Shared costs across multiple grants: staying defensible

Few mid-sized nonprofits run each grant in a sealed cost centre. Staff time, rent, and utilities cross programs. Funders know this. What they do not accept is silent, shifting methods that put the same dollar in two places without a rule.

Choose one allocation basis per cost type — time sheets for salaries, floor area for premises, headcount for some overheads — and write it down. Test it on a sample month. Adjust only with a dated board or finance-committee note. When two funders ask about the same cost, you show the same method twice.

Watch for double-dipping risk: claiming 100% of a role against Grant A while timesheets show work on Grant B. Sampling a few fortnights usually surfaces this faster than a full-year rebuild.

A multi-grant portfolio review is not about inventing new software. It is about making the method you already use visible, consistent, and board-approved.