Full cost recovery

Charities often win a grant, deliver the project, and quietly lose money on it — because the budget only covered the obvious direct costs and none of the back-office that made the work possible. Full cost recovery fixes that by putting the real cost of a project into the bid.

Full cost recovery recovers a project’s direct costs plus a fair, justifiable share of the overhead, support and governance costs that enable it. (Source: NCVO / sector full cost recovery guidance, accessed 9 July 2026.) The share is worked out by apportioning shared costs on a reasonable basis — usually staff time, headcount or space — and applying it consistently.

Build it into every grant budget so restricted grants carry their own weight and do not drain your unrestricted funds. The full-cost-recovery calculator does the apportionment, and the Complete Guide to Grant Funding shows how to present it to funders.