Co-funding / match-funding calculator
Most EU grants do not cover 100% of a project. Enter your project cost and the grant's funding rate ("intensity") — pick a verified preset below or type your own — and this works out the grant amount, what you have to fund yourself, and, if the grant reimburses costs already spent (the normal pattern), the cash you need to have in hand before any of it comes back. Runs in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
Not financial advice, and not every programme's real rules. Grant intensity, eligible-cost definitions and in-kind rules differ by call — always confirm the exact figure in the call text or grant agreement before committing spend. The presets below are cited to an official or funder page each; a rate you type yourself is only as accurate as the source you typed it from.
Verified grant-intensity presets
| Programme | Intensity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Europe — Research & Innovation Action (RIA) | 100% | 100% of eligible costs for every participant, profit or non-profit. |
| Horizon Europe — Innovation Action (IA), for-profit | 70% | 70% for profit-making participants; non-profit legal entities get 100% instead. |
| Horizon Europe — Innovation Action (IA), non-profit | 100% | Applies only to entities that are non-profit by legal form or legally barred from distributing profit. |
| EIC Accelerator — grant component | 70% | Maximum 70% of total eligible costs. Applicants are expected to request less than €2.5m unless they justify more, so this preset applies €2.5m as a ceiling. Cap: €2,500,000. |
Why "paid in arrears" changes the number that matters
Many grants — especially national and regional schemes — reimburse eligible costs the beneficiary has already paid, rather than advancing the grant share up front. That means a company claiming a 70%-intensity reimbursement grant on a €500,000 project does not need €150,000 in cash (its 30% own share) — in the months before the first reimbursement lands, it needs closer to the whole €500,000, because the funder has not sent anything yet.
Horizon Europe works differently: it pays a pre-financing instalment within 30 days of the grant agreement entering into force (or 10 days before the start date, whichever is later), typically sized to one reporting period's needs, minus a 5–8% retention for the Mutual Insurance Mechanism; interim payments follow within 90 days of each periodic report (FFG — Grant payments in Horizon Europe). For a pre-financed grant, untick "paid in arrears" to see your own cash share — and still plan for the gap between reporting periods. Always check the payment clause of your grant agreement.
In-kind contributions (donated staff time, equipment already owned, free premises) are not a cash outlay either way, so this tool excludes them from the cash-needed figure regardless of the arrears setting.