across projects to meet deadlines.

Toggl Plan integrates seamlessly with Toggl Track  to help you better track your project costs and protect your budget.

Turning projects into profit

Money no longer gets to pull your puppet strings. It’s long overdue that  you  control your money.

For more reading on cost estimation and budgeting in project management, go check out our guide on  estimating the cost of a project .

Want to learn more about managing projects?

Check out the following guides:

• How to Maximize Your Project Profitability
• How to Track Project Expenses (And Stay Within Budget)
• Project Monitoring: The Beginner’s Guide
• Project Cost Management: The Ultimate Guide
• What is a Statement of Work? A Guide for Beginners
• How to Create the Perfect Project Management Plan

Sean is a Content Marketer at Toggl. He's been involved in SEO and Content Marketing since 2017. Before working for Toggl, Sean ran SEO at a digital marketing agency—so he's all too familiar with time tracking and project management.

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Research Budget Template – 14+ (Word, Excel)

Research is not only a time-intensive exercise; it is also a capital-intensive one and as such, it needs a budget. Drafting a research budget is no walk in the park because you have to know exactly how much will be needed to see the process through, not to mention you may have to account for every penny spent. By virtue of being such a technical document, you will always need some help drafting it; and that’s where the research budget template comes in.

The template enables you to get a rough idea of some of the elements to include in the budget, so you do not run into any financial dead ends. Let us learn more of this critical template and see why you need it.

Medical Research Budget Template

A research proposal budget sample is in many ways similar to the research budget sample, only that at this stage, it is still a proposal.

This sample is often written in a linear or tabular format and it details all the expenses that are associated with the proposal project.

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Budget for Research Development

A research study budget is a document that contains a breakdown of the funds needed to meet the various activities involved in conducting a research study. It is important to remember that a research study is not just intended to develop new methods or improve the existing practices; one of the ultimate goals of the study is profit making by the researchers.

Therefore, this budget should be able to convince stakeholders, more so the sponsors, that the study is a viable cause and that investing their money in it will be worthwhile.

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A research budget example is basically a sample document of a research budget. As there are possibly hundreds or thousands of types of researches done daily, there is no hard and fast rule on the details that need to be in such a sample document. However, the rule of thumb demands that the names of the researchers be included, along with the identified challenges and expected financial investment for each challenge.

The document can take any form but primarily, the names of the researchers and the expected challenges come on the left-hand side with their corresponding assignments and projected budget for each problem respectively coming on the right-hand side of the document.

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Whether you are an expert or a novice in writing research budget proposals, one thing that’s for sure is that you will always find yourself making purely avoidable mistakes.

As these documents are highly sensitive, mistakes are things you can’t afford; which is why you are advised to always keep a sample template for reference.

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A Guide to Evidence-Based Budget Development

How to use research to inform program funding decisions.

• A Guide to Evidence-Based Budget Development (PDF)

Navigate to:

• Table of Contents

Editor's note: This brief is one in a series about the five key components of evidence-based policymaking as identified in “ Evidence-Based Policymaking: A Guide for Effective Government ,” a 2014 report by the  Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative . The other components are program assessment , implementation oversight , outcome monitoring , and targeted evaluation .

For many years, policymakers and citizens have expressed concerns about the effectiveness of public programs. While efforts such as performance-based and zero-based budgeting have been helpful, these initiatives have often had only a limited impact on the way funding decisions have been made. Nonetheless, the importance of using taxpayer resources wisely has never been greater, particularly given the ongoing budget stresses facing many state and local governments.

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the availability of research that has rigorously tested the effectiveness of many social programs. Despite increased data on “what works,” many governments continue to allocate their resources based on anecdotes and inertia, funding the same programs year after year with limited knowledge of the outcomes they achieve. A better method, which some governments are beginning to implement, incorporates this information into an evidence-based approach to budgeting.

This issue brief, part of a series on evidence-based policymaking, highlights three key steps that governments can take to more effectively use data to inform the critical budget decisions they make each year:

• Create a comprehensive inventory of funded programs and assess the evidence of each intervention’s effectiveness.
• Require agencies to justify requests for new funding with rigorous research on program effectiveness.
• Embed evidence requirements into agency contracts and grants to ensure that research guides program activities.

The challenges to creating a better budget process

The traditional budget process often frustrates policymakers. It typically focuses attention on incremental changes to existing spending, such as increasing or decreasing funding for all agencies by 2 percent, while the impact of the programs administered by these agencies receives little scrutiny. Policymakers interested in using evidence to inform their budget decisions face two main challenges.

Existing budget processes reinforce the status quo.

Most state and local governments use an incremental budgeting process, meaning that the activities funded in next year’s budget will be very similar to the current year’s, with a few exceptions for new initiatives or priorities. Budget rules and processes tend to reinforce this dynamic by requiring that agencies justify the amount of funding requested, rather than the results their program can be expected to achieve. Few governments ask agencies to support funding requests by providing evidence of program effectiveness. When they do, it is typically for new programs or additional funding only, so a large majority of programs are not subject to these requirements.

Governments lack key information about the programs they fund.

Most governments do not gather important facts about the programs that are included in the continuation base budget. For example, most lack a comprehensive list of these activities, and few compile comprehensive data on their cost and performance. In the absence of information about the outcomes delivered by individual programs, it is understandable that policymakers resort to across-the-board cuts when required to make budget reductions, as the dearth of data hinders their ability to target cuts to underperforming programs.

Three steps to creating an evidence-based budget

Policymakers in both the executive and legislative branches can make more informed decisions by incorporating rigorous evidence into the budget process. Key steps include developing a complete inventory of currently funded programs, requiring agencies to justify budget requests with rigorous research, and mandating that agencies incorporate evidence requirements in the contracts and grants they administer. Collectively, these actions can help ensure that funding is directed toward programs that are most likely to achieve desired outcomes.

Step 1: Create a comprehensive inventory of funded programs and assess the evidence of each intervention’s effectiveness.

The first step in developing an evidence-based budgeting process is to create a comprehensive list of funded programs and assess the level of evidence that exists about the effectiveness of each intervention. This enables policymakers to understand what programs are currently operating in the jurisdiction and what level of confidence they can have that investments in these interventions are likely to produce desired results.

