Sec. B — Run your own numbers

Indirect cost rate calculator: what's your recovery gap?

Two ways in. Start from your Form 990 — five figures off the statement of functional expenses, nothing to work out first — or enter your rate figures directly if you already know your pools and base. Either way you get your modified total direct costs (MTDC), your rate-determination base, your actual indirect cost rate, and what you'd recover under the 15% de minimis rate vs. a negotiated rate, using the 2024 Uniform Guidance rules (15% de minimis; the first $50,000 of each subaward counts toward MTDC; unallowable-activity costs held in the rate base per § 200.413(e)).

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Program services — totalForm 990 Part IX, line 25, column (B). Same line on your audited statement of functional expenses.

Of that — grants & subawards to organizations, and how manyPart IX lines 1 and 3, column (B). Grants to individuals (line 2) are usually assistance or participant support, not subawards — leave those out.

Of that — MTDC-excluded costs (often $0)Capital purchases, participant support, patient care, tuition remission, scholarships. Most of these never appear on Part IX — depreciation (line 22) is not one of them and should stay in.

Management & general — totalPart IX, line 25, column (C). This becomes your indirect cost pool.

Fundraising — totalPart IX, line 25, column (D). Never chargeable to an award, but § 200.413(e) keeps it in the base that computes your rate.

Modified total direct costs — MTDCProgram services less grants and exclusions, plus capped subawards (computed) —

Rate-determination baseMTDC + fundraising — 2 CFR 200.413(e) (computed) —

Your indirect cost rateManagement & general ÷ rate base (computed) —

Load an example 990

A.2 + A.3 exceed A.1. Grants and excluded costs are carved out of the program services column, so together they cannot be larger than it. Check that A.1 is the column (B) total.

Determination

De minimis (15% MTDC)

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Negotiated rate

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Left on the table

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Methodology & what MTDC includes

MTDC (modified total direct costs) follows 2 CFR 200.1 as revised in 2024: direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $50,000 of each subaward, regardless of the subaward's period of performance.

Excluded from MTDC: equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs, and the portion of each subaward above $50,000.
Subaward simplification: this worksheet caps subawards at $50,000 × the number of subawards. If your subawards vary widely around $50k, the true MTDC differs slightly — a rate proposal computes it subaward by subaward.
Rate-determination base: per 2 CFR 200.413(e), the direct costs of unallowable activities (fundraising, lobbying) remain in the base used to compute the rate even though they can never be charged to awards. Omitting them is a standard reviewer deficiency.
The "negotiated rate" column applies your computed rate to award-chargeable MTDC and assumes your awards permit indirect costs at the negotiated rate. With unallowable-activity costs entered, their share of overhead correctly remains with unrestricted funds. Some programs cap or restrict indirect recovery.

What this is — and isn't

This is a planning estimate to size the decision between the de minimis election and a negotiated rate. It is not a rate proposal, an audit opinion, or accounting advice — your actual rate depends on allowability, allocability, and how your cost pools are built. That's the work we do; the free consultation is where it starts.