Resource
Writing a budget that reviewers can follow on first read
Budgets fail less from ambition than from vagueness.
Make the budget read like the work plan
The cleanest budgets follow the same rhythm as the science: personnel, data collection, equipment, fieldwork, analysis, and dissemination.
If the money does not map onto the work, reviewers start inventing concerns on your behalf.
Say what scale is buying you
More money is not persuasive on its own. Explain what the additional scale makes possible in evidence quality, scope, recruitment, compute, or implementation.
That helps reviewers understand why the ask is large without treating the budget as a guessing exercise.