One of the most important things I like to teach in my Lightning Fast Grant Writing Workshops is the suggestion that charities should start working on their project budget right away.
Too often, charities work on their budget at the last minute. They will only focus on the budget after they have written much of the grant which is odd, when you think about it, because the grant writer would have a better idea of what to write if there was a realistic budget to work off of...
Ironically, busy grant reviewers will often skim (or not read at all) the text of the charity's grant application and instead turn to the budget to make an informed decision about whether the charity has a clear enough plan and a realistic understanding of their proposed project. In this context, it is easier to understand why a strong, detailed, accurate budget will always give an agency an unfair advantage over its competition.
One of the best ways to get started on your budget is to work off of a copy of an existing, winning budget. You can obtain copies of winning budget examples from other agencies, off of the internet, or from your own agency's previous grant applications.
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