Maine Technology Institute Grant Budget Calculator

Maine Technology Institute requires applicants to fill out a budget sheet as a part of their application for Business Innovation Funding, a grant for small businesses and startups in Maine that ranges from awards of $10,000 to $250,000.

Our MTI Grant Budget Calculator is a tool to help you do the math right and make the process of completing your grant application faster.

How Does It Work?

• The calculator has default values entered. The ‘project expenditures’ and ‘funding sources’ need to be balanced out (similar to a balance sheet).

• By default, the calculator has values that have already been balanced and can be referred to as an example.

• Clear all fields in the toll so that you can add fresh numbers.

• Once you are done filling the necessary fields, click on ‘calculate’.

• If the ‘Balance Cheque’ amount equals zero, you got the math correct and are good to go! On the other hand, if this field shows a positive or negative number (e.g.:- $4000 or -$60), then you need to balance the numbers above and restart the calculation.

Definition of Terms Used

Term	Definition and Inclusions
Cash Match	A match in funding that results in the applicant disbursing dollars toward the completion of the proposed project. Cash match is weighted higher than another match in the application review process.
In-Kind Match	A match that quantifies the founder’s time. Say you will be working 100 hours on the venture at $50 per hour, then your in-kind match would be $5,000.
Consultants/ Contracted Services	This includes external servicers and vendors (e.g. legal, engineering, construction, etc.) that are not employees or proprietors.
Capital Purchases	This includes funds expended on a cash basis during the Project Timeline of the MTI Scope of Work to maintain, acquire, and upgrade physical assets (such as property, buildings, and equipment to achieve application goals). This category may also be used to demonstrate the value of Other Match to the project in the form capital assets already owned by the applicant.
Other Project Related Expenses	This section should be used to outline expenses directly attributable to the achievement of project goals. Such expenses may include a % of rent, non-capital equipment, inventory costs, marketing, payroll (not already captured in the other major categories of this budget), and insurance.
Details / Notes	MTI requires the following information in the “Details / Notes” columns: a) Relative to “Uses of Project Funds”: Provide the basis for calculating the dollar amount for each “Uses of Project Funds” catagory.
Other Match in Services or Equipment	A match in funding where the applicant contributes or receives services or equipment that helps to complete the proposed project without compensation.

A Note About In-Kind Matching

MTI often allows up to 50% of in-kind matches where the founder or business owner can put down a number to compensate them for their time working on their venture. While founders cannot pay themselves from the funds received by MTI, the in-kind match helps them decrease their cash match component of the sources of funding.

For example, if I am requesting $10,000 from MTI, I will need to come up with a 1:1 match of $10,000 for the grant to be approved. However, let’s say that I only have $5000 in the bank account and need $5000 more to qualify for 1:1 matching; MTI allows founders to put $5000 as an in-kind match, which puts a dollar value for the founder’s time, effectively reducing the amount of money they need to come up with by half.

Examples of Eligible Cash Matches

• Actual dollars paid to consultants hired by the applicant to complete the project
• Actual dollars paid to employee(s) of the applicant to cover hours that employee(s) worked on the project
• Actual dollars paid for project materials, related project travel expenses, and intellectual property costs
• Actual dollars paid for the purchase or rental of project-related equipment
• Funding from a Federal SBIR/STTR Phase I or Phase II award, as long as the dollars received from the grant are going toward activities or the purchase of the equipment relevant to the technology being developed and are included as part of the proposed project
• Third-party investment in the company from sources other than an SBIR/STTR Phase I or Phase II award

Examples of Uneligible Cash Match Sources

• Funding from a Federal SBIR/STTR Phase I or Phase II award or funding from any other third-party investment that is NOT going toward funding activities or purchasing equipment relevant to the technology being developed by the proposed project
• Actual dollars from any other MTI or State of Maine funding program

Examples of what is eligible for other match

• Hours put in by sole proprietor or equity owner that does NOT currently receive payroll or salary (i.e., sweat equity), using MTI’s approved pro-bono hourly rates not to exceed $50 for principals or executive level management and not to exceed $30 for all other individuals participating in the project
• Hours put into the project by consultants that receive NO dollar payment for work (i.e., working pro bono); the maximum hourly pro-bono rate for a consultant is $50
• Hours that equipment owned either by the applicant or an outside third party is used for activities necessary to complete the project where no payment is made for its use and is instead assigned a fair market value which requires justification for an hourly rate

Examples of what is NOT eligible for other match:

• The difference between personnel or a consultant’s market rate and the reduced rate being charged to the applicant
• The difference between a third-party manufacturer’s market rate to rent use of equipment and what being charged to the applicant

Please keep in mind that despite everything outlined on this page, MTI retains the discretion to determine match acceptability.