Grant Budget Allocation Calculator

Work out grant budget allocation instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Grant Budget Allocation Calculator

Overhead is normally charged on top of direct costs, so a 250,000 total at a 25% rate contains 50,000 of overhead and 200,000 of direct costs. Allocating 60% of direct costs to staff gives 120,000, with 20,000 for equipment leaving 60,000 for everything else. Confusing overhead-inclusive and exclusive totals is the commonest budgeting error.

Formulas

Overhead from an inclusive total

overhead = total x rate / (1 + rate)

Direct costs

direct = total - overhead

Worked example

With the default values below, Grant Budget Allocation Calculator returns Direct Costs Available of $200,000.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Total grantminimum 0: 250,000
Share for staff costsaccepts 0–100 %: 60 %
Institutional overhead rateaccepts 0–80 %: 25 %
Share for equipmentaccepts 0–100 %: 10 %

Results

Direct Costs Available: $200,000.00
Institutional Overhead: $50,000.00
Staff Budget: $120,000.00
Remaining For Consumables And Travel: $60,000.00

Step by step

1Values used
2Overhead from an inclusive total
3Direct costs
4Direct Costs Available= 200,000.00
5Institutional Overhead= 50,000.00
6Staff Budget= 120,000.00
7Remaining For Consumables And Travel= 60,000.00

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is overhead charged on the total or on direct costs?

On direct costs, then added. So a 25% rate on 200,000 direct gives 50,000 overhead and a 250,000 total - not 62,500.

What does overhead pay for?

Buildings, utilities, libraries, administration and research support that cannot be attributed to a single project.