Accounts of grants

From plan to execution

After bringing in the money, you will spend it over the course of your project to realize your activity plan. How you will do this is described in the budget you submitted with your application.

But during the course of the project, certain things may change. For example, certain costs may turn out to be higher or lower than estimated. Or the activities you have thought up may be carried out differently than planned. You describe the choices you made in the justification.

The purpose of an accountability

The parties from whom you received the money did so based on your submitted plan. In the justification, you show how your project went, and where there are any differences from your original plan. To do this, you put the submitted budget and activity plan next to the final results.

Accountability ensures that the parties from whom you received the money know how it ended up. For example, whether you had as many visitors as you predicted. Or whether you spent the money the same way you had put in your budget.

Differences between plan and realization

Did things turn out differently than you originally planned? That can always happen. The important thing is to communicate this clearly and honestly in the accountability statement. Then you can discuss it with the parties from whom you received the money.

Keep in mind that the essence of your plan must remain the same. The parties from whom you received the money did so on the basis of the contents of your plan. If you can justify why you have made certain choices that keep the essence of your plan the same, you are usually fine.

You write the justification after the project is completed. Do you discover during the preparation and execution of the project that there are differences with the original plan? Be sure to contact the parties from whom you received the money in the interim. This ensures that you will not be confronted with any surprises afterwards. You may have to make other choices for the project.

Different funds, different requirements

Usually you will need several grants and funds per project to arrive at a balanced budget. Note that each of these parties may have different requirements for the execution of the project. This may include, for example, reaching a specific target group. Or that you have a minimum number of visitors or performances. Therefore, be sure to keep track of this during the course of your project, and report it in a timely manner if it is not going to work out.

It is nice to have an overview of the various requirements so that you can see if you are on track even while the project is underway. This also makes writing and submitting the final report on time easier.

Components of an accountability

A justification follows the outline of your approved application. The budget and activity plan are the most important parts. Below are a few points you can look out for in the justification. This list is not exhaustive: look primarily at your original application and the objectives therein. The justification is a reflection on what you applied for previously.

Budget

• Create a financial statement, in which you put the budgeted costs and income, next to the final costs and income incurred. A subsidizer wants to be able to compare the application with the justification. The main question is: are there (large) differences between the submitted budget and the final realization? If so, explain why. As a rule of thumb: if there is a discrepancy of 10% or more, write an explanation.
• Were all the grant and fund requests you had in your initial budget approved? If not, have you sought replacement sources of income for them? Make sure you continue to meet the conditions of the parties from whom you received the money in your accountability even in the budget.
• Are the hourly rates and salary costs the same as in the budget you submitted earlier?
• Do the estimated costs from the quotes you requested to make your initial budget still match the invoices you had to pay?

Activity Plan

• Did you reach as many people with your project as you estimated beforehand? If not, why not?
• Were there as many activities as you planned in advance? If not, how was that?
• Were you able to reach the target audience you had in mind? If not, why not? How did you register the target audience?
• Did your project go as planned? If not, what did you do to still maintain the essence of your plan?

Artistic content

• What story did you want your project to tell and did it succeed?
• How were the audience reactions and reviews?
• What impact has your project had?
• How was the work process?

Want to learn more about grants?

We have different activities each month around fundraising. For example, come to the Grant Consultation for all your questions. Or visit the Monday Club, where you'll find help AND allies to tackle your (writing) chores.