Instructions on How to Prepare a

MEIFProject Budget

Many applicants understandably focus on the proposal narrative when applying for awards, but even the best proposal narrative will not receive funding if the budget and budget narrative do not demonstrate that the applicant has carefully considered the costs associated with the proposed project.Using this guide and complying with the MEIF@USM Strategic Framework, the MEIF @ USM Award Policies and the relevant MEIF@USM Call for Proposals will increase your chances of meeting the program’s budgeting expectations.

A.Getting Started

  1. Determine the budget requirements of the project –Important points to note:
  • What are the maximum and minimum award amounts?
  • Is the MEIF project part of a larger project/program?
  • Is the MEIF project going to be used as cost share/matching funds for a larger project/program?
  • What costs are allowed on the MEIF project?
  • What costs are required for the MEIF project?
  • What is the anticipated budget period for the MEIF project?
  • When will the costs for the MEIF project be incurred during the budget period?
  1. Be familiar with USM’s Human Resources, Financial, and International Travel Policies – Some of this information is included in the MEIF @ USM Award Policies, but you will need assistance from the Human Resources office or your College’s or department’s Financial Manager if your proposal includes any of the following:
  • New hires
  • Professional services
  • International travel

B.Budget Planning

The budget planning process should parallel the planning and development of the proposal narrative. This will ensure that the costs associated with the proposed activities do not exceed the maximum allowable request.For each project activity, goal, or aim, you should consider the following items:

  1. Financial Management and Administrative Support – One item you need to address before you submit your proposal is to make sure you have help to administer and manage the finances of your award. Per MEIF @ USM Award Policies,as the PI you are responsible for the financial management of the grant (managing payroll, human resources and purchasing).
  1. Personnel – Which personnel are absolutely essential for this specific activity? What percentage of their time will be spent on this specific activity? Apply the appropriate percentage to the salary for each person associated with the specific activity. Determine whether the percentage of time or personnel required will be different in any or all grant years. Be sure to read the MEIF@USM Award Policiesthat address eligibility in terms of personnel and use of MEIF@USM funds.
  2. Add-Comp and Summer Salary – Add-comp for faculty and staff is not allowable under MEIF @ USM. Up to two summer months of salary support are allowed each budget year for faculty on 9-month appointments.
  3. Student Support – Review the MEIF@USM Award Policiesfor guidance on undergraduate and graduate student payments.
  4. Fringe benefits – Be sure to account for fringe benefits in your budget planning.Apply USM’s appropriate fringe rate to each salary amount determined in the personnel section. The fringe rate for full-time employees is 53%. The fringe rate for part-time and temporary employees, such as faculty on summer salary support, is 7.6%. Student wages are not included in fringe benefits calculations.
  1. Travel – Is there travel associated with this specific activity?When calculating travel expenses, research the actual cost of travel to and from the location. Include airfare, mileage, airport parking, or rental car and fuel expense. The allowable USM reimbursement rate for mileage is 44 cents/mile.
  • Be sure to familiarize yourself with USM’s reimbursement policies regarding per diem.
  • If your international travel plans include students and/or program development, be sure to discuss your plans with the Director of the Office of International Programs.
  1. Equipment – What equipment is essential for the project? Is there a setup cost? Does the department/unit have the infrastructure for the equipment? Who will setup the equipment? How much will a warranty extension cost? Are you able to share the equipment with others in your department/unit thereby making it usable after the grant is over?
  1. Supplies – What consumable supplies are associated with this specific activity?
  1. Contractual – What contractual services are required for this specific activity?Common costs include consultants, evaluators, and service contracts.Please be aware that ifa contractor doesnotmeetcertaincriteria,anemployee/employerrelationshipexistsandthecontractor must be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor.Failure to handle independent contractorscorrectly can expose the University to possible penalties for failure to withhold taxes and to pay social security taxes on that employee.
  1. Additional costs – Are there costs associated with a specific activity that have not already been covered by the areas above? These may include student stipends, computer equipment or software, printing costs that can be specifically assigned to a project activity, testing associated with evaluation, etc. Reevaluate any costs identified at this point to ensure they do not fit in one of the other categories.
  1. Indirect costs – Indirect costs are not allowed in MEIF @ USM budgets.

C.Common Budgeting Problems

  1. Insufficient funds. The most common problem reviewers identify in budgets is insufficient funds budgeted for the proposed activities. This problem typically occurs when applicants develop a program and proposal without considering the budget requirements and then develop a budget that fits the available funding rather than the proposed activities. Proposals with this problem will almost never be funded.
  1. Personnel problems. Budgets often contain requests for personnel that are a) not needed, b) not fully justified, or c) insufficient for the tasks proposed. The requests for personnel who are not needed can be divided into two further groups: those that truly are not needed and those that are needed, but that cannot be justified by the proposal narrative or budget narrative. Insufficient requests can also be divided into two groups: not enough personnel (or time) are requested to accomplish the task or not enough money is requested to fund an individual with the requisite skills and experience. Salaries must be in line with expected norms and with proposed responsibilities, and all responsibilities outlined in the project narrative must be covered by personnel, even if the applicant offers these personnel in-kind. Anything unusual must be clearly justified in the budget narrative.
  1. Budget error after submitting the application.It is not uncommon to find errors in program budgets even after multiple people have reviewed the budget.However, most errors are identified during discussions with the funding agency after a decision has been made to fund the program.If this is the case, you usually can request an adjustment to the budget, and if funding is available and the request does not make the total budget exceed the funding limits, the request is likely to be approved.If you find the error after submission but prior to completion of the review process, contact the MEIF @ USM program to describe the situation and request advice.On a case by case basis, MEIF @ USM may allow amendments to proposals after the due date.Successful applicants often have an opportunity to adjust their budget or request revisions prior to the release of the award.