Inventory current programs. Budget documents typically provide limited, if any, information about the individual programs that are being delivered by agencies and providers. An inventory enables policymakers to look inside the base budget and examine the specific interventions that are being funded. Governments typically assign responsibility for this inventory process to a central unit that can oversee agency data collection efforts. If possible, inventories should include a description of each program and its goals, services being provided, target population and number of clients served, and per-client and total cost. The inventory creates a baseline of information that can then be used to match programs to the evidence base.

Assess the likelihood that programs are successful. In a perfect world, governments would conduct periodic evaluations of all programs that they operate to provide comprehensive information about the effectiveness of each activity. However, such evaluations are expensive and time-consuming. Governments typically can conduct only a few such studies each year. Fortunately, the effectiveness of many interventions has been rigorously studied across the country in recent years. This information about what works can be used to assess whether local programs that are based on the same design are likely to generate positive outcomes. For example, a program that has been evaluated in multiple jurisdictions and consistently found to be successful is highly likely to produce good results if implemented locally with fidelity and under similar conditions.

Staff can begin this process by examining national research clearinghouses, which review and aggregate rigorous studies and rate programs by their level of evidence of effectiveness. This information can be found through the clearinghouses’ online portals (see “Using Research Clearinghouses to Match Local Programs to the Evidence Base”). Staff can then compare the programs their jurisdiction is operating (contained in the inventory) to those rated by the clearinghouses—considering factors such as target population and delivery setting—to determine if their local programs are evidence-based. Additionally, some governments rank programs by definitions of evidence that they have established through rule or law, 1 which can be helpful when classifying programs that are rated differently by clearinghouses.

Using Research Clearinghouses to Match Local Programs to the Evidence Base

Despite the tremendous growth of research on the effectiveness of human services programs, this information is often hard for policymakers to locate and difficult to interpret. Evaluation findings are frequently published in academic journals that are available only through paid subscriptions, or are presented in highly technical reports. Busy policymakers and their staff do not have time to search for and interpret thousands of studies to identify what is known about the effectiveness of their agencies’ programs.

To help address this problem, many research clearinghouses have been established in recent years that compile and curate findings in social policy areas. However, these entities do relatively little to publicize their activities. They also use differing nomenclature to report results, making it difficult to interpret and compare their findings. As a result, government leaders have underutilized this information on what works.

The Results First Clearinghouse Database provides a single access point to information from eight national research clearinghouses that conduct independent, transparent, systematic, and rigorous reviews of available research. 2 The online searchable database helps users find, view, and interpret results from these clearinghouses by reconciling the different rating systems and vocabularies, and providing data in a clear, accessible format. States and localities participating in the Results First Initiative receive technical assistance on how to match funded programs to those in the database.

Once completed, this evidence assessment enables leaders to categorize each program from their inventory by the level of available evidence about its effectiveness, identifying which ones are highly likely to work, which have been shown to be ineffective, and which need more research. This information can help governments as they analyze current spending and prioritize requests for new funding.

For example, in 2012, the Wyoming Department of Health contracted with the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center (WYSAC) at the University of Wyoming to create an inventory of substance abuse prevention strategies focusing on changing aspects of the environment that contribute to the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. The inventory ranks each strategy according to the evidence supporting its effectiveness and highlights whether the strategy was implemented in the state. 3 The report’s purpose was to provide information to community prevention professionals charged with implementing programs aimed at reducing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and abuse within their communities. “The county-level prevention workers are highly skilled but don’t have the time or resources to wade through all of the research on what’s effective and what isn’t,” said Humphrey Costello, an assistant research scientist at WYSAC and one of the authors of the report. “The goal with this report was to provide information on the evidence of program effectiveness in a straightforward way.”

The Wyoming program inventory has become a valuable tool for community coalitions engaged in making decisions about which strategies to implement to address critical needs in their communities. “The program catalogue gives us a framework for how decisions can be made,” says Brittany Ritter, a community prevention professional from Lincoln County and a member of the Prevention Management Organization of Wyoming. “We want to know that we are implementing the strategies that the research shows to work, and [the program inventory document] helps us do that.”

The Mississippi and Washington legislatures have passed laws requiring agencies to inventory their current programs and categorize each by defined standards of evidence. For example, in 2014, Mississippi mandated that the state’s corrections, health, education, and transportation agencies report program inventories, which staff then categorized into four groupings—evidence-based, research-based, promising practices, and lacking proof of effectiveness. 4 Legislators plan to use these results to inform future budget decisions and reinvigorate the state’s performance budget system.

This approach has also been used effectively by local governments. Santa Barbara County in California surveyed its jail- and community-based service providers to develop a comprehensive list of the criminal justice treatment programs being delivered and to determine the extent to which evidence-based practices were being used. This analysis revealed that many of the interventions were not closely aligned with evidence-based practices, prompting the county to offer training and technical assistance to providers to help them improve their current activities or replace them with alternative evidence-based programs. 5

Analyze whether programs’ benefits outweigh their costs. Cost-benefit analysis, which compares a program’s expense to the value of its expected benefits, can enable policymakers to assess whether programs achieve returns on investments that justify continued funding. While some cost-benefit analyses examine a single program, a growing number of governments are using the approach to compare the relative return on investment of portfolios of alternative interventions and target funding to those that are predicted to achieve the best outcomes. Several states, including Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, have adopted this practice to analyze their investments in human services and rank programs by their predicted return on investment. 6

The county-level prevention workers are highly skilled but don’t have the time or resources to wade through all of the research on what’s effective and what isn’t. The goal with this [program inventory] report was to provide information on the evidence of program effectiveness in a straightforward way. Humphrey Costello, assistant research scientist , Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center

For example, in 2014, Massachusetts completed an analysis of the predicted returns on investment and reductions in recidivism achieved by its corrections, probation, and parole programs. After examining this report, policymakers approved a competitive grant program to expand evidence- and research-based programming to reduce recidivism. 7 In 2015, Colorado’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting released a report analyzing the benefits and costs of programs in adult criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare. It plans to use these results to inform funding and policy decisions in the upcoming budget cycle. 8

Use outcome data to determine whether programs are achieving expected results. Even the best evidence-based programs, if implemented poorly by agencies, will fail to deliver good results. Accordingly, governments should establish performance goals that measure the outcomes of all major programs and report this information during the budget process. For those that have been rigorously tested, outcome measures can gauge whether programs are achieving the results predicted by the research. For programs that lack rigorous research on their effectiveness, outcome data are still important for identifying trends, such as whether performance is getting better or worse. These trends can lead to questions during budget deliberations about whether alternative approaches should be considered.

