The Latest Lowdown on Government Money

So, if the receptionist spends 10 percent of his or her time signing people up for the program when they call the organization, then 10 percent of that person's costs can be considered direct.

Or, usually the costs for utilities is indirect, but if you can clearly identify higher costs due to a program, that increased amount can be considered direct. Say you start using a pool for some sort of therapy or recreation and as a result there is an increase in your water costs as well as electric bill to heat the pool — these increases can be charged as direct costs. This one is a bit tricky because the organization will have to be able to prove that it is in fact the program that caused the increase.