General Institute Budget

The General Institute Budget (GIB) is an allocation of central, unrestricted revenues and represents an “authorization to spend.” 

The GIB has two components – the recurring, or base budget, and the non-recurring, or non-base budget.

Generally, your recurring or base budget is developed through incremental adjustments, in that your current year base budget becomes the starting point and any budget approvals made by the Provost and/or EVPT are added to (or, in the case of budget reductions or reallocations, subtracted from) this base.

Generally, your non-recurring or non-base budget will include spending authorizations as approved by the Provost and/or EVPT, or those established by long-standing MIT policy (like the RA tuition subsidy).  In addition, your non-base budget can include expenses that will be supported from non-sponsored funds. These funds will be “drafted” in support of the expense that will occur in the GIB. Your non-base budgets can also include carryforwards from unexpended budgets in prior years. It’s important to note that only some of these non-base budget items should be included in your NIMBUS budget submissions in February. For more information, please see the Budget Preparation Guide and NIMBUS Tutorial.  

Note: Your department’s GIB allocation may be more or less than what you forecast to spend. For example, an academic department may have a $5.0 million GIB allocation, but plan only to spend $4.5 million due to vacant faculty slots. Per Institute policy, the $0.5 million unspent allocation in academic salaries would be carried forward to the next fiscal year. There may also be times when departments plan to spend more in the GIB than their allocation warrants. In this case, the department would be responsible for identifying funding sources that would cover the GIB shortfall. Your GIB budget should include all of the assumed expenditures you expect in the GIB and drafts or transfers to cover overutilization of these funds in a given year (e.g. drafts in support of general expenses). Budgeting all other fund categories at MIT are more straightforward. For those categories, we ask you to budget revenues and expenses based on recent history and your current plans for incremental spending within your means. The other categories that comprise MIT’s consolidated budget include auxiliaries, non-sponsored funds, sponsored funds and research funds, and are discussed below.

 

Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries at MIT generally break-even, so that revenues equal expenses plus transfers. We ask all auxiliary, or break-even entities to budget their planned/expected revenues and expenses for the upcoming fiscal year. The net of these budgets should equal break-even profitability. As an example, let’s say that MIT’s Endicott House expects $2.0 million in revenue next year as well as $1.5 million in expenses. In addition to budgeting these two major categories at the appropriate detail (Internal revenue, external revenue, salaries, benefits, equipment, depreciation, interest, supplies and services, etc.), Endicott House would also budget a $0.5 million transfer (in G/L 800326 - transfer-out).

All auxiliary areas should note that their budget requirements are different than those budgeting GIB cost centers. Areas budgeting GIB cost centers are asked to keep their salary budgets flat, unless the Provost or EVPT approves a new position. The non-Auxiliary salary budgets get increased automatically after budget submission, usually in June, through “global budgeting” activities. For auxiliary areas, we ask that you budget salaries at their expected levels for the upcoming fiscal year. 

To reiterate, auxiliary areas should submit budgets for each revenue and expense category at their expected levels for the upcoming fiscal year.

Please note that during submission, NIMBUS will automatically calculate EB based on current year rates. If EB rates change, Budget & Financial Analysis will process adjustments accordingly at a later time. When that happens, your Budget Officer will contact you to adjust your budget so it remains at break-even, with revenues equaling expenses plus transfers.

 

Non-Sponsored Funds

Non-sponsored funds are set up to support discretionary activities, scholarly allowances and special instructional projects such as curriculum development. The available funds are generally based on the actual revenue in each fund. The revenue in non-sponsored funds include expendable gifts, income from endowed gifts, tuition and fee income, and other. Non-sponsored funds can also be established by transferring expendable funds from one fund to another. 

DLCs are asked to budget all anticipated activity in non-sponsored funds for the upcoming year, including all revenues in their appropriate categories, all expenses in their appropriate categories and any transfers, if applicable. 

As was mentioned above, revenue in non-sponsored funds typically include expendable gifts, income from endowed gifts, tuition and fee income, and others. Gifts can be budgeted in G/L 800301 (Gifts). Income from endowed gifts, in the form of Pool A payout, can be calculated automatically by NIMBUS – it will be calculated using the existing number of units and multiplying it by the expected Pool A pay-out. Tuition and fee income, which would not be common, can be budgeted in G/L’s 801030, 801031, 801032 (Regular income – fall, Regular income – spring, Regular income – summer respectively) or 801050 (Non-degree program fees). Other revenue in non-sponsored funds can be budgeted in a specific G/L relevant for the source or in G/L 800303 (Other receipts).  If you know from prior history for example, that your DLC receives a lot of licensing fees revenue, you can budget that in G/L 801051 (Licensing fees). 

