Lose the Excel Spreadsheet Budgets, Please

When writing a corporate, family or community foundation grant proposal (my specialties!), multipage, complicated spreadsheets are not acceptable as a budget. Reduce it to one page. Revenues at the top. Expenses at the bottom. And, make certain that the Revenues equal the Expenses. No funds anticipated in reserves for your program or project. If you’re requesting $25,000 from a funder but show your annual budget will have $10,000 in reserves, why would the funder want to grant your organization more than $15,000?