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To budget a digital humanities project, start from the work breakdown, not the funding ceiling. Estimate staff effort per task in hours, convert to cost using real salary-plus-overhead rates, then add software, infrastructure, preservation and a 10 to 15 percent contingency. In nearly every DH budget, people are the dominant line — usually 60 to 80 percent — so getting effort estimates right matters far more than shaving software costs.
How do I build a DH budget from the bottom up?
Begin with the task list from your scope and attach an effort estimate to each. Convert hours to cost using a fully loaded rate (salary plus on-costs such as pension, NI and institutional overhead), which is often 1.3 to 1.5 times the headline salary.
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Loaded daily rate = (annual salary × overhead multiplier) / working days
Example: (£36,000 × 1.4) / 220 = £229/dayThen sum effort by task:
| Task | Days | Loaded rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transcription review (420 pp) | 9 | £190 | £1,710 |
| Metadata + curation | 6 | £229 | £1,374 |
| Geocoding & data cleaning | 4 | £229 | £916 |
| Development (static site) | 8 | £320 | £2,560 |
| Project management (0.05 FTE) | 11 | £290 | £3,190 |
| Staff subtotal | £9,750 |
What non-staff costs do people forget?
The lines most often missing from a first draft budget:
- Preservation and hosting beyond the grant — repository deposit fees, domain renewal, storage.
- Digitisation consumables — replacement imaging targets, calibration cards, archival sleeves.
- Software licences that are not free — some HTR engines, GIS extensions or transcription platforms charge per seat or per page.
- Training and onboarding time for volunteers or new staff.
- Open-access and DOI fees for data papers or article publication.
How do I budget for unpredictable cloud or compute costs?
Never enter a guessed lump sum. Run a pilot on a representative sample, measure the actual cost, then scale:
bash
# example: measure HTR API spend on a 50-page pilot, then project
PILOT_PAGES=50
PILOT_COST=4.20 # currency units billed for the pilot
TOTAL_PAGES=8000
echo "Projected: $(echo "$PILOT_COST / $PILOT_PAGES * $TOTAL_PAGES" | bc -l)"
# add 30% contingency on top of this figureCost-per-1,000-items is the unit you want, because it survives changes in total volume and is easy to defend to a reviewer.
How should I present the budget to a funder?
Funders judge value for money, which is best shown as unit rates. Convert your totals:
- Cost per page transcribed.
- Cost per metadata record curated.
- Cost per object digitised and ingested.
Then compare each to a published benchmark. A line reading "transcription at roughly £4 per page, in line with sector norms" reassures a reviewer far more than a bare subtotal.
What contingency and sustainability lines belong in the budget?
Include two distinct lines:
- Contingency — 10 to 15 percent of direct costs, for the format surprises and extra cleaning that DH projects reliably encounter.
- Sustainability / preservation — a costed commitment to keep outputs alive for at least 5 to 10 years, even if it is an in-kind pledge from your institution's repository.
Leaving sustainability unfunded is the single commonest way a finished DH project quietly disappears two years later.
How do I track spend during the project?
Keep a simple ledger that compares planned versus actual per task, reviewed monthly. A spreadsheet with columns task, budgeted, committed, actual, variance is enough. Watch the variance column: a task running 20 percent over by month two will not magically recover by month five.
Key Takeaways
- Build budgets bottom-up from the task list, not down from the funding ceiling.
- Staff usually consume 60 to 80 percent — invest effort in good hour estimates.
- Use fully loaded rates (salary times a 1.3 to 1.5 overhead multiplier).
- Pilot unpredictable cloud costs and express them as cost per 1,000 items.
- Add a 10 to 15 percent contingency and a separate, costed preservation line.
- Present unit rates against benchmarks to prove value for money.
Frequently Asked Questions
What share of a DH budget usually goes to staff?
Typically 60 to 80 percent. People — transcription, development, project management — dominate almost every DH budget; software and hardware are usually a small minority.
Do I need to budget for preservation after the grant ends?
Yes. Estimate at least 5 to 10 years of repository or hosting costs and include them, even as an in-kind commitment from your institution. Unfunded preservation is the commonest hidden failure.
How do I budget for cloud compute I cannot predict?
Run a small pilot, measure cost per 1,000 items, then multiply by your projected volume and add a 30 percent contingency. Never enter cloud costs as a single guessed lump sum.
Should I cost volunteer or crowdsourced labour?
Yes, as in-kind value. Volunteers are free in cash but cost real coordination, training and QA time that must be funded as paid staff hours.
What is a reasonable contingency line for a DH project?
10 to 15 percent of direct costs. DH projects routinely hit format surprises, extra cleaning and scope creep, so a named contingency line is realistic, not padding.
How do I show value for money to a funder?
Express costs as unit rates — cost per page transcribed, per record curated, per object digitised — and compare them to published benchmarks. Unit rates are far more persuasive than totals.