Budget Preparation
Each sponsor may require their own specific budget format in a proposal.
View sponsor-specific budget formats.
Proposal Budget Categories
The list linked below represents the major budget categories that could be included in your proposal budget. Please keep in mind this is provided for guidance only, and other categories may apply to your specific project. Use these as tools for working through the elements of your project including personnel and non-personnel costs necessary to conduct the project.
View proposal budget categories.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is the portion of the total project costs of a sponsored program that is not paid by the sponsoring organization. There are primarily two types of cost sharing that may occur on sponsored programs: mandatory cost sharing and voluntary committed cost sharing. Matching is another common term used to describe cost sharing.
View cost sharing determination information and policies.
Determining Proposal Type and F&A
Proposals are classified consistent with National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) definitions for the functional classifications of expenditures. These classifications are research, instruction, public service, academic support, student services, institutional support, operation and maintenance of a plant, scholarships and fellowships, and auxiliary enterprises.
Research can be described as a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and/or evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.
Systematic investigation: A detailed or careful examination that has or involves a prospectively identified approach to the activity based on a system, method, or plan.
Generalizable knowledge: The information is expected to expand the knowledge base of a scientific discipline or other scholarly field of study and yield one or both of the following:
- Results that are applicable to a larger population beyond the site of data collection or the specific subjects studied
- Results that are intended to be used to develop, test, or support theories, principles, and statements of relationships, or to inform policy beyond the study.
Detailed information on each classification is available from the UT Office of Budget and Finance.
Locations with On-Campus F&A
UT owns or leases several facilities beyond the primary Knoxville campuses. These facilities, while not on the main campuses, should be treated as on-campus locations. Accordingly, on-campus F&A rates should be charged when preparing budgets for sponsored programs using them.
Find more information about F&A costs.