Governments should make certain that measures are agreed upon by members of both the legislative and executive branches and that data are verified or audited to ensure accuracy and reliability. Maryland, for example, provides detailed requirements to agencies for developing and reporting outcome measures as part of the governor’s budget request, including developing controls and procedures to verify that data are accurate and reliable. 9 New Mexico requires both the legislative and executive branches to agree on which outcome measures will be reported, as well as any changes to the measures, and has protocols for ensuring that data are verified for accuracy. 10

State and local governments should also set performance targets as a way of determining whether programs are exceeding or falling behind in meeting their goals. Where feasible, research on expected results when a program is properly implemented should inform these targets. For example, an evidence-based home visiting program for new mothers—predicted to reduce the frequency by which children must be removed from the home by 10 percent—should be compared against baseline rates to determine its success rate. When research is not available, governments may utilize other benchmarks that allow for meaningful comparison, such as the performance in similar states or jurisdictions, or national standards. Virginia, for example, compares the performance of many state programs with the national average, the top-performing state in the nation, and three states similar to itself. 11

Step 2: Require agencies to justify requests for new funding with rigorous research on program effectiveness.

In addition to creating an evidence baseline on existing programs, policymakers can require requests for new or additional funding to be justified with rigorous evidence. Governments can also compel agencies to give priority to evidence-based programs when implementing their budget allocations.

Require agencies to incorporate evidence into budget requests. State and local governments can instruct agencies to justify requests for new or increased funding with rigorous evidence showing that the additional resources would produce positive results. Governments may choose to gradually phase in these requirements over time so that they apply to currently funded programs as well as to new programs. Two states are becoming exemplars in this approach.

In 2015, the Mississippi Legislature began requiring agencies seeking funding for new programs through the appropriations process to answer a series of questions to ensure that proposed initiatives adhered to key elements of high-quality design. For example, agencies must report whether a requested program has “an evidence-base, research base, promising practice or best practice type model”; must describe the monitoring system that will ensure implementation fidelity; and must explain how they will measure results. 12 During the fiscal year 2016 Regular Session, the newly created Performance Based Budgeting Committee of the House of Representatives expanded these requirements to include some existing programs operated by certain agencies. In some cases, vendors who contract with the state are also subject to this review.

We turned down a lot of requests this year because agencies didn’t have the data to support their requests. Kristen Cox, executive director , Governor’s Office of Management and Budget in Utah

As part of the annual appropriations process, state agencies in Mississippi submit their requests for funding to the Legislative Budget Office. During the 2016 Regular Session, staff from the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) reviewed agency requests for new program funding using the elements of quality design to determine whether they met the evidence standards. Preference was given to evidence-based programs that have been proved effective in addressing a particular problem.􀀀However, given the limited number of submissions for new funding that met the evidence standard, the Legislature provided limited funding for some non-evidence-based programs with the caveat that rigorous research on their effectiveness would be conducted during fiscal 2017. To facilitate this, PEER is developing standards for what constitutes a rigorous research evaluation.

“Developing skill for evidence evaluation—among state agencies and any other applicants for public funds—is an important next step in the process,” said Kirby Arinder, a PEER staff member. “As those parties become better at reviewing evidence in a disciplined fashion, they can help filter out all but the most evidentially supported, effective uses of public dollars.”

Utah has taken a similar approach by embedding evidence requirements into its state budget instructions. As part of Governor Gary Herbert’s effort to improve government performance by at least 25 percent, the Office of Management and Budget has required agencies to provide evidence of program effectiveness and performance. This may include recent performance data compared with industry standards or other relevant benchmarks, or more rigorous forms of evidence including program evaluations. Agencies must propose a business case for why they need new funding and describe whether the activity is an evidenced-based practice or otherwise supported by research, data, evaluation, or professional standards. 13

“Agencies are coming from different starting points and have different experiences and levels of confidence in using data,” said Kristen Cox, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) in Utah. “GOMB uses a consistent measurement approach that shows the relationships between cost, volume, and quality measures that provide more immediate feedback than some that take years to determine outcomes.” 14

Gov. Herbert’s 2016-17 budget identified 35 programs that would receive one-time funding but would be required to provide additional evidence of effectiveness to receive continued support beyond 2017. 15 “We turned down a lot of requests this year because agencies didn’t have the data to support their requests,” Cox said. 16

Training Budget and Policy Staff to Use Evidence

Incorporating evidence into the budget process often requires additional training for both executive and legislative branch staff. A recent survey of 928 state and local government officials found that 76 percent of respondents said data-driven decision-making was a major challenge. Only 44 percent said they believe employees at their organization have the training needed to make data-based decisions. 17 Such training may be particularly important for the budget, research, and audit staff who often are charged with supporting evidence-based budgeting efforts. When equipped to do so, these units can play a vital role in the process.

One example is the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), which regularly issues evaluation reports, cost-benefit analyses, and quarterly performance reports on programs in a variety of policy areas, including adult criminal justice, child welfare, and early childhood education. Budget guidelines issued by the LFC require that analysts, in developing their recommendations, utilize performance data and rigorous research to prioritize funding to programs shown to be effective or that achieve the best return on investment for taxpayers. 18

“We use evaluations to identify the problem areas in the state and use benefit-cost analysis to show how much it is costing and what programs can deliver promising outcomes at higher returns,” said LFC Deputy Director Charles Sallee. 19

Require agencies to prioritize funding to evidence-based programs. Policymakers can also use legislation or administrative policy to require agencies to give preference to evidence-based programs when implementing their funding allocations. These mandates are typically phased in over time, requiring agencies to increase the percentage of funding on evidence-based programs up to a certain threshold.

In 2003, Oregon passed S.B. 267, which required five state agencies to gradually increase the amount of funding allocated to evidence-based programs for drug and alcohol treatment, mental health treatment, adult recidivism prevention, and juvenile crime prevention. Every two years, the agencies were required to report the percentage of their total budgets allocated to evidence-based programs. Beginning in the 2005-07 biennium, the five agencies had to demonstrate that at least 25 percent of their funds were used to support evidence-based programs. That increased to 50 percent by the end of 2007-09, and 75 percent by the end of 2009-11. By 2012, all agencies reported that they had achieved these targets. 20

“I don’t think we would have gotten the engagement from the state agencies [to target funding to evidence-based programs] without the law,” said Paul Egbert, operations manager with the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. 21 “The legislation itself, judging on its own merits, drove practices that were evidence-based and that the state sorely needed.”

