What kinds of things are eligible as in-kind matching?
This is the most frequent of the frequently asked questions, and the one that seems to cause the most confusion. However, the rule on in-kind matching is actually very simple: If someone gives you an item or a service for which you would otherwise have to expend actual funds, the item or the service can be counted as an in-kind match. The crucial determining factor is eligibility: an item or a service donated to the project only counts as an in-kind donation if that particular item or service actually appears in the budget as a legitimate project cost. In other words, you cannot “use” something as an in-kind match simply because it has value. Take the case of a building [see the item above on “Construction”]. How could you include the value of a building as a match if the actual cost of constructing the building is an ineligible project cost and would never have been allowed in the project budget? The answer is, obviously, that you cannot use the value of a building as a match. Therefo
