Grant Budgets
In-Kind Contribution Examples: Valuing and Documenting In-Kind Costs
Grant Writing Service Editorial Team
August 13, 2026 · 5 min read
Table of contents
Key takeaways
- In-kind costs are non-cash contributions of services, space, goods or staff time, valued in dollars and counted toward a match.
- Federal rules set the valuation method for each type: the pay rate for similar work for volunteers, fair rental value for space, fair market value at donation for goods.
- Every in-kind line needs a valuation basis and an evidence source, set up before the contribution starts.
- A contribution cannot count on two federal awards or be paid for with federal funds.
In-kind costs are the dollar value of goods, services, space or staff time that a project receives without paying cash, such as volunteer tutoring, donated classroom space or pro bono legal work. In grant budgets they are counted toward a required match, so each one has to be valued by an accepted method and backed by records. They are easy to list and hard to substantiate, which is why they cause a large share of match problems at audit.
This page is the worked version. For how match requirements are calculated and which sources qualify, see matching funds.
A complete in-kind match table
Illustrative: a two-year tutoring program with a federal request of $180,000 and a required non-federal match of 25 percent of the federal share, so $45,000.
| Contribution | Valuation | Amount | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer tutors: 12 people × 2 hrs/week × 30 weeks × 2 years | 1,440 hrs × $19.40 (what the organization pays its part-time tutors) | $27,936 | Signed monthly timesheets |
| Classroom space at a partner church: 2 sites × 3 hrs/week × 30 weeks × 2 years | 360 hrs × $22 (fair rental value of comparable space) | $7,920 | Use agreement plus a documented market comparison |
| Donated refurbished laptops | 8 × $410 (fair market value at donation) | $3,280 | Donor letter and valuation record |
| Pro bono legal review of participant agreements | 10 hrs × $250 (market rate for this work locally) | $2,500 | Invoice at standard rate marked "donated" |
| Partner data analyst loaned for evaluation | 0.02 of a $76,000 salary × 2 years = $3,040, plus 24% fringe ($730), plus the partner's 15% indirect rate ($566) | $4,336 | Partner commitment letter and partner timesheets |
| Total | $45,972 |
Every line shows the arithmetic, the valuation basis and the evidence, which are the three things a reviewer and later an auditor ask for. The total clears the requirement by under $1,000. Many organizations commit only the required $45,000 in the approved budget and treat the remainder as a cushion, because any match written into the approved budget becomes binding.
How each type is valued
The federal valuation rules are in 2 CFR 200.306. Most foundations and state agencies follow similar logic.
Volunteer services
Value volunteer time at the rate your organization pays for similar work. If you do not employ anyone doing that work, use the rate paid for similar work in the labor market where you compete for those skills (200.306(e)). Allowable, reasonable fringe benefits may be added.
The work sets the rate, not the volunteer's profession. A volunteer attorney reviewing contracts is valued at legal rates; the same attorney stuffing envelopes is valued at clerical rates.
National "value of volunteer time" figures published by advocacy groups are handy for annual reports but are not tied to the work performed or your local market, so a pay scale or local wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a stronger basis.
Donated or discounted space
Value space at its fair rental value: what comparable space in a privately owned building in the same area would rent for (200.306(i)(3)), for the hours you actually use. The federal rule refers to an independent appraisal of comparable space, so keep a written market comparison or appraisal with the use agreement.
If space is discounted rather than free, only the discount counts. Space normally renting at $22 an hour, provided at $8, contributes $14 an hour.
Space your organization already owns is not a third-party in-kind contribution. Its costs reach a grant, if at all, through allowable charges such as depreciation, which your finance office handles.
Donated goods and equipment
Value donated supplies and equipment at fair market value at the time of donation (200.306(g) and (i)(2)), not original price or replacement cost. Eight refurbished laptops are worth what refurbished laptops of that model sell for.
There is one important catch for equipment. If the award is not for acquiring the equipment but for activities that use it, generally only depreciation may be counted, unless the award terms allow fair market value (200.306(h)(2)). A donated $30,000 vehicle used on a two-year project usually contributes its depreciation over those two years, not $30,000. The laptops above are supplies, not equipment, because each costs less than $10,000.
Loaned equipment is valued at its fair rental value (200.306(i)(4)).
Professional services
Pro bono professional work follows the volunteer rule: a rate consistent with what is paid for similar work. The provider's standard rate is usually the best evidence, provided it is in line with the local market. An invoice issued at that rate and marked as donated gives you the rate, hours and work in one document.
Staff loaned by a partner organization
When another organization provides its employee's services, value them at the employee's regular rate of pay plus reasonable fringe benefits, plus indirect costs at the partner's negotiated rate or its de minimis rate, as long as the employee is doing the kind of work they are normally paid for (200.306(f)). You need the partner's timesheets and a letter confirming the salary basis, because your own payroll records cannot evidence someone else's staff.
Contributions that do not qualify
A contribution must pass every one of these tests:
- Necessary and reasonable for the project. Donated goods you cannot use do not become match because someone gave them.
- Not paid with federal funds. A partner's staff time funded by its own federal grant cannot match yours.
- Counted once. The same volunteer hours cannot be match on two federal awards. If you run several federally funded programs, keep one central match register.
- Within the period of performance. Contributions before the start date or after the end date do not count.
- Allowable. Something the grant could not pay for, such as alcohol for an event, cannot be counted as match either.
Records to set up before the award starts
At review, the table wins points. At audit, only the evidence behind it matters, and the person who wrote the proposal is rarely the one holding records two years later. Set up these before the first contribution:
- a volunteer timesheet with date, hours, work performed and signature, collected monthly
- a match register listing each contribution, its valuation basis, its value and where the evidence is filed
- signed agreements for space, loaned staff and loaned equipment
- one named owner responsible for the register
In-kind match is reported on the federal financial report alongside cash match, and the totals must reconcile to the register. Track it quarterly against the target. Our guide to running an award after it is made covers the reporting cycle, and the single audit guide explains how match is tested.
For where in-kind match appears on the federal form, see Section C of the SF-424A. To see in-kind lines inside a complete federal budget, see example 2 in grant budget templates and examples, and for how in-kind lines are written alongside the rest of the budget, our budget line item guide.