I don’t think we would have gotten engagement from the state agencies [to target funding to evidence-based programs] without the law. The legislation itself, judging on its own merits, drove practices that were evidence-based and that the state sorely needed. Paul Egbert, operations manager , Oregon Criminal Justice Commission

In Tennessee, the state passed law § 37-5-121 in 2007, mandating that by 2012-13 the Department of Children’s Services fund only evidence-based programs that have been proved to reduce juvenile delinquency. 22 “There was a sincere desire to be good conservators of state dollars, providing the very best services that had research behind them,” said Debbie Miller, deputy commissioner for the Office of Juvenile Justice. 23 The state created definitions of evidence and partnered with the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt University to evaluate the extent to which providers were implementing programs with fidelity to evidence-based principles.

Agency officials in Tennessee credit the law’s focus on program implementation—ensuring that programs are carried out according to research-based methods—for having a positive impact. “You can set up contracts with providers and say we want you to provide evidence-based services, but you must follow through and make sure those programs are being implemented with fidelity, and the law requires that,” said Elvie Newcomb, special projects manager with the Office of Juvenile Justice. 24

Finally, some states have created similar requirements through agency policies or directives, rather than through legislation. In New Mexico, the Corrections Department created an administrative policy in 2015 to prioritize funding toward evidence-based programs. The policy, which is intended to provide guidance and set expectations for the delivery of services across the state, requires the department to spend at least 70 percent of funds on programs with rigorous evidence of effectiveness. 25

Step 3: Embed evidence requirements into agency contracts and grants to ensure that research guides program activities.

Many decisions on how governments allocate funding to individual programs occur outside the formal budget process. Agencies often have significant flexibility in spending funds within their legislative budget allocation, and they frequently contract with private and nonprofit organizations to deliver services. State and local governments can use these grant and contracting processes to support evidence-based policymaking principles by requiring agencies to prioritize funding to programs that have strong proof supporting their effectiveness and to restrict funding of programs lacking that data.

Give preference in competitive grant programs to proposals that demonstrate evidence of effectiveness. State or local governments can refine contracting processes to incentivize providers to use research and evidence-based programs. Administrators can work with providers to educate them about these new requirements, and identify and resolve potential administrative barriers to using evidence-based programs. Administrators can also consider building in requirements for overseeing program implementation, outcome monitoring, and evaluation.

In 2014, New York’s Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) awarded $5.1 million through a competitive request for proposal to support targeted, evidence-based alternatives to incarceration for offenders at a high risk of recidivism. 26 The grant program meant to generate long-term state and local budget savings by reducing prison and jail populations, reducing recidivism, and avoiding future victimizations. To be considered for funding, grantees were required to identify the specific evidence-based model that they would implement and agree to ongoing oversight and evaluation of outcomes. Since 2014, the competitive grant program has continued to grow, and the DCJS has also expanded provider requirements to increase program alignment with proven, evidence-based practices and has increased the agency’s capacity to perform research that gauges program effectiveness.

“The beauty of this approach is that it is very open and transparent,” said DCJS Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael C. Green. “Everything that we fund must meet a high standard, and providers receive the tools they need to meet that standard. There are no surprises.” 27

Federal Efforts to Support Evidence-Based Grant-Making

In recent years, the federal government has increasingly emphasized the use of evidence in funding decisions and has created several new evidence-based programs focused on improving outcomes for children, youth, and families. These include the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, which requires grantees to direct 75 percent of federal dollars to evidence-based programs and to evaluate the impact on key outcomes ($400 million in funding annually through fiscal 2017); the Investing in Innovation Fund, which prioritizes education programs that show strong evidence of effectiveness and evaluation of innovative programs ($120 million in funding for fiscal 2015); and the Social Innovation Fund, which provides competitive grants that focus on evidence-based interventions in areas of economic opportunity, health futures, and youth development ($70 million in funding for fiscal 2015).*

The federal government has also helped to support several pay for success initiatives through the Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation Fund. With this innovative financing model, independent investors provide financial capital to cover program operating costs, disbursing payment only when those programs demonstrate that they have achieved the targeted outcomes. In 2013, the department issued two grants totaling $24 million to the New York Department of Labor and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to support programming that aims to increase employment and reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals.

Most recently, in March 2016, Congress passed legislation establishing a commission on evidence-based policymaking, which will conduct a comprehensive study of the data inventory, infrastructure, and statistical protocols related to federal policymaking and recommend how the data could be used in cost-benefit analyses, impact evaluations, and other policy-relevant research, all of which can be used to inform federal efforts to fund effective programs. †

* Results for America, “Federal Evidence-Based Innovation Programs” (October 2015), http://results4america.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Innovation-fact-sheet.pdf .

† Justin Milner, “Everything You Need to Know About the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking,” The Urban Institute (April 2016), http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/everything-you-need-know-about-commission-evidence-based-policymaking.

Build evidence requirements into provider guidelines. Agencies can also incorporate policies requiring evidence-based programs into the performance standards they issue for program providers. These standards are included in service contracts and typically address a wide array of requirements, including defining and describing acceptable levels of services. The provider guidelines therefore provide an opportunity to disseminate expectations for the delivery of evidence-based services. Several states, including Hawaii and New York, have embedded requirements to use evidence-based programs or practices in their provider guidelines.

In 2012, Hawaii’s Department of Health created a set of performance standards for child and adolescent mental health services, which prioritizes the use of evidence-based practices for organizations that contract with the department. 28 The standards define evidence-based practices according to four tiers that providers can use to inform the types of services they offer, though providers are urged to give higher priority to more reliable or stronger forms of evidence in making treatment decisions. Contracted providers are required to comply with the guidelines as well as any additional requirements identified in their contracts, unless granted a written waiver from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division (CAMHD). “[Over the years] we’ve modified the performance standards to reflect the need to use evidence-based practices,” said Stan Michels, CAMHD administrator. “The standards help provide consistency in the quality of services provided across each island.” 29

In New York, the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) has developed provider guidelines for organizations that contract with the state to supply prevention services, using the standards as a baseline to monitor program performance and contract compliance. 30 A key component of OASAS’ Prevention Framework is the utilization of evidence-based programs and strategies. The guidelines reinforce this by requiring providers to spend an increasing percentage of their grant funding on these proven strategies. (The minimum was 35 percent by 2011 and increases by 5 percent each year to 70 percent by 2018.) “The standard allows for a percentage of non-evidence-based programs as well, which gives agencies the flexibility to be creative in developing services that are responsive to specific community needs,” said Mary Ann DiChristopher, acting associate commissioner for OASAS. 31

