Full cost recovery

Full cost recovery

If you are an organisation in the voluntary sector, we can cover a proportion of your organisation’s overheads, which must be appropriate to the time or resources used for your project.

We can also cover a proportion of the cost of an existing member of staff, as long as they are not working exclusively on the funded project. We expect this contribution to be calculated using Full Cost Recovery.

By voluntary sector we mean organisations that are independent of government and whose governance, finance and resources have a voluntary focus. For example, a voluntary sector organisation might have a board of trustees, be funded by grants and donations, and rely upon volunteers to carry out their aims.

We cannot accept applications that include Full Cost Recovery from public sector organisations (for example, government-funded museums, local authorities or universities).

Recognised guidance on calculating the Full Cost Recovery amount that applies to your project is available from organisations such as the National Lottery Community Fund.

You will need to show us how you have calculated your costs, based on recent published accounts. You will then need to tell us on what basis you have allocated a share of the costs to the project you are asking us to fund, and we will assess whether this is fair and reasonable.