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Quickly and Efficiently Draft National Science Foundation Budgets

Software solution that will help level the playing field by assisting with drafting compliant National Science Foundation research budgets!

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Get access to templates to easily plan in grant expenses...
...In order to receive a fully compliant NSF Research budget.

Assistance through the whole process

Try for free! You can later subscribe and unlock the full capabilities of the software.

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FILL IN THE PROMPTS

GET THE FINAL BUDGET

Poweryour grant

COOKIES AND PRIVACY POLICY
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Benefits

Removethe complexity of NSF research budget preparation

The software provides assistance through the stages of creating NSF budgets, offering in-depth explanations to ensure compliance.

Direct Costs

Fill and calculate all of your direct costs

You will have a comprehensive view of your direct costs broken down into steps.

Travel

Plan trips, track lodging and per diems with university and government approved rates.

EQUIPMENT

Receive guidance distinguishing equipment from supplies.

PERSONNEL

We help you allocate funds and keep track of fringe benefits for all categories of personnel.

Indirect Costs

Automatically identify your indirect costs

We will identify your indirect costs for you, and calculate the final amount without you having to worry about complex budgetary nuances.

Modified Total Direct Cost x Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rate = Total Indirect Costs
Don't worry, you don't need to know the formulas. We do the work for you.

Other Benefits

Easily integrate all subawards

Whether or not they are developed with our software.

Revisions

To revise your budget, simply change an input and it will update automatically.

Inflation

We will automatically account for inflation as allowed by NSF guidelines.

Summary proposal budget

We will return to you a standardized excel spreadsheet that can be converted and modified as you see fit.

Budget cap

Check how your budget progresses both with your direct costs and indirect costs.

Testimonials from your colleagues

"Not having to go look up specific information and having explanations readily available saved me hours in grant preparation time."
- NSF CAREER Awardee
"…extremely impressive and comprehensive software!"
- Adjunct Professor
“I have many colleagues who will be excited to use this software!”
- Associate Professor
“There is so much to learn as a new professor on tenure track and the NSF guidelines, when you first look at them, can seem extremely complex.”
- Assistant Professor
"I have never had an easier time adding a subaward to my budget."
- Associate Professor
“This will be really helpful for researchers when it’s released.”
- Graduate Student Researcher
“I am incredibly busy with young children at home and having this when creating my first budget would have relieved a lot of stress.”
- PI and Program Director
+2800

Grants projected to be drafted with Budget Mentor by 2025

+1750

Researchers projected to use Budget Mentor by 2025

+$300K

Budget Mentor's assistance has led to awarded funding

Trusted by leading academics at these institutions

Create an account and start drafting your budget right now!

Try a preview of the software for free. You can subscribe and unlock the full capabilities of the software.

Billed to you

Personal Discounted rate

Billed directly to you; this rate is active if you have NOT been awarded a grant using the Budget Mentor drafting process.

$379/year($31/month)
  • Yearly Subscription
  • Unlimited Budgets
  • Easily Accurately Plan Trips
  • Add Unlimited Subawards
  • Plan and manage Fringe Benefits
  • Automatically Account for Inflation
  • Track Direct and Indirect Costs
  • Export Complete Budget as a Spreadsheet
  • Export Complete Budget as Final NSF Summary Form
  • And more
Billed to Grant

Full Awarded Grant Rate

Billed directly to your winning grant; this rate is active if you HAVE been awarded a grant using the Budget Mentor drafting process. We give you the opportunity to easily budget in the price of our software into your grant budgets so that you no longer have to pay for the yearly subscription out of pocket once you have been awarded a grant.

$1,440/year($120/month)
  • Yearly Subscription
  • Unlimited Budgets
  • Easily Accurately Plan Trips
  • Add Unlimited Subawards
  • Plan and manage Fringe Benefits
  • Automatically Account for Inflation
  • Track Direct and Indirect Costs
  • Export Complete Budget as a Spreadsheet
  • Export Complete Budget as Final NSF Summary Form
  • After You are Awarded a Grant You Can Review and Monitor your Grants!
  • And more
Billed to Grant

Premium
Grant Rate

Billed directly to your winning grant; this rate is active if you HAVE been awarded a grant using the Budget Mentor drafting process. This subscription will give you access to additional features to help you, plan, manage, and organize your awarded grant. Your early support allows us to continue to grow to meet your needs.