OASAS has also created a registry of evidence-based programs and strategies that is available to providers to offer guidance for selecting the appropriate option. An advisory panel of prevention scientists regularly reviews research on effective practices, including those submitted by providers to identify new programs or strategies that meet the criteria of the registry as evidence-based. “The science has demonstrated that the use of evidence-based programs and strategies has led to positive outcomes for youth and families … and New York wanted to be a leader in this area,” OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez said. 32

Policymakers are increasingly interested in using data to guide important decisions on how to allocate scarce taxpayer dollars to achieve better outcomes. While previous efforts to reform the budget process were met with only limited success, the growing availability of rigorous evidence about what works holds the promise of enabling governments to design more effective budget processes and make more informed investment choices. To do this successfully, governments will need to develop a comprehensive baseline of information on the effectiveness of currently funded programs, re-engineer the budget development process to encourage agencies to use rigorous evidence, and provide guidance to agencies on how to incorporate evidence requirements into the contracts and grants they administer.

This brief is one in a series about the five key components of evidence-based policymaking, as identified in Evidence Based Policymaking: A Guide for Effective Government . The other components are program assessment, implementation oversight, outcome monitoring, and targeted evaluation.

Many states have established formal definitions for levels of evidence, which provide a common language for discussions about programs’ demonstrated effectiveness. These definitions acknowledge that available data on programs’ effectiveness often vary by both the rigor of the underlying research and the number of studies that test outcomes.

The strongest evidence typically comes from multiple rigorous evaluations, such as randomized controlled trials and evaluations that incorporate strong comparison group designs to moderate evidence.

• Programs considered “promising” generally should have some research demonstrating effectiveness, such as a single randomized controlled trial or evaluation with a comparison group design.
• Other programs may have a strong logic model or theory of change but lack rigorous study. In general, interventions with stronger evidence are more likely to produce positive outcomes when delivered at scale.

Policymakers can refer to these definitions to create a shared understanding of evidence across agencies and branches of government and, over time, increase its use in the budget and policymaking processes.

• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “Results First Clearinghouse Database” (June 2015), http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2014/09/results-first-clearinghouse-database .
• Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center, “Catalog of Environmental Prevention Strategies” (October 2012), http://www.wishschools.org/resources/Catalog of Environmental Prevention Strategies_Final4 Wyoming.pdf .
• Mississippi Legislature, 2014 Regular Session, “House Bill 677” (2014), http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2014/pdf/history/HB/HB0677.xml .
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “Results First at the Local Level: Evidence-Based Policymaking in Four California Counties” (September 2015), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2015/09/ results_first_ca_case_study_web.pdf .
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “Evidence-Based Policymaking: A Guide for Effective Government” (November 2014), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2014/11/ evidencebasedpolicymakingaguideforeffectivegovernment.pdf .
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “Massachusetts’ Evidence-Based Approach to Reducing Recidivism” (December 2014), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2014/12/ resultsfirstmassachusetts2014casestudy.pdf .
• See Colorado Office of State Planning & Budgeting, “Colorado Results First: Results Guide” (2015), https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxVE8p2dzVf3OFRaNjZQVWVQTjA/view .
• Maryland Department of Budget and Management, “FY 2017 Operating Budget Submission Requirements” (June 2015), http://dbm.maryland.gov/budget/Documents/operbudget/2017-instructions/sect4-03.pdf .
• New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, “Article 3A: Accountability in Government” (2004), http://nmdfa.state.nm.us/uploads/files/Budget Division/AGA.pdf .
• Council on Virginia’s Future, “The Virginia Report: Staying Ahead in Virginia” (2015), http://future.virginia.gov/publications/docs/VaReport/2015VirginiaReport-Web.pdf ; Council on Virginia’s Future, “Virginia Performs,” http://vaperforms.virginia.gov/ .
• See Mississippi Joint Legislative Budget Committee, “Budget Instructions/Forms,” memorandum regarding instructions for fiscal year 2017 budget requests (June 4, 2015), http://www.lbo.ms.gov/pdfs/obrsforms/2017_budget_instructions.pdf .
• See Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, “FY 16/FY 17 Model Business Case,” form, http://gomb.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/09/FY-16_FY-17-Model-Business-Case.pdf .
• Kristen Cox (executive director, Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget), interview by Pew-MacArthur Results First initiative, Dec. 15, 2015.
• See Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Budget Recommendations: Fiscal Year 2017— Fiscal Year 2016 Supplementals, Table 10, http://gomb.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/12/FY-2017-Governors-Budget-Recommendations.pdf .
• Cox, interview.
• Route Fifty, “2016 Top Management Challenges for State & Local Government” (2016), http://www.routefifty.com/feature/managementchallenges-state-local-government/ .
• See New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, “Guidelines for FY17: LFC Appropriation Recommendations,” http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/lfc/lfcdocs/FY17 Budget Guidlines.pdf .
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “New Mexico’s Evidence-Based Approach to Better Governance” (August 2014), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2014/08/ nm_results_first_brief_web.pdf .
• See Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, “Agency Report on SB 267,” http://www.oregon.gov/oha/amh/ebp/reports/crim-justice.pdf ; Oregon Youth Authority, “Interim Judiciary Committee Report on SB 267” (September 2012), http://www.oregon.gov/oya/docs/ Evidence-based Statute Report (SB 267) - September 2012.pdf ; Oregon Department of Corrections, “2010 ODOC Report on Senate Bill 267 Compliance” (2010), http://www.oregon.gov/doc/CC/docs/pdf/2010_agency_report_on_senate_ bill267_compliance.pdf ; Oregon Department of Human Services, Addictions and Mental Health Division, “Interim Judiciary Committee Report on Evidence-Based Practices, ORS 182.525” (September 2010), http://www.oregon.gov/oha/amh/ebp/2010 Addictions and Mental Health Division Report.pdf ; and Oregon Youth Development Council, “Interim Judiciary Committee Progress Report: SB 267 (ORS 182.525)” (September 2012), http://www.ode.state.or.us/wma/ydd/1a1a2012sb267progressreportydc.pdf .
• Paul Egbert and Kelly Officer (Oregon Criminal Justice Commission), interview by Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, Dec. 16, 2015.
• Debbie Miller and Elvie Newcomb (Tennessee Department of Children’s Services), interview by Pew-MacArthur Results First initiative, Jan. 20, 2016.
• See New Mexico Corrections Department, “Policy CD-010100” (September 2015), http://cd.nm.gov/policies/docs/CD-100000.pdf .
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, “New York’s Investment in Evidence-Based Policymaking” (January 2016), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2015/11/rf_nys_case_study.pdf .
• Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, panel interview, April 28, 2015.
• Hawaii Department of Health, “Child and Adolescent Mental Health Performance Standards” (July 2012), http://health.hawaii.gov/camhd/files/2013/07/Orange-Book.pdf .
• Stan Michaels (Hawaii Department of Health), interview by Pew-MacArthur Results First initiative, Dec. 15, 2015.
• New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, “2014 Prevention Guidelines” (2014), http://www.oasas.ny.gov/prevention/documents/2014PreventionGuidelines.pdf .
• Mary Ann DiChristopher, Arlene González-Sánchez and Patricia Zuber-Wilson (New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services), interview by Pew-MacArthur Results First initiative, Jan. 11, 2016.

