While working on a grant proposal, the nonprofit should know that the corporate organizations and foundations for whom it is meant, are extremely busy. They are flooded with fund requests and grant proposals from various quarters regularly. Therefore, to grab the divided attention span of its target audience, the grant proposal must be accompanied by a compelling Executive Summary. It is most likely that the reviewer may first go through the Executive Summary, and if he finds it impressive, he would take the grant proposal with the seriousness it may deserve.
The challenge of writing the perfect Executive Summary
A great Executive Summary requires a great effort. It is the art of saying everything
in brief, but without missing a single important fact. It must be accurate and
present things realistically, without sugar-coating. It is important to remember
that the person who will go through your Executive Summary is likely to be highly
experienced at his task, and will be able to quickly distinguish between a fact
and an assumption or an exaggeration. Therefore, the challenge is to neither
under-state and nor over-state the substance of the proposal in the Executive
Summary. It must be completely transparent and honest, if it has to stand any
chance with the funder’s organization.
Suggestions for writing a strong Executive Summary
- Mark the central point of every part of your grant proposal, and compile those points for your Executive Summary.
- Highlight the issues, concerns and facts that you believe match strongly with the funder’s grant priorities. Those points are the best strengths of your proposal.
- Ensure that the Executive Summary does not drift into some new areas that are not discussed in the grant proposal. The summary must remain very objective and dispassionate in its content.
- The summary must reflect the goal, purpose and mission of your non-profit clearly. There must be no room for ambiguity. The presentation must reflect the nonprofit’s passion, conviction and confidence about its mission.
- The summary must outline the programs and events that are intended to be held as a part of the nonprofit’s mission. Only factual information with specific date, numbers and financial figures must be provided as far as possible.
- The summary must include the expected results from the entire project. The results must be quantified as far as possible, and must be backed up by sufficiently convincing logic and facts.
- The Executive Summary must be kept very brief, preferably not more than
a single page, or two pages.
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