Owl Impact belongs in a bid as the monitoring and evaluation line — the evidence layer your funder already expects you to have. Here is the wording, ready to paste. Pick your size and the figures fill themselves in.
Your organisation
1The budget line
Goes in the budget table, under monitoring and evaluation, project management or central costs — whichever heading your funder uses.
Budget line
2The monitoring and evaluation answer
For the question that asks how you will know it worked — usually phrased “how will you monitor and evaluate this project?” or “how will you measure success?”
Short version — around 60 words
Full version — around 180 words
3Why it is an eligible cost
If an assessor queries it, or if you need to justify it to your board or your finance lead.
Justification
Where this comes from. The Welsh Government Third Sector Scheme code of practice states that “recognising the full costs of the delivery of services is vital (Full Cost Recovery)” and that not recovering full costs “creates a deficit which has to be met through additional fundraising or through subsidy from an organisation’s unrestricted funds.” It also asks that monitoring be “proportionate to the value of the grant or contract.”
4If more than one funder is paying
Where the same cost is shared across two or more funded programmes, an assessor will want to see that no part of it is being claimed twice. Owl Impact works the split out for you, on headcount, and it always totals 100%.
Apportionment note
Attach the split itself. Your cost split is generated for you and updates as your programmes change — drop it in as an appendix or paste it under the budget table. Basis: headcount, which is one of the four cost drivers named in NCVO’s full cost recovery guidance, which advises choosing one basis and applying it consistently.
5A few things worth doing
Put it in the budget, not the narrative alone. A cost described but not costed tends to get stripped out.
Name the system. Funders respond better to an established monitoring system than to “we will collect feedback”. Say what you are using.
Keep it proportionate. On a small grant, the short version and one budget line is plenty. Save the long answer for bids over about £25,000.
Say what you will report. Funders want to know what lands on their desk and when — quarterly and annual reports come as standard.
Don’t overclaim. The figures are costed evidence built from what your team actually recorded, with the method and its source shown. That is a stronger position than a number nobody can trace.
Already funded? A monitoring and evaluation cost can usually be added to a live grant as an eligible cost, or moved into the M&E line at your next variation or renewal. It is worth asking your grant officer — most say yes, because better evidence makes their reporting easier too.