Evidence-Based Policymaking: A Guide for Effective Government

Policymakers face tough budget and policy choices that affect the outcomes they can deliver for citizens. By using rigorous evidence to inform these decisions, policymakers can achieve substantially better results by funding and operating public programs that are proven to work.

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All budgets must be certified by a research administrator.  You should, therefore, work with your department research administrator as you develop your budget.  A list of department research administrators can be found on MyResearch and the Office of Research Support and Operations (ORSO) provides a budget template use in developing your project’s budget. 

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Rebudgeting

Often, PIs must rebudget funds to complete their research, which may require prior approval from the sponsor. 

• Federal sponsors : The  Research Terms and Conditions Prior Approvals Matrix  lists which sponsors require or waive prior approval for rebudgeting. Refer to the award for specific guidance.
• Federal cooperative agreements and contracts : May contain terms requiring prior approval for rebudgeting. Review contract information for  federal sponsors , and review individual awards for unusual terms.
• Industry, foundation, and non-federal sponsors : Refer to the award for specific guidance. Depending on the terms of the award the PI may be required to submit a revised budget to the sponsor, explaining the need for rebudgeting project costs.

Requesting Budget Changes

For budget changes requiring prior approval:

• If no change/reduction in total funding level : Use the Progress Report proposal type.
• If requesting additional funding : Use the Supplement proposal type, and include only the new funding in your proposal budget. 
• If requesting additional funding and revising the existing budget : Use the Supplement proposal type, and include only the new funding in your proposal budget. Upload an attachment including the entire budget (revised existing, proposed supplement, and total combined).
• If approved, the sponsor will issue an amendment or other approval document.
• RAS processes the update to award in KC and award budget. 
• RAS notifies the DLCI of the change. 

Master agreements follow a different process; contact  your RAS CA .

Professor Jane Jones receives an award from the NSF which does not require prior approval to rebudget between travel expenses and materials and supplies, but does require prior approval to add a subawardee.

When Prof. Jones decides to engage her colleague Dr. Smith through a subaward, her request to the NSF for this approval should include a revised budget that reflects the new spending plan and includes the subaward. Since Prof. Jones has already spent $3,000 on travel, the new budget should not budget less than this for travel. Prof. Jones decides to eliminate the equipment and some more materials from her budget to fund the subaward. Overall, this will result in the following changes to her budget:

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U.S. National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Program

View guidelines, important information about nsf’s implementation of the revised 2 cfr.

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website . These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Supports interdisciplinary, evidence-based traineeships that advance ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to pursue a range of STEM careers.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas, through a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs. Proposals are requested that address any interdisciplinary or convergent research theme of national priority, as described in section II.D below.

The NRT program addresses workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. The program encourages proposals that involve strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners. NRT especially welcomes proposals that reflect collaborations between NRT proposals and existing NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative , Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) , Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) ,   NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) , and NSF STEM Ed Organizational Postdoctoral Fellowship program (STEM Ed OPRF) projects, provided the collaboration will strengthen both projects. Researchers at minority serving institutions and emerging research institutions are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Collaborations between NRT proposals and existing NSF INCLUDES projects should strengthen both NRT and INCLUDES projects.

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How to Set Transformation Targets That Actually Drive Change

• Michael Mankins

Four practices from companies that have achieved lasting results.

Eleven out of 12 top-down target transformations fail to achieve their goals, with only a fraction of theoretically “executed” or “realized” improvements translating to the corporate ledger. In this article, Bain & Co partner Michael Mankins summarizes Bain research findings that show what actions make the difference between success and failure in setting and achieving transformation targets. The key practices are: c hanging leadership’s mindset around targets; s pecifying targets in absolute, not relative, terms; u sing the company’s budget or operating plan to monitor success; and s etting more than cost-based targets.

Most top-down, target-driven transformation programs fail to produce lasting results.  Bain’s research  on over 350 companies worldwide found that only one in 12 target-driven transformations succeeded in delivering sustained performance improvement. Too often, transformations set ambitious targets but fall short of achieving them. Worse, some organizations hit their targets on paper only to discover that a fraction of the theoretically “executed” or “realized” improvements translate to the corporate ledger.

• Michael Mankins is a leader in Bain’s Organization and Strategy practices and is a partner based in Austin, Texas. He is a coauthor of Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag and Unleash Your Team’s Productive Power (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).

Partner Center

Budget impact analysis of introducing digital breast tomosynthesis in breast cancer screening in Italy

• Breast Radiology
• Published: 20 August 2024

Cite this article

• Olivera Djuric 1 , 2 ,
• Silvia Deandrea 3 ,
• Paola Mantellini 4 ,
• Francesco Sardanelli 5 ,
• Francesco Venturelli 1 ,
• Stefania Montemezzi 6 ,
• Riccardo Vecchio 3 ,
• Lauro Bucchi 7 ,
• Carlo Senore 8 ,
• Livia Giordano 8 ,
• Eugenio Paci 9 ,
• Adriana Bonifacino 10 ,
• Massimo Calabrese 11 ,
• Francesca Caumo 12 ,
• Flori Degrassi 13 ,
• Priscilla Sassoli de’ Bianchi 14 ,
• Francesca Battisti 4 ,
• Marco Zappa 4 ,
• Pierpaolo Pattacini 1 ,
• Cinzia Campari 1 ,
• Andrea Nitrosi 1 ,
• Giovanni Di Leo 5 ,
• Alfonso Frigerio 8 ,
• Veronica Magni 5 ,
• Francesca Fornasa 15 ,
• Giovanna Romanucci 15 ,
• Patrizia Falini 4 ,
• Noemi Auzzi 4 ,
• Paola Armaroli 8 ,
• Paolo Giorgi Rossi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9703-2460 1 ,
• the MAITA working group &

the Italian Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines working group

This study quantifies the impact on budget and cost per health benefit of implementing digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) in place of digital mammography (DM) for breast cancer screening among asymptomatic women in Italy.

