Cost share
The portion of a project’s total cost that the recipient rather than the funder pays. Most agencies use it interchangeably with matching funds; where a notice distinguishes them, cost share is the broader budget contribution and match is the specific dollar-for-dollar rule inside it.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Cost sharing · Non-federal share · Recipient share
In detail
Cost share is stated three ways and they are not equivalent. A percentage of total project cost, a ratio against the award, and a flat dollar figure produce different obligations on the same budget, and a notice that says "20 percent cost share" without saying of what is a notice you have to read twice.
It can be mandatory or voluntary. A voluntary committed cost share — money you offered that was not required — becomes binding once it is in a funded application, which is the single most common way an organisation ends up owing more than the notice asked of it.
Against matching funds
We store one field, `match_required`, with `match_note` beside it holding the source’s own wording. That is deliberate: the two words describe one requirement on almost every notice we read, and splitting them into two columns would force a judgement about which one a source meant on every record where it said only one of them. Where a notice does draw the distinction, the distinction is in `match_note`, in the agency’s words rather than ours.
How GrantTrove stores it
- `match_required` is a tri-state — required, not required, or unstated — and it has no default. A default would print "no cost share" on every record nobody has read.
- `match_note` keeps the source sentence verbatim, so "20 percent of total project cost" and "20 percent of the federal award" stay different facts on the record rather than collapsing into one number.
Common questions
Is cost share the same as matching funds?
On most notices, yes. Where a specific notice separates them, the record carries the notice’s own sentence in `match_note` so you read the distinction in the agency’s terms rather than in ours.
Does a voluntary cost share have to be honoured?
Once it is in a funded application, generally yes. That is why offering more than the notice requires is a decision to make before submission rather than after.
Can cost share be met with another grant?
Sometimes, and rarely with another federal grant. It is a per-programme rule stated in the notice, which every record links.