Grant Writing Services & Guides Budget

Salaries and Wages: The time and effort of all personnel should be included in your budget. Proposed salaries must be in accordance with University rates and expressed in terms of percentage of effort or hourly rate. For faculty, that institutional base salary rate is the amount approved for the eight-month academic year per the Faculty Contract. SP will assist you in determining faculty release time during the AY and supplemental summer salary.

Fringe Benefits include such items as health insurance, retirement benefits, life insurance, disability and social security. The current rate is 39% of base salary is an average used to estimate fringe benefits costs.  Actual costs could vary depending on the actual benefits selected by the employee.

Consultants provide technical expertise for a limited duration necessary for the conduct of the sponsored project. Consultants are temporary arrangements with external companies or individuals. Consult SP for guidance on the use of consultants, approved contractual rates, and contract templates to use.

Equipment critical to carrying out the project must be included in the budget with a catalog price or quote of each item listed. Equipment is defined as an item costing more than $5,000 and having a useful life of one year or more. 

Materials and Supplies are defined as expendable items less than $5,000/item. Each item should be listed and carefully justified in terms of need to support goal/objectives.

Travel costs include meals, lodging, airfare, and ground transportation. See the SVSU Operations Manual for reimbursement guidelines.

Subcontract agreement between SVSU and an external organization is appropriate when a significant portion of the research/project will be performed at another institution. Contact SP for guidance in including subcontract costs in proposed budgets and assessing for risk and monitoring responsibilities as required by 2CFR 200.

Other: Additional items may include but are not limited to: publication costs, equipment maintenance, human subject fees, postage, and material reproduction, evaluation.

Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Costs are costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives. These costs cannot be identified readily and specifically with a sponsored project. These are often referred to as indirect costs.

The F&A cost components are classified under two major cost categories: (1) Facilities and (2) Administration. Facilities costs include depreciation, interest on debt associated with certain buildings, equipment and capital improvements, operations and maintenance (physical plant) expenses, and library expenses. Administration costs include the costs associated with general University administration and expenses, departmental administration, sponsored projects administration, student administration and services, and all other types of expenditure not listed specifically under Facilities. The indirect cost rate is negotiated with the federal sponsoring agency by SVSU Controller’s office. This rate is subject to change.

Indirect Cost Rate 

Indirect costs charged to grants and contracts are applied in accordance with the federal cost principles outlined in 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance. These costs represent administrative and operational expenses necessary to support program activities but that cannot be directly assigned to a specific project, including functions such as financial management, compliance oversight, information technology, and facilities support. 

When permitted by sponsor guidelines, Saginaw Valley State University applies its federally negotiated indirect cost rate of 45.5%. If a sponsoring agency establishes a lower maximum allowable indirect rate or restricts indirect costs, SVSU will apply the maximum allowable rate in accordance with the sponsor’s guidelines and federal regulations. Unless otherwise specified by the funding agency, the indirect cost rate is applied to wages and fringe benefits for SVSU employees working on the grant and is required to be included in the approved project budget. Exceptions to this may be sought in advance of developing the grant application by providing a written rational to the Director of Sponsored Programs with review and approval provided by the Provost.

 Indirect Cost Recovery Distribution 

Indirect revenue is reviewed annually and allocated to support Academic Affairs, including the Provost and each Dean, in accordance with established revenue analysis procedures. 

The campus indirect cost revenue budget is calculated using a three-year average of the most recent fiscal years and is combined with the anticipated Charter Collaborative contribution to campus overhead. The resulting total is incorporated into the general fund budget prepared annually by the VP of Finance and Business Administration and approved by the Board of Control.

Some grants require cost sharing/matching funds. If this occurs, the grant lead is responsible for having discussions and gain support for the share/match. Contributions of University resources may come from in-kind (non-cash) or cash contributions and must be approved by the appropriate Dean and Vice President.

It is the University’s practice not to propose/offer cost-sharing unless the sponsor requires it and further, not to cost-share more than the sponsor’s stated requirements. For this reason, Sponsored Programs will obtain written authorization and the University account number to be charged for cost sharing before submitting a proposal.

“Matching” is generally used to refer to a statutorily specified percentage of program or project costs that must be contributed by a grantee to be eligible for Federal funding.  This requirement may either be stated as a specified or minimum non-Federal percentage of total allowable costs or a maximum Federal percentage of participation in such costs.

“Cost Sharing” is used to refer to any situation in which the grantee shares in the costs of a project other than as statutorily required “matching.”  Both require non-Federal participation in the costs of grant supported activities.  Specific program legislation may require grantees to share in the cost of the project.  Program guidelines will usually specify whether fixed amounts or percentages or matching are established on a program wide basis.

“Third-party” in-kind contributions means property or services which benefit a grant supported project or program and which are contributed by non-Federal parties without charge to the grantee, the subgrantee, or a cost-type contractor under the grant.

If there is an unexpended balance at the end of a fixed price agreement, the grant lead needs to provide evidence in writing that all of the deliverables have been provided and accepted by the funder before unexpended funds are released to a departmental account for the project director to use.  Indirect costs are charged to the unexpended fund total before the transfer is completed.