A budget impact analysis and a cost consequence analysis were conducted using parameters from the MAITA project and literature. The study considered four scenarios for DBT implementation, i.e., DBT for all women, DBT for women aged 45–49 years, DBT based on breast density (BI-RADS C + D or D only), and compared these to the current DM screening. Healthcare provider's perspective was adopted, including screening, diagnosis, and cancer treatment costs.

Introducing DBT for all women would increase overall screening costs by 20%. Targeting DBT to women aged 45–49 years or with dense breasts would result in smaller cost increases (3.2% for age-based and 1.4–10.7% for density-based scenarios). The cost per avoided interval cancer was significantly higher when DBT was applied to all women compared to targeted approaches. The cost per gained early-detected cancer slightly increases in targeted approaches, while the assumptions on the clinical significance and overdiagnosis of cancers detected by DBT and not by DM have a strong impact.

Conclusions

Implementing DBT as a primary breast cancer test in screening programs in Italy would lead to a substantial increase in costs. Tailoring DBT use to women aged 45–49 or with dense breasts could enhance the feasibility and sustainability of the intervention. Further research is needed to clarify the impact of DBT on overdiagnosis and the long-term outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

Scientific-Technical Committee of the Italian Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines : Vittorio Cannatà (AIFM) Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù—Roma, Isabella Castellano (SIAPEC) Università di Torino, Gabriella Dardanoni (AIE) Palermo, Giulio Francolini (AIRO) Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi—Firenze, Stefania Gori (AIOM)—IRCCS Ospedale Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Negrar di Valpolicella, Carlo Magliocca (SICPRE) Ospedale Fatebenefratelli—Isola Tiberina—Roma, Stefania Montemezzi (SIRM) Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata—Verona, Stefano Pacifici (FASTER/AITERS) Unicamillus International Medical University—Roma, Emanuele Torri (SITI) Provincia autonoma di Trento, Annalisa Trianni (AIFM) dell’Azienda Provinciale per i servizi sanitari di Trento (Apss), Antonella Pellegrini (SICI).

MAITA working group : AUSL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia : Chiara Coriani, Manuela Pescarolo, Gloria Stefanelli, Giulio Tondelli, Filippo Beretti, Sabrina Caffarri, Vanessa Marchesi, Laura Canovi, Marco Colli, Mirco Boschini, Marco Bertolini, Moira Ragazzi, Pierpaolo Pattacini, Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Valentina Iotti, Vladimiro Ginocchi, Sara Ravaioli, Rita Vacondio, Cinzia Campari, Stefania Caroli, Andrea Nitrosi, Luca Braglia, Silvio Cavuto, Pamela Mancuso, Olivera Djuric, Francesco Venturelli, Massimo Vicentini, Maria Barbara Braghiroli, Annamaria Pezzarossi, Jasmine Lonetti, Elena Davoli, Efrem Bonelli. ULSS9 Scaligera Verona : Francesca Fornasa, Giovanna Romanucci, Ilaria Lucchi, Gessica Martello, Claudia Rossati. University Hospital of Verona: Stefania Montemezzi. ISPRO Firenze : Paola Mantellini, Daniela Ambrogetti, Anna Iossa, Eva Carnesciali, Vincenzo Mazzalupo, Patrizia Falini, Donella Puliti, Marco Zappa, Francesca Battisti, Noemi Auzzi, Simona Verdi, Carolina Degl’Innocenti, Daniela Tramalloni, Elena Cavazza, Simone Busoni, Elisa Betti, Fiorella Ciuffi, Francesca Peruzzi, Francesco Regini. IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Milan : Francesco Sardanelli, Giovanni Di Leo, Luca Alessandro Carbonaro, Veronica Magni, Andrea Cozzi, Diana Spinelli, Cristian Giuseppe Monaco, Simone Schiaffino, Adrienn Benedek, Laura Menicagli. CPO Piemonte : Raffaella Ferraris, Elisabetta Favettini, Davide Dettori, Paolo Falco, Pietro Presti, Nereo Segnan, Antonio Ponti, Alfonso Frigerio, Paola Armaroli, Loredana Correale, Vincenzo Marra, Luisella Milanesio, Franca Artuso, Aurora Di Leo, Isabella Castellano, Emilia Riggi, Denise Casella, Sabina Pitarella, Viviana Vergini, Livia Giordano. Queen Mary University of London UK: Stephen W Duffy. Mammographiescreening-Zentrum Paderborn, Breast Cancer Screening, Paderborn, NRW, Germany: Axel Graewingholt. Departement of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Unilabs Mammography Unit, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden: Kristina Lang. IRST Meldola: Fabio Falcini.

Italian Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Working Group : Daniela Ambrogetti ISPRO—Firenze, Laura Bonvicini Azienda Usl—Reggio Emilia, Beniamino Brancato ISPRO—Firenze, Matteo Capobussi, ATS della Brianza, Eva Carnesciali ISPRO—Firenze, Marco Moschetta Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Consorziale Policlinico Bari, Elena Parmelli, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Loredana Pau EuropaDonna—Milano, Stella Pedilarco Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico—Milano, Francesca Pietribiasi ASL TO5—Ospedale S. Croce, Moncalieri (TO), Ferretti Stefano Università di Ferrara.

This work was supported by Italian Ministero della Salute, Award number: RF-2016-02363686, Grant recipient: Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Ph.D.