D.Glossary of Budgeting Terms

  1. Percent (%) time—the percentage of time an individual allocates to activities supported by the proposed grant; typically used in determining the amount of funding needed for personnel. Also see FTE.
  2. Benefits—see fringe benefits.
  3. Budget narrative—narrative that describes the specific expenses in each line item of a budget and that describes the purpose of the expenses and how they were calculated; typically presented by line item within each funding year
  4. Conference/workshop/course fees—registration fees associated with attendance at professional meetings.
  5. Cost share—requirement that the applicant identify additional funds or in-kind services for a specified portion (e.g., 20%) of the total project budget.
  6. Equipment rental/purchase—actual cost of equipment to be rented or purchased for the proposed project.
  7. Evaluation—systematic review of project activities and/or outcomes that produces quantitative and/or qualitative information on feasibility, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, or other measures.
  8. Program income—income produced by project activities; contrasted with pre-event income that is generated by project requests, donations, or other activities.
  9. External evaluator—an individual contracted to evaluate a program for which he or she did not provide input into the design of the program, has not participated materially in the implementation of the program, and does not stand to gain from the ultimate outcome of the program; an unbiased evaluator from outside the department or institution operating the program.
  10. Fringe benefits—non-salary compensation associated with personnel; typically includes FICA, health insurance, and similar expenses as a percentage of personnel salary
  11. FTE—“full-time employee.” Personnel time commitments for project activities are commonly reported as a portion of FTE. For example, if a project director contributes 50% of his or her time to the project, that is represented as 0.5 FTE. Likewise, three full-time technicians would be 3.0 FTE. Also see % time.
  12. In-kind contributions—contributions of services, goods, or personnel rather than cash.
  13. Materials and supplies—consumables required for project activities. Examples: office supplies, books.
  14. Official partner—a technical and legal term designating a particular type of partner allowed (or required) under certain federal programs; only official partners can receive subcontracts under certain program types.
  15. Other—expenses directly attributable to project activities but not included under the other itemized options on standard budget forms.
  16. Personnel—individuals paid to provide services for the project; may be named or listed as TBD (to be determined).Typically assigned % time or portion of FTE.
  17. Professional fees—fees paid to consultants, evaluators, or other professionals not directly employed by the project (i.e., not personnel).
  18. Publications—reports of project results; typically presented in peer-reviewed publications and encouraged as part of the dissemination of project findings.
  19. Sponsorships—agreements by outside agencies, foundations, partners, or other third parties to cover the costs of certain program activities or to provide general support for a project in exchange for public recognition of their financial support.
  20. Subcontracts—financial agreements to acquire specific services or goods from a partner or vendor for the project.
  21. Supplies—consumables required for project activities. Examples: office supplies, books.
  22. Travel—any costs associated with transportation, lodging, meals, and incidentals incurred when conducting project activities away from the primary project site or when program recipients or certain personnel travel to the primary site from other locations to participate in planned project activities.

Completing the MEIF @ USM Budget Form

A.Initial Steps

  1. Download MEIF Project Budget Template, in excel format, as instructed in Call for Proposals.
  2. The MEIF @ USM budget template includes three worksheet tabs; one for each budget year and one for the cumulative budget.
  3. In each budget year worksheet, as well as the cumulative budget worksheet, fill out the information in the yellow highlighted cells.Please do not enter data or text in the white cells that show “0”s.These cells have formulas that add columns and rows and calculate fringe benefits based on the information you enter and current institutional rates.The summary worksheet also automatically sums all budget year worksheets.
  4. At the top of the first budget year worksheet (first tab) enter the name of your project, your name, and the start and end dates for the specific budget year through the end date of the Current Fiscal Year(6/30), and from the start date of the Next Fiscal Year(7/1).All dates should be provided in the (MM/DD/YYYY to MM/DD/YYYY) format.This information should also be added to the appropriate highlighted “Budget Period” cells through 6/30 of the Current Fiscal Year and from 7/1 of the Next Fiscal Year.The name of the project and your name will automatically be added to other worksheets.
  5. If your project is longer than one year, enter budget information in each budget year worksheet.You will need to change the period of performance in the other budget year worksheets.
  6. Be sure to constantly save your work to ensure information is not lost.

