The way you present a budget is just as important as what you put in it. Jargon is as out of place here as it is anywhere else in your proposal. You’ll want to label each expense as clearly as possible. Large amounts listed as “miscellaneous” or “other costs” will send up red flags, so don’t use these terms.

Grouping together similar expenses and subtotaling them makes it easier for the funder to evaluate the relationship between aspects of the budget. At minimum, use subtotals for personnel, direct expenses, and indirect expenses. Depending on the nature of the program, you might further group expenses to show mailing and distribution costs (if your program involves a publication, a marketing campaign, or some similar project) or different types of consultant fees (if you will use a number of different kinds of consultants).

Your budget deserves careful consideration, because it will be an integral part of the contract that results from a successful grant proposal. You’ll eventually report on the finances as well as what happened programmatically.

A really well-prepared budget tells a story as clearly as a narrative description. You were probably taught that “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” all should be explained in a good newspaper story. I like to use those same headings to help remember what goes into a good project budget. (Except for “Why,” which I’ve not yet found a way to explain with numbers, but I’m working on it!)