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Azienda USL – IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Olivera Djuric, Francesco Venturelli, Pierpaolo Pattacini, Cinzia Campari, Andrea Nitrosi & Paolo Giorgi Rossi

Centre for Environmental, Nutritional and Genetic Epidemiology (CREAGEN), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

Olivera Djuric

Pavia Health Protection Agency, Pavia, Italy

Silvia Deandrea & Riccardo Vecchio

ISPRO – Istituto per lo Studio, la Prevenzione e la Rete Oncologica, Florence, Italy

Paola Mantellini, Francesca Battisti, Marco Zappa, Patrizia Falini & Noemi Auzzi

IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Milan, Italy

Francesco Sardanelli, Giovanni Di Leo & Veronica Magni

Radiology Unit – University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy

Stefania Montemezzi

IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori “Dino Amadori” - IRST S.r.l., Meldola, Forlì-Cesena, Italy

Lauro Bucchi

AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza- CPO Piemonte Torino, Turin, Italy

Carlo Senore, Livia Giordano, Alfonso Frigerio & Paola Armaroli

Italian Cancer League, LILT, Florence, Italy

Eugenio Paci

Fondazione IncontraDonna, Rome, Italy

Adriana Bonifacino

Breast Unit. IRCCS-Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy

Massimo Calabrese

Istituto Oncologico Veneto IOV – IRCCS, Padua, Italy

Francesca Caumo

Associazione Nazionale Donne Operate al Seno - ANDOS, Milan, Italy

Flori Degrassi

Department of Health, Emilia-Romagna Region Administration, Bologna, Italy

Priscilla Sassoli de’ Bianchi

Breast Unit ULSS9 Scaligera, Ospedale Fracastoro, San Bonifacio, Verona, Italy

Francesca Fornasa & Giovanna Romanucci

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the MAITA working group

• Chiara Coriani
• , Manuela Pescarolo
• , Gloria Stefanelli
• , Giulio Tondelli
• , Filippo Beretti
• , Sabrina Caffarri
• , Vanessa Marchesi
• , Laura Canovi
• , Marco Colli
• , Mirco Boschini
• , Marco Bertolini
• , Moira Ragazzi
• , Pierpaolo Pattacini
• , Paolo Giorgi Rossi
• , Valentina Iotti
• , Vladimiro Ginocchi
• , Sara Ravaioli
• , Rita Vacondio
• , Cinzia Campari
• , Stefania Caroli
• , Andrea Nitrosi
• , Luca Braglia
• , Silvio Cavuto
• , Pamela Mancuso
• , Olivera Djuric
• , Francesco Venturelli
• , Massimo Vicentini
• , Maria Barbara Braghiroli
• , Annamaria Pezzarossi
• , Jasmine Lonetti
• , Elena Davoli
• , Efrem Bonelli
• , Francesca Fornasa
• , Giovanna Romanucci
• , Ilaria Lucchi
• , Gessica Martello
• , Claudia Rossati
• , Stefania Montemezzi
• , Paola Mantellini
• , Daniela Ambrogetti
• , Anna Iossa
• , Eva Carnesciali
• , Vincenzo Mazzalupo
• , Patrizia Falini
• , Donella Puliti
• , Marco Zappa
• , Francesca Battisti
• , Noemi Auzzi
• , Simona Verdi
• , Carolina Degl’Innocenti
• , Daniela Tramalloni
• , Elena Cavazza
• , Simone Busoni
• , Elisa Betti
• , Fiorella Ciuffi
• , Francesca Peruzzi
• , Francesco Regini
• , Francesco Sardanelli
• , Giovanni Di Leo
• , Luca Alessandro Carbonaro
• , Veronica Magni
• , Andrea Cozzi
• , Diana Spinelli
• , Cristian Giuseppe Monaco
• , Simone Schiaffino
• , Adrienn Benedek
• , Laura Menicagli
• , Raffaella Ferraris
• , Elisabetta Favettini
• , Davide Dettori
• , Paolo Falco
• , Pietro Presti
• , Nereo Segnan
• , Antonio Ponti
• , Alfonso Frigerio
• , Paola Armaroli
• , Loredana Correale
• , Vincenzo Marra
• , Luisella Milanesio
• , Franca Artuso
• , Aurora Di Leo
• , Isabella Castellano
• , Emilia Riggi
• , Denise Casella
• , Sabina Pitarella
• , Viviana Vergini
• , Livia Giordano
• , Stephen W. Duffy
• , Axel Graewingholt
• , Kristina Lang
•  & Fabio Falcini
• Daniela Ambrogetti
• , Laura Bonvicini
• , Beniamino Brancato
• , Matteo Capobussi
• , Marco Moschetta
• , Elena Parmelli
• , Loredana Pau
• , Stella Pedilarco
• , Francesca Pietribiasi
•  & Ferretti Stefano

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Giorgi Rossi .

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Conflict of interest.

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships, which may be considered as potential competing interests: Paolo Giorgi Rossi reports financial not directly related to present work: the temporary supply of a hardware (server) and software for a research study and reimbursement of installation costs by iCAD. Pierpaolo Pattacini reports financial support by Emilia-Romagna Regional Health Authority for the REtomo trial. Antonio Ponti reports financial support by Piedmont Region (Department of Health), foundation Edo Tempia (a non-profit organization). Regional Consortium for Informative Systems (CSI) and University of Turin for Proteus trial. Paola Mantellini reports financial support by Tuscany Region for Impeto trial. Pierpaolo Pattacini reports equipment, drugs, or supplies and travel provided by GE Healthcare. Antonio Ponti reports equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by im3D S.p.A Torino. Stephen Duffy has received indirect funding in the past from Hologic Inc. Valentina Iotti and Andrea Nitrosi received travel reimbursements by GE Healthcare. Pierpaolo Pattacini, Valentina Iotti, Andrea Nitrosi, and Francesco Sardanelli received speaking and lecture fees by GE Healthcare. Valentina Iotti received speaking and lecture fees by Bayer. All remaining authors declare they have no financial interests. Non-financial interests: Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Livia Giordano, Stephen Duffy, and Francesco Sardanelli are members of the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer working groups. They contributed to the development of new breast cancer screening recommendations and quality assurance scheme. Livia Giordano is past president of the Gruppo Italiano Screening Mammografico, the Italian scientific society on breast cancer screening. Carlo Senore is the director of the regional screening coordination of the Piedmont Region. Zappa Marco participated at a regional level in the definition of guidelines on some of the topics covered by the guidelines being evaluated in the adolopment process. All remaining authors declare they have no non-financial interests.

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Djuric, O., Deandrea, S., Mantellini, P. et al. Budget impact analysis of introducing digital breast tomosynthesis in breast cancer screening in Italy. Radiol med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-024-01850-7

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