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NGO Grant Budget & Burn-Rate Tracker (Excel) — never over- or under-spend

Grants are lost two ways: overspending a line, or underspending the grant and triggering a clawback. Both are avoidable if you watch the burn rate against the calendar. This free tracker puts budget against actual for every line, then compares how much you've spent with how much of the grant period has elapsed — and projects where you'll land if nothing changes.

Download free — Excel (.xlsx) ↓Opens in Excel or Google Sheets · no sign-up

What's inside

Budget vs actual by line with OK / Watch / OVER flags
Burn rate compared to grant-period elapsed
Projected final spend and over/(under) budget
Ahead / On pace / Behind pace verdict
Grant-currency and local-currency (FX) views
Free · works in Excel or Google Sheets, on a laptop or phone

The tabs

Start Here (guide + colour legend)
Settings (dates + FX)
Budget (vs actual, RAG flags)
Dashboard (burn rate + projection)

Yellow cells only. You type in the yellow cells; the rest are locked formulas. Gridlines are off and it prints clean on A4.

List each budget line with its budget and actual spend; variance, percent spent and a per-line flag (OK / Watch / OVER) compute automatically. On Settings you set the grant dates and the FX rate, so the Dashboard can show both the grant currency and your local-currency equivalent.

The Dashboard is the early-warning system: burn rate vs period elapsed, a plain 'Ahead / On pace / Behind' pace verdict, and a projected final spend with the over/under against budget. You see a problem while there's still time to fix it — not in the final report.

Do it online instead

Build donor-report charts — free tools

Open the free tool →

Frequently asked questions

What is burn rate here?

Burn rate is total spent ÷ total budget — the share of the grant you've used. The Dashboard compares it to how much of the grant period has elapsed, so you can see if you're spending too fast, too slow, or on pace.

Can it handle a grant in USD and spending in KES?

Yes. Set the grant currency, your local currency and the FX rate on Settings; the Dashboard shows totals in both, so you can report to the donor and reconcile locally.

Is it free?

Yes, free to download. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets with no macros, so it runs anywhere — useful for field offices on basic laptops.

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