Grant Budgets
In-Kind Contribution Examples and Match Tables
Marisa Calderón, GPC
August 13, 2026 · 5 min read
Table of contents
Key takeaways
- In-kind is a non-cash contribution valued at fair market rate and reported alongside cash match.
- Volunteer time is valued at what you would pay someone to do that work, not at a flat national rate.
- Every in-kind line needs a valuation basis and a documentation source, or it will not survive audit.
- The same contribution cannot be counted as match on two federal awards.
In-kind costs are contributions of goods, services, or time provided to your project at no charge, valued at fair market rate, and counted toward a match requirement. They are easy to claim and hard to substantiate, which is why they generate a disproportionate share of audit findings.
This page is the worked version: a complete match table with valuations, followed by what each line needs behind it.
A complete match table
A two-year project with a required 25% non-federal match against a $180,000 federal request, so $45,000 must come from non-federal sources.
| Contribution | Basis of valuation | Annual value | 2-year total | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer tutors, 12 people × 3 hrs/wk × 40 wks | 1,440 hrs × $19.40/hr (local tutor rate) | $27,936 | n/a | Signed timesheets, monthly |
| Classroom space, 3 sites × 4 hrs/wk × 40 wks | 480 hrs × $22/hr (comparable rental) | $10,560 | n/a | Signed MOU + two market comparables |
| Donated laptops (year 1 only) | 8 units × $410 (fair market, refurbished) | $3,280 | $3,280 | Donor letter + valuation record |
| Pro bono legal review | 14 hrs × $285/hr (donor's standard rate) | $3,990 | n/a | Invoice marked "no charge" |
| Loaned staff, partner data analyst | 0.05 FTE × $76,000 + 24% fringe | $4,712 | n/a | Partner letter + partner timesheets |
| Subtotal, recurring | $47,198/yr | $94,396 | ||
| Total in-kind, 2 years | $97,676 |
The match requirement is comfortably met, and every line can be traced to a source. Note what this table does that a bare list does not: it shows the arithmetic, names the valuation basis, and states the evidence, the three things an auditor asks for.
How each type is valued
Volunteer time
Value at the rate you would pay an employee to do that same work, in your locality. This is the rule people most often get wrong, in both directions.
A volunteer attorney reviewing your contracts is valued at legal rates. The same attorney stuffing envelopes is valued at clerical rates. The work determines the rate, not the volunteer's day job. Inflating clerical hours to professional rates because the volunteer happens to be a professional is a finding waiting to happen.
You may add fringe at your organization's rate if you provide comparable benefits for equivalent paid roles. If you do not, do not add it.
Avoid the flat national "value of volunteer time" figures published by advocacy organizations. They are useful for annual reports and weak as an audit basis. A local wage comparison from BLS data or your own pay scale is defensible.
Donated or discounted space
Value at the comparable market rental rate for equivalent space in your area, for the hours actually used. Two comparables and a written agreement are the standard evidence.
Where space is discounted rather than free, only the discount is the in-kind contribution. Space normally $22/hour provided at $8/hour contributes $14/hour.
Space your organization already owns is not in-kind. You cannot donate to yourself; that cost belongs in your own budget or your indirect rate.
Donated goods and equipment
Value at fair market value at the time of donation, not at the donor's original purchase price and not at replacement cost. Eight refurbished laptops are worth what refurbished laptops sell for, not what they cost new.
Record a description, the valuation, how you arrived at it, and the date. A donor acknowledgment letter is the usual evidence.
Professional services
Value at the provider's normal billing rate. The cleanest documentation is an invoice issued at the standard rate and marked as donated, which gives you the rate, the hours, and the work in one document.
Loaned staff from a partner
Value at the partner's actual salary and fringe for the proportion of time contributed. This requires the partner's cooperation: you need their timesheets and a letter confirming the salary basis, since you cannot evidence someone else's payroll from your own records.
The rules that disqualify a contribution
Four tests, and a contribution must pass all four.
It must be necessary and reasonable for the project. Donated goods you cannot use do not become match because someone gave them to you.
It cannot have been paid for with federal funds. Federal money cannot match federal money. This includes contributions from a partner that were themselves federally funded.
It cannot be counted twice. The same volunteer hours cannot be match on two awards. Where an organization runs several federally funded programs, keeping a single central match register is the practical defence.
It must fall within the period of performance. Contributions before the start date or after the end date do not count, however generous.
Documentation is the whole game
At review stage, the table above wins you points. At audit, only the evidence behind it matters, and the gap between the two is where organizations get hurt, because the person who wrote the proposal is rarely the person holding the records two years later.
Set up the evidence trail before the award starts, not when the single audit is scheduled:
- A volunteer timesheet with date, hours, work performed, and signature. Collected monthly, not annually.
- A match register listing every claimed contribution, its valuation basis, and where the evidence lives.
- Signed agreements for space and loaned staff, in place before the contribution begins.
- A named owner. One person responsible for the register, or it will not be maintained.
Reporting in-kind after award
In-kind appears on your federal financial reporting alongside cash match, and the figures must reconcile to the register. Under-reporting match is as much a compliance problem as over-reporting it, because failing to meet a required match can result in a proportional reduction of the federal share.
Track it quarterly against the target. Discovering a shortfall in the final quarter leaves no time to close it. Post-award grant management covers the reporting cycle this sits inside.
For the underlying concepts and rules, see matching funds and in-kind contributions. For where match appears on the federal budget form, see Section C of the SF-424A, and for how these lines interact with the rest of the budget, grant budget line items.
