A brief narrative of purpose of categories of spending; sometimes required by funding agency, definitely useful for principal investigator. Think about the activities or needs of the project, then consider costs to carry out those activities or meet those needs. An example might include budgeting money for travel if there are conferences or meetings to attend in other cities. Others might include budgeting for printing and postage to create and mail surveys. Some general guidelines are customarily used in budget development.

When planning to buy release time or pay a nine-month employee during summer, always use the exact and current salary, adding 4% for each year in the future being considered. For example, add 4% if the activity does not start for a full year. Add 4% for each additional year of a multi-year grant application. When estimating costs, especially in future reference, estimate costs higher than the exact current charge, yet keep that estimate within reason. When a grant is funded, it is always better to be awarded more than the project needs than not having enough.

Another rule of thumb when developing a budget is to round up figures to the nearest dollar when .50 or more, down to the nearest dollar when less than .50