Expenses in non-sponsored funds should be budgeted into appropriate G/L’s based on prior year’s actuals and expected activity in the next fiscal year. We ask that DLCs budget salaries at a granular level (faculty, support, administrative staff, etc.). We ask that other operating expenses be budgeted granularly as well in these categories: equipment, supplies and services, consulting, travel, temporary help, software, depreciation and interest.  You can find the G/Ls that correspond to each of these categories in the list of commonly used G/L accounts. NIMBUS will automatically calculate all secondary costs, such as employee benefits and fund fee, as appropriate, based on current fiscal year rates. You may budget projected activity in each non-sponsored fund cost object, in your DLCs non-sponsored fund suspense (volume roll up) cost object, or in a combination of these.

 

For more information on budgeting non-sponsored funds, please see the Budget Preparation Guide and NIMBUS Tutorial.

 

Sponsored Funds

Sponsored funds are set up to track sponsored non-research activities. The available funds are based on authorized total, and the funds themselves usually have a start and end date based on the sponsored agreement. 

DLCs are asked to budget all anticipated activity in sponsored funds for the upcoming year, including all revenues in their appropriate categories, all expenses in their appropriate categories and any transfers, if applicable.

The revenue in sponsored funds are predominantly from sponsored research (see Research section below) or non-research revenues or expendable gifts. Sponsored non-research revenues should be budgeted in G/L 800600 (Sponsored Billings). Expendable gifts should be budgeted in G/L 800301 (Gifts). If a portion or all of a sponsored fund is to be supported by a transfer from another MIT cost collector, please budget that amount in G/L 800325 (Transfer-in).

Expenses in sponsored funds should be budgeted into appropriate G/Ls based on prior year’s actuals and expected activity in the next fiscal year. We ask that DLCs budget salaries at a granular level (faculty, support, administrative staff, etc.). We ask that other operating expenses be budgeted granularly as well in these categories: equipment, supplies and services, consulting, travel, temporary help, software, depreciation and interest. You can find the G/Ls that correspond to each of these categories in the list of commonly used G/L accounts.  NIMBUS will automatically calculate all secondary costs, such as employee benefits and fund fee, as appropriate, based on current fiscal year rates. You may budget projected activity in each sponsored fund cost object, in your DLC's sponsored fund suspense (volume roll up) cost object, or in a combination of these. If your department doesn’t have a sponsored fund suspense account and you want one for budgeting purposes, please contact your Budget Officer.

For more information on budgeting sponsored funds, please see the Budget Preparation Guide and NIMBUS Tutorial.

Research

Sponsored research funds are set up to track sponsored research activities. The available funds are based on authorized total, and the funds themselves usually have a start and end date based on the sponsored agreement. 

DLCs are asked to budget all anticipated activity in sponsored research funds for the upcoming year, including all revenues in their appropriate categories, all expenses in their appropriate categories and any transfers in their appropriate categories. 

The revenue in sponsored research funds are predominantly from research revenues. Research revenues should be budgeted in G/L 800600 (Sponsored Billings). If you expect a payment on a pledge that will be used to support sponsored research next year, please budget that amount in G/L 800330 (Payment on pledge in – expendable UNR). If you expect gift revenue that will be used in support of research, please budget those in G/L 800601 (Sponsored gifts). 

Expenses in sponsored research funds should be budgeted into appropriate G/L’s based on prior year’s actuals and expected activity in the next fiscal year. We ask that DLCs budget salaries at a granular level (faculty, support, administrative staff, etc.). We ask that other operating expenses be budgeted granularly as well in these categories: equipment, supplies and services, consulting, travel, temporary help, software, depreciation and interest.  You can find the G/Ls that correspond to each of these categories in the list of commonly used G/L accounts. NIMBUS will automatically calculate all secondary costs, such as employee benefits, F&A, and lab allocations based on current fiscal year rates. If the sponsor for a project has mandated a different F&A rate, or you wish to select a different rate in your summary account to better reflect your particular mix of projects, you can make changes in the NIMBUS “Edit Rates” screen.

 

Cost Sharing and Transfers of Funding into Research Accounts

Cost sharing is the portion of a project or program cost that is not reimbursed by the sponsor. In a proposal or an award, cost sharing represents a commitment by the Institute.  If you expect to have cost-sharing in your sponsored research funds, please budget in G/L 800701 (Cost sharing – transfer-in).

If a portion, or all, of a research grant is to be supported by a transfer from another MIT cost collector, please budget that amount in G/L 800325 (Transfer-in).

You may budget projected activity in each sponsored research fund cost object, in your DLC's sponsored research fund suspense (volume roll up) cost object, or in a combination of these. If your department doesn’t have a sponsored research suspense account and you want one for budgeting purposes, please contact your Budget Officer.

For more information on budgeting sponsored research funds, please see the Budget Preparation Guide and NIMBUS Tutorial.