How to Write a Video Budget Line into a Grant Proposal

Most grant proposals have a line for communications, and many of them are written in the last hour before submission. A round figure goes in, labelled “documentation video” or “visibility”, with no breakdown and no link to anything else in the proposal. Then the award arrives, the film needs three field days rather than one, and someone has to find the difference elsewhere in the budget.

A video line written properly is easier for a donor to approve and far easier to deliver. This guide covers where the line sits, what donors actually say about communication and visibility costs, how to break the line down and how to tie it to your results. It contains no prices: those depend on your brief, and the right way to get them is a quote.

Start with the donor’s own rules

Before deciding where the video goes, read what your donor publishes on communication and visibility. The rules differ, and some have changed recently.

European Union

The EU’s guidance for external actions, in force since 2022, draws a line between mandatory visibility and strategic communication. The European Commission states that visibility counts as an eligible cost, but that projects usually do not have a separate visibility budget: the costs of meeting the visibility requirements should be built into the budget for the relevant objectives and activities. Its FAQ goes further. Partners should no longer include a specific communication budget and plan unless this has been agreed in advance with the EU, and the cost of a professional photographer or filmmaker should not be included unless it is specifically foreseen as part of a project activity related to communication.

That last point is the useful one. A film that exists to make the EU’s support visible will struggle. A film that is itself an activity, such as a training film for extension officers, an advocacy film for a county assembly or a learning film shared with other implementers, can be justified on its own terms. Where the EU does fund strategic communication, it expects a Strategic Communication Plan, agreed with the Delegation.

UK FCDO

The FCDO’s branding guidance for ODA-funded programmes makes the UK International Development logo the default for new programmes, with UK aid branding kept for humanitarian work. Where branding needs extra money, a proportionate amount of the programme budget may be used, but only if agreed in advance with the FCDO’s senior responsible owner. Two further points matter for video. FCDO funds cannot pay for communications that promote the implementing organisation itself, and the guidance lists video content among the outputs that should acknowledge UK funding. It also allows exceptions to branding where it could cost people their dignity or put them at risk.

US government funding

If you are working from an old template, take care. USAID stopped implementing foreign assistance on 1 July 2025, when the State Department took over the remaining programmes, and the State Department announced that aid would carry the American flag rather than a range of other logos. USAID’s former branding and marking guidance should not be assumed to apply. Read the marking clause in your current award, or ask your agreement officer, before budgeting for any branded material.

Global Fund and foundations

The Global Fund’s budgeting guidelines, updated in June 2026, do not single out video, so a film would be budgeted under the relevant cost categories and justified against the grant’s activities. Foundations vary widely; where the guidance is silent, ask the programme officer early rather than guessing.

Decide where the line sits

There are three usual homes for a video line, and the right one depends on what the film is for.

• Communications or visibility. For films that acknowledge funding or tell the programme’s story to the public. Check the donor’s rules first, because this is where restrictions usually bite.
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning, or knowledge management. For films that document change over time, capture lessons or share practice with peers. Baseline and endline footage of the same places and people fits naturally here.
• Within a programme activity. For films that do programme work: training, behaviour change, community feedback or advocacy. The film sits beside the activity it serves.

Whichever you choose, write a short justification naming the audience, the purpose and the activity or result the film supports. That paragraph does more to get a line approved than any figure.

Break the line into parts

A single lump sum invites questions. A breakdown shows that you have thought about the work, and it gives you room to adjust later without renegotiating the whole line. A useful structure is:

• Pre-production. Research, scripting or a treatment, location scouting, permissions and scheduling with programme staff.
• Production. Field days, crew, equipment, travel, accommodation and per diems. State the number of days and locations so the reviewer can see the logic.
• Post-production. Editing, sound, colour, graphics, music licensing and the review rounds you will need for sign-off.
• Consent and safeguarding. Time for informed consent in the right language, interpreters, a safeguarding lead for interviews with children or survivors, and secure storage of footage. These are easy to leave out and expensive to forget. Our filming consent form template shows what the paperwork involves.
• Accessibility and languages. Subtitles, Kiswahili or other local-language versions, captions for social media. Our guide to Kiswahili voiceover versus subtitles sets out which suits which audience.
• Distribution. Cut-downs for different platforms, screenings in communities, and any boosting or event costs, if the donor allows them.

