OTF Request Budget Form Tip Sheet

Introduction

The information in this Tip Sheet is intended to help grant applicants to develop and present the budget for their proposals and to be specific about what they are requesting from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). The OTF Request Budget Form is page 12 of the Grant Application Form. Grant applicants must list all expected costs and revenues on this form.

Purpose of the OTF Request Budget Form

The information that you record on your budget form provides OTF with a breakdown of the total costs of your initiative and contributions from OTF and other funding sources (individual donors, fundraising events, corporate donors and other funders). Please complete a separate form for each year of your funding request (i.e., each 12-month period). So, if you are applying for a three-year grant, include three Request Budget Forms—one for each year of funding.

For multi-year requests only download additional Request Budget Form(s).

Form completion

This section of the Tip Sheet contains a brief description for each column on the Request Budget Form. A more detailed explanation of the expense categories and column headings can be found in the following two sections of this Tip Sheet: Glossary of Terms and Accompanying Budget Notes.

Column 1 – Item

Column 1, on the left-hand side of the form, is used to list expenses for the entire project for each of six expense categories listed on the form. These six categories are important. If your application is successful, funds will be allocated to each of these categories in your Letter of Agreement. You will be asked to report on your spending for each of the categories as specified in your Agreement.

Column 2 – Total Expenses

Each expense item of $1,000 or more in value must be listed separately on the form. Expenses less than $1,000 should be combined and listed as other in the appropriate category.

The breakdown contained within each of the six expense categories must be itemized on a separate page with budget notes explaining how the costs were calculated.

For example, if your project includes a capital item such as flooring, you should list the total square footage and cost per square foot (e.g., 250 square feet at $20/square foot). A brief explanation for recording your breakdown can be found under the sub-heading Accompanying Budget Notes in this Tip Sheet.

Columns 3 to 7 – Income

The Income portion of the OTF Request Budget Form is used to record all of the expected income (cash and in-kind contributions) for each expense item that you have requested and/or have confirmed for this initiative.

Column 3 is used to record income that you are requesting from OTF.

Columns 4 and 5 are used to record income from other sources (e.g., fundraising, donations, other grants, etc.). Columns 6 and 7 are used to record in-kind contributions (e.g., staff time and space and administrative costs) from your own and your partnering organization(s) and from other sources. Indicate whether the contribution is confirmed (e.g., a grant from another funding organization has been approved) or potential (e.g., a grant application that has been submitted to another funder but has not yet been approved).

The subtotals of income and contributions recorded in columns 3 to 7 should equal the amount that you record in the Total Expenses column.

Columns 8 – Contact Information

Columns 8 is used to record contact information for each organization or source listed (other than OTF) that you expect will contribute to this initiative.

Glossary of terms

Brief explanations for some of the terms used on the OTF Request Budget Form are footnoted on the form itself. The following points provide additional information to help explain some of the other terms used on the form.

Salaries and Benefits

Include all salaries and benefits for individuals who will be working directly on the initiative. For permanent staff include both full-time and part-time employees and for contract staff include temporary staff. Do not include fee-for-service consultants in this category. Instead, include fee-for-service consultants in the category of the service they provide—for example, administration for consultants who provide accounting and legal services and evaluation for consultants contributing to the evaluation of the initiative.

Remember to divide up the salary and benefit costs for these employees according to the needs of your initiative. For example, if the office manager is assigned to work on the initiative one day per week, then the amount you record for their salary and benefits should be only 20% of their total salary/benefit costs.

Additional information covering salaries and benefits can be found in the Reporting Materials section of the OTF website.

Program Costs

Include items that are required specifically to support the development and implementation of your initiative such as the design and printing of brochures, copying program materials, mileage and licenses and permits.

Administration

Include items your organization needs to support its business operations, such as general photocopying, office equipment rental, office rent, office supplies, courier and legal and accounting fees. Remember to divide up the costs for these items according to the needs of your initiative. For example, if only a small section of the office, say 1/10th, is being occupied by project staff, then the amount recorded as rent should represent only 10% of the total office rent paid.

