Over the last years the board of Ekhagastiftelsen has discussed whether funds should be granted for unspecified overhead costs at universities and other institutions as part of the total project budget. The board has come to a restrictive view and is of the opinion that granted reserach funds should not go towards costs that are not directly related to the projects that Ekhagastiftelsen sponsors. Certain overhead costs may be relevant, such as for example costs for handling the funds or computers, but must be specified in the future.
The board of Ekhagastiftelsen has decided from 2008 to apply the same rules regarding costs that can be funded as in use by the Wallenbergfoundations. Therefore the foundation har published new instructions regarding budgeting of costs in applications. These new rules can be found in the application material and on the foundation website.