We give you the opportunity to easily budget in the price of our software into your grant budgets so that you no longer have to pay for the yearly subscription out of pocket once you have been awarded a grant.

UnreleasedComing soon

REIMBURSEMENT METHODS

01. University Reimbursement

Normally universities' or research institutions' budgeting or financial departments will reimburse professors and researchers for all educational or required software subscriptions related to their research.

If you show a receipt of your purchase of Budget Mentor’s software, your institution will probably reimburse you for it.

All university and research institution policies differ. If you choose this option, it's a good idea to check with your university to confirm their policy.

This is the safest method to apply for subscription reimbursement because you will have the chance to be reimbursed regardless of whether you successfully win your research proposal application.

02. Professor Startup Funding

If start up funds were provided by your institution, you can use these funds.

03. NSF Reimbursement

METHOD 1
The NSF allows you to receive compensation for research expenses incurred up to 90 days prior to an awarded proposal.
Note:
The PAPPG NSF grant award guidelines note that if you have spent money on your grant less than 90 days before the grant was awarded, you can request funds for the purchase by adding it to the first year of your budget. After this, you must submit a request to use these funds by going to the “Notification and Request Module” on Research.gov and adding an “Other Request”.
  • Budget in cost of this software into the proposal
  • Log into Research.gov
  • Click on “Notification and Request” Module
  • Click to add “Other Request”
  • Clearly state that the amount budgeted into your proposal in year one that was allocated towards helping you recover the cost of Budget Mentor’s budget drafting software.
  • Add in an explanation that no changes are to be made to the grant research objectives. Clearly state you are looking for explicit understanding and approval that you can reimburse yourself for the amount you spent.
METHOD 2
If you did not become a Budget Mentor subscriber within 90 days of your proposal, this is completely okay. Another valid way to get reimbursed by the NSF is to budget in the subscription cost into your research budget under the "other" section in year one on your National Science Foundation grant budget. During your grant budgeting process, our software will suggest that you add in your post award Budget Mentor software subscription amount. At this stage you should also consider reimbursing yourself for the Pre-Award Budget Mentor drafting expense. You will be able to see this listed on your grant summary.

The NSF allows you to, within reason, without prior written approval of your NSF officer, re-allocate funds as long as you are meeting your specified outlined research objectives. This includes making minor adjustments to your personal compensation by moving funds from one budget category to another, even if this results in you getting compensated over a total of 2 months of your equivalent yearly salary.

We recommend doing this SPARSELY for ONLY MINOR research related expenses that you have paid for out of pocket.

We want to provide a friendly reminder: If your organization provides reimbursement for software subscriptions, you won’t have to rely on a successful proposal to cover your subscription cost.

We also provide you the option to plan ahead and receive full coverage of your post award Budget Mentor subscription costs which we do NOT want professors and researchers covering out of their own salary.

04. Successful grant covers future Budget Mentor costs

You will have the option to plan ahead and receive full coverage of your post award Budget Mentor subscription costs over the full duration of your awarded grant timeline. If you successfully win your grant, you can switch your Budget Mentor subscription billing over to your grant's funds. At this point in time you will no longer be billed out of your own personal funds for subscription renewals as long as your grant is active and you have research funds available.

Example flow:

  • 1. You create a grant and budget in coverage for the post-award subscription price for the full duration of your grant.
  • 2. You win your grant!
  • 3. You log onto Budget Mentor and switch your billing over to your newly funded grant.
  • 4. You next yearly Budget Mentor subscription will be able to be billed to your new grant!
Note:
We do NOT want professors and researchers covering the post award subscription price out of their own salary. We HIGHLY recommend making room for this expense so you don't have to cover the full price of future Budget Mentor subscription renewals. In the future, we plan to develop tools to help researchers more easily manage their grants. Including the full post-award price of Budget Mentor’s subscription in your grant will allow you to have full unrestricted access to any future post award grant tools that we develop.