Capital

Include costs for the purchase of an asset to be used specifically for the initiative, for example, computer equipment, a van or construction materials and labour for repairs and renovation.

Evaluation

Include only those costs that will be used to evaluate your initiative. These costs would typically be for consulting fees but may include other costs, e.g., photocopying a client satisfaction survey whose results will form part of the project or program evaluation or refreshments or room rental for focus group consultations.

Miscellaneous

Other items that do not clearly fit into one of the five preceding categories should be included in this category.

Total Expenses

The total cost for each expense item of $1,000 or more is to be included as a separate line on the budget form in the appropriate category. Don’t forget to include the GST and other applicable taxes. If you are tax exempt, do not include those taxes in your costs. Expense items less than $1,000 in value are to be listed as other in the appropriate category and can be explained in the budget notes.

The amount recorded for each budget item under Total Expenses must balance with the total income reported for the three funding types (i.e., OTF + Other Sources + In-Kind Contributions).

Income

For each budget item, the total income reported for the three funding types (i.e., OTF + Other Sources + In-Kind Contributions) must equal the amounts recorded under Total Expenses.

Income from Other Sources

The term Other Sources refers to grants, cash donations, corporate sponsorships, memberships and other financial assistance that you have or expect to receive from individuals and organizations other than OTF for the project. Don’t forget to include your own organization’s revenues if you have committed some of your own operating funds to the project.

In-Kind Contributions

An in-kind contribution is a donation of goods or services (i.e., other than a cash donation) that an organization (including your own) or a private donor gives to the initiative or that your own organization provides free-of-charge. In-kind contributions could include office equipment, lumber, advertising space in a newspaper or a donated vehicle. In-kind contributions would also include any services that can be accurately estimated in terms of dollars, such as pro-bono legal work, design services or accounting.

Volunteer time is considered a valuable contribution to the initiative and is to be included in question C7 of the Grant Application Form. Do not include it here.

Do, however, include your own contributions to the cost of the initiative, such as the portion of administration or supervisory support for this project. The amounts recorded for in-kind contributions should be of fair market value for the goods or services provided.

Additional information covering in-kind contributions can be found in the Reporting Materials section of the OTF website.

Confirmed/Potential Income

Confirmed income refers to contributions to the initiative for which your organization has a written commitment. Potential income refers to contributions that you reasonably expect but that have not yet been confirmed. This could include grants for which you have applied, projected donations, future box-office revenues or anticipated receipts from fund-raising events.

Contact Information

For each confirmed or potential contributor to the initiative (other than your own organization), you are requested to provide the following information:

Be sure that each of these sources is aware that you are applying to OTF before you send us your application, as we may contact them to confirm or clarify their contribution. In order to protect privacy and confidentiality, you do not need to list private donors. Please specify Private Donor or Applicant as appropriate under contact, where the confirmed source is an individual or your own organization.

Accompanying budget notes

Please provide budget notes that explain the details of the costs that are listed on the OTF Request Budget Form. For example, if you have listed “Salaries…$70,800”, you should explain in your budget notes that this amount is for two full-time salaries at $30,000 per year plus 18% for benefits.

The details should cover all of the costs listed in the Total Expenses column of the Budget Form. For example, if you have listed Honorarium under Program Costs, you should indicate in your budget notes to whom the honorarium is to be paid (e.g., speaker, presenter) and the cost of the honorarium.

The notes are to be provided on a separate page from the Request Budget Form. The following table is a sample of budget notes. You may download a blank table to use as a template:

NOTE: To read PDF files, you need the free Acrobat Reader software:

Sample Budget Notes

Fill in all the details

All parts of the Request Budget Form must be completed. If a particular item or column on the form does not pertain to you, insert $0 or not applicable as your response. If you’re unsure about how to respond to a question, call us for advice.

Double-check your numbers

When you have completed your budget form, check to make sure that all the numbers add up.