 The budget of a strategic partnership is quite complex and consists of several amounts, depending on the type of project. Most amounts are lump sums, which means fixed amounts. Lump sums do not have to be specified, but usually need to be justified by signatures or contracts. These amounts sometimes depend on the country in which the activity takes place. The main budget categories are Project Management and Implementation, Transnational Project Meeting, Learning, Teaching and Training Activities, Special Need Support and Exceptional Costs, Specific Budget Categories for Supporting Innovation are, Multiplier Events, Intellectual Outputs. Let's zoom in. Project Management and Implementation Management costs are monthly lump sums for each partner. These lump sums cover costs for local organization and administration, such as phone and office, small costs for local activities, local travels and general staff costs. The Coordinating Organization receives €500 per month and other partners €250 per month. In a 24-month project, the Coordinating Organization receives €24 x €500, is €12,000 and each partner €24 x €250 is €6,000 for the whole duration of the project. In case of this two-year project with four partners, you can apply for €30,000 for Project Management and Implementation. Transnational Meetings are meetings of representatives of partner organizations to implement and coordinate the project. These meetings should take place in the country of one of the partners. The lump sum depends on the travel distance, but not on the duration of the meeting. If the distance is less than 100 km, representatives of the host do not receive funding. The lump sum includes costs for travel, lodging, food, work materials, program, visits and local travels. You do not have to justify how you specifically spend the money, but you need to provide signed presence lists. The total amount of all lump sums you receive is your total budget for the whole meeting. Learning Teaching and Training Activities For learning activities, like blended learning, training and job shadowing, you can apply for individual support and travel costs for all participants and trainers from partners of the project. Individual costs are lump sums per day for a short term mobility and per month for a long term mobility. Lump sums cover all costs related to lodging, food, training, program and experts. The lump sums depend on the country where the activity takes place. For an overview, consult the program guide. In case of a residential mobility, you can also apply for travel costs. A lump sum per person, depending on the travel distance between home and the venue, as calculated by the EU Distance Calculator. Local participants get no travel costs. The funding is provided to participants from the country in which the activity takes place, provided that the distance between the place of departure and the venue is at least 10 km. Special needs support Special needs costs are related to the inclusion and participation of people with special needs, disabilities etc. This could be costs for special travel support, assistance during transnational meetings, alerting mobility or multiplier event, extra costs for lodging etc. The funding covers 100% of the justified costs. Exceptional costs This category includes the costs of subcontractors, the purchase of goods and services and the cost of a financial guarantee. This should only cover the services that cannot be provided by partners, for example professional video making, app development, professional printing, complex IT development, board game making, production of specific materials etc. In case of learning, teaching and training activities, expensive travel can fall under the category of exceptional costs. In some cases, the distance and the real travel costs are not in balance and exceptional costs can be applied. Specific budget categories for projects supporting innovation Intellectual output This category does not cover general staff costs for coordination. These are already covered by management costs. In the category of intellectual outputs, staff costs are granted for the work time spent on the development of products. One intellectual output can have different staff involved from different partners. The staff costs depend on the country of the staff involved and the profile of the staff, such as manager, trainer, researcher, teacher or youth worker, technician or administrative staff. An overview of these lump sums per country can be found in the program guide. Multiplier events are national and transnational conferences, seminars or events for sharing and disseminating the intellectual outputs produced. Lump sums of multiplier events cover the participation of others in these events. Therefore, costs of participants involved in the project and representatives of the project partners are not covered. Lump sums are related to the costs incurred in relation to the organization of the event, depending on the number of participants. Lump sum for national visitors is different from international visitors. Similarly, the lump sum for national participants is different from international participants. To ensure the quality of implementation, assessors will examine the extent to which the project is cost-effective and provides appropriate resources to each activity. All partnerships in the partnership are equal and have a shared responsibility, which should reflect in the budget overview. Of course, amounts will be different for all partners, but there should be a balance. You can check this at the end of the financial part of your application, where it states in the overview which partner gets which amount. Before filling in the application, you and your partners should make a budget overview for the project design phase, for example in an Excel spreadsheet, and check if the final amount in your application is correct.