B.Entering Budget Information

  1. A budget year worksheet is divided into eight columns and two major sections, Personnel and Expenses.
  1. The Account Code column includes the codes in the Chart of Accounts that the University of Maine System uses to keep track of each line of expenditure in the General Ledger System ranging from personnel to telecommunications.
  2. The Category column is the description of each account code. Your department’s Administrative Assistant should have a copy of the codes for all categories of expenditure.
  3. The Name/Description column is where you enter information for each budget line request.
  4. The MEIF @ USM Current Fiscal Year Costs column is where you enter the amount you are requesting for each budget line that will be expensed in the Current Fiscal Year.
  5. The MEIF @ USM Next Fiscal Year Costs column is where you enter the amount you are requesting for each budget line that will be expensed in the Next Fiscal Year.
  6. The TOTAL MEIF @ USM Budget Period Costs column is a summation of the MEIF @ USM Current Fiscal Year Costs, and MEIF @ USM Next Fiscal Year Costs columns.It shows the full costs for the entire budget period.
  7. The Other column is where you enter the amount of cost share from other sources of support including in-kind and cash from departmental, institutional, external grants and contracts, and partners.If more than one type of “Other” is needed, please add additional columns.
  8. The TOTAL Budget Period Costs column is a summation of the TOTAL MEIF @ USM Budget Period Costs, and Other columns.
  1. In each section enter the appropriate budget information that matches the Account Code/Category.
  1. Review the MEIF @ USM Award Policies on eligible costs and guidance on undergraduate and graduate student payments.
  2. Request assistance from your department staff or your college’s Financial Manager to identify the appropriate account code and category that properly reflects employment status of each member of your team including students.

3. Personnel

  1. For each member of your team:
  2. Enter their name and title that is directly related to the project (e.g., Mary Smith, PI) in the “Name/Description” column, as well as their planned percentage of effort for that period.
  3. Enter their salaries pro-rated for the specified level of effort and months working on the project in the applicable “Costs” column(s).
  4. Provide a detailed description of each member’s roles and responsibilities in the Budget Justification.
  5. Unhide additional budget lines on each worksheet if multiple faculty or staff personnel are charged to the same Account Code.If more than 4 lines for each Account Code are required, please create additional lines, and amend the related auto-calculated portions of the worksheets accordingly.
  6. If you are funding a position for which a person has not been identified:
  7. Enter the position’s title in the “Name/Description” column, as well as their planned percentage of effort for that period.
  8. Enter the position’s salary pro-rated for the level of effort and months working on the project in the applicable “Costs” column(s).
  9. Provide a detailed description of the position’s role and responsibilities in the Budget Justification.
  10. For all Temporary Employees, Students, and Graduate Assistants:
  • Enter the total number of positions in the “Name/Description” column
  • Enter the total amount for salaries/wages/stipends for all the positions in the same Account Code/Category in the applicable “Costs” column.
  • Provide a detailed description of each position’s role and responsibilities in the Budget Justification. Include names of individuals if they have been identified.
  1. If your project is longer than one year, be sure to account for the 2% Cost of Living Adjustment for all salaries and wages in each new budget year.
  2. If any member of your project team is a full-time employee of USM and is not charging his/her time to MEIF @ USM, you must include the appropriate in-kind amount in the “Other” column based on the percentage of time he/she will be contributing to the project.
  • MEIF @ USM does not support a culture that encourages faculty or staff to work on MEIF projects beyond their normal workload. This means that project team members, including the PIs, must fit their MEIF projects within their normal workload by maximizing their 25% non-teaching block for research, scholarship, and creative activity (faculty), and/or requesting a course release to allow sufficient time to work on projects (faculty), or by offsetting other activities in order to undertake the MEIF projects (research faculty and staff).
  1. If the source of the in-kind contribution is an external grant or contract, please make sure you communicate with the appropriate personnel at the USM Research Service Center who is responsible for your sponsored grant or contract.
  2. If your project includes in-kind contribution from personnel from another University of Maine System University, or such personnel will charge their time to MEIF @ USM, these personnel are considered part of the UMS financial system, and must be included in the budget for the project.All MEIF @ USM Award Policies apply to personnel from another UMS university who are directly involved in your project.While MEIF @ USM encourages collaboration with other UMS institutions, some explanation should be provided as to why MEIF funds aren’t being provided by that institution.
  3. If an organization outside of UMS has a significant role in your project and is providing in-kind contributions to the project:
  • Include this information in the“Other”column of the worksheet.
  • Provide a description of the relationship, roles and responsibilities in Personnel section of the Budget Justification.
  • Provide a Letter of Commitment from the organization detailing the in-kind support.
  1. Fringe benefits are automatically calculated based on the information you provide, but these calculations should be verified for accuracy.
  1. Expenses
  1. For each expense Category enter the total cost in the applicable “Costs” column, and provide a detailed description of each expense in the Budget Justification.
  2. For Independent Personal Services and Professional Services, if a provider is identified in your project, you must include separate documentation that includes the scope of work, budget and justification.
  3. If International Travel is included, be sure to discuss your plans with the Director of the Office of International Programs.
  4. For Equipment - MEIF @ USM allows purchases of equipment as long as the equipment is required for the project and will be usable beyond the award period. Be sure to follow UMS policies regarding purchases of computers.

C.Final Steps