OneStar Foundation 9011 Mountain Ridge Drive, Ste 100 Austin, TX 78759 Ph: 512.287.2000 Fax: 512.287.2039 www.onestarfoundation.org
The plan must provide for allocation of both direct and indirect costs, and should keep the two separate. A portion of costs associated with common area building space (hallways, restrooms, reception area, breakroom, etc) should not be included as a direct cost on grants without funder permission; rather, these are generally considered indirect costs. The plan must ensure that costs that are unallowable for one or more grants are not included in any pool of direct or indirect costs that is allocated to particular grants and/or activities. The plan must be applied consistently across the organization. Considerations in determining an appropriate basis for allocating costs include: 1. The relative benefit received by the grant, program or activity to which the cost is being allocated. Appropriate care should be given in selecting the method being considered, ensuring it yields a reasonable estimate of the benefit received by each grant, project, or activity. 2. The materiality of the cost 3. The amount of time and cost to perform the allocation These principles also apply to allocation of in-kind matching contributions that simultaneously benefit more than one grant, program, or activity. In-kind contributions are donations of goods, services, or use (of building space, equipment, etc.) received from and individual or entity outside of your organization. These principles also apply to the allocation of program income that was earned through a combination of work proposed in an approved grant application and other work. Costs that are programmatic in nature, but support multiple grants, projects, or activities simultaneously, may be allocated as direct costs using a reasonable allocation method. For example, if a supervisor oversees three afterschool programs, and the work on each separate program can't be readily ascertained or is in such small and sporadic increments that tracking it would be overly burdensome, this supervisor's time may be allocated using an allocation method that yields a reasonable determination of the benefit received by each project (e.g. allocate based on the number of participants in each program).
OneStar Foundation 9011 Mountain Ridge Drive, Ste 100 Austin, TX 78759 Ph: 512.287.2000 Fax: 512.287.2039 www.onestarfoundation.org