Budget Preparation

Guidance on Preparing the Budget for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows

The fellowship budget should be simple and straightforward. The grant includes no indirect costs. Relocation and travel reimbursements are administered by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) under separate funding. The main cost components for the budget are expected to be the fellow's salary and fringe benefits while in DC (the fellowship year along with any extensions beyond August) and costs of policy-related activities after the year of residency. Line items for any remaining fellowship funds after the residential stay might include travel to attend meetings or conferences to interact directly with policy-makers at the national or state level after the fellowship year; salary offsets to support the fellow's research or writing; a research assistant or support staff; or other costs directly attributable to health policy leadership development.

Sponsoring institutions may supplement funds in any category.

Travel and meeting expenses to attend the fellowship program’s annual meeting are budgeted for in a separate grant. You will not need to include this expense in your budget.

Total RWJF funding may not exceed $165,000.

Stipend for the Washington year

For the Washington year, which includes both the orientation period (September-December) and the work placement period (January-August), a stipend of up to $94,000 in fellowship funds is available. Current fringe benefits at the sponsoring institution may be requested on a pro-rated basis on the portion of the fellow's salary being covered by RWJF.  

Other expenses

Budget line items beyond the Washington year, might include salary to extend the fellow's work placement period through the end of the legislative session (usually October or November) or through the end of the calendar year, travel to interact with policy-makers, partial funding of the fellow's salary to support policy-related work, time for a research assistant, expenses of operating a website, and empirical data-gathering on a policy-related topic, etc.

Examples of budgets and guidance on preparing a budget can be found below.

Budget Example for Track 1 Finalists

Budget Example for Track 2 Finalists

Instructions for Budget Preparation

For further guidance on preparing budgets for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, please look at the Foundation's Budget Preparation Guidelines (Word Document).