Give dissemination real weight. A good film that nobody sees reports no results.

Eligible and ineligible costs

Most of the trouble with video lines comes from costs that a donor will not accept. Common ones to check are promotional material for your own organisation (explicitly excluded by the FCDO), branded giveaways, costs incurred before the grant period starts, and filming that falls outside the action’s scope.

Watch the overhead trap as well. If your indirect cost rate already covers in-house communications staff, do not budget the same work again as a direct cost.

Treat VAT deliberately

In Kenya, the general VAT rate is 16 per cent, according to the Kenya Revenue Authority, and a VAT-registered production company will add it to its invoice. Whether that VAT is a cost to the grant depends on the donor. The Global Fund, for instance, requires grant funds to be exempt from host-country taxes, including VAT, asks for budgets stated net of taxes and generally treats taxes paid as non-compliant. Other donors set their own rules on whether VAT you cannot recover is an eligible cost.

So check the tax clause in the award, check with your finance team whether your organisation has any exemption or can recover VAT, and ask suppliers to show VAT as a separate line on every quote.

Back the line with a quote

The strongest justification for a budget figure is a written quote from a supplier, prepared against a short brief. You do not need a full tender at proposal stage, but you do need enough detail for the quote to mean something: purpose, audience, length, number of versions, languages, locations and the delivery date. Our terms of reference guide covers what to include, and the video production quote checklist shows how to read what comes back.

Keep the quote on file. Even if the donor requires competitive procurement after award, it shows your estimate was reasonable.

Match payments to tranches

Grant funds usually arrive in instalments, often tied to reports. Production has its own rhythm, typically staged payments at commissioning, after filming and on delivery. Line the two up in your workplan. Schedule filming after the tranche that funds it, and avoid a delivery date that falls just before a reporting deadline with no slack for review rounds. For seasonal subjects such as harvest or migration, plan the tranches around the filming date, not the other way round.

Link the film to your results

Finally, connect the video to the logframe or results framework. That might be an output indicator (a training film produced and used in a stated number of sessions), a learning product listed under knowledge management, or evidence supporting an outcome indicator. Say how you will measure use: screenings held, views on the platforms that matter, partners who adopt it, feedback from the communities filmed.

A film planned this way also makes the final report easier to write, because the evidence of use has been collected along the way. If you are planning a proposal now and would like a production partner involved early, our NGO video production page explains how we work with programme and communications teams.

Frequently asked questions

Where should a video budget line go in a grant proposal?

It depends on what the film is for. Visibility and public storytelling usually sit under communications; documentation and learning under monitoring, evaluation and learning or knowledge management; and training or advocacy films within the programme activity they serve. Always check the donor’s own rules first.

Can EU grants pay for a professional video?

According to the European Commission’s visibility FAQ, the cost of a professional photographer or filmmaker should not be included unless it is specifically foreseen as part of a project activity related to communication, and a separate communication budget needs the EU’s prior agreement. A film that is itself a project activity is easier to justify.

Should VAT be included in a video budget line in Kenya?

Kenya’s general VAT rate is 16 per cent, and VAT-registered suppliers will charge it. Whether it is an eligible grant cost depends on the donor: the Global Fund, for example, expects grant funds to be tax-exempt. Check the award’s tax clause and ask suppliers to show VAT separately.

How do I justify a video line to a donor?

Name the audience, purpose and the activity or result the film supports, break the cost into pre-production, production, post-production, consent and safeguarding, accessibility and distribution, and back it with a written quote prepared against a short brief.

Afrovo Studios is a Nairobi-based video production company working across East Africa, making documentaries, campaign films and corporate video for NGOs, conservation organisations and brands. Get in touch to talk about your next project.