Summary Sentence Trick For Grant Writers

To make your grant proposals stand out from the competition, you need to grab the reader’s attention right from the start. The Summary Sentence Trick is nifty because it combines 7 key elements that funders look for in 1 sentence. In this article, you will see an example and step-by-step instructions for how to create summary sentences for your proposals.
Start your application with a killer Summary Sentence like this:
The XYZ University Hospital, America’s newest state-of-the-art facility for aging and health care education, invites the investment of $9,000 from the Health & Elder Care Foundation in a 1-day conference that improves Kansas’ rural caregivers’ abilities to better serve the elderly with cognitive disabilities.
Your Summary Sentence should appear first in your proposal. It should be the last sentence that you write after you’ve written the other sections of your application.
To create a Summary Sentence like the one above, just follow these 2 simple steps.
STEP 1 – Fill In These 5 Blanks For Your Project.
My agency name is ________________ agency.
One unique claim to fame of my agency is that we are _______________ unique claim.
For this specific project, we expect the funder to ___________ expectation.
We are requesting $___________ budget request from _________ funder.
Our project is a __________ project.
The primary benefit or outcome to the funder (not you) for funding this project is __________ benefit.
EXAMPLE
My agency name is the XYZ University Hospital agency.
One unique claim to fame of my agency is that we are America’s newest state-of-the-art facility for aging and health care education unique claim.
For this specific project, we expect the funder to invest in a 1-day conference expectation.
We are requesting $8,500 budget request from the Health and Elder Care Foundation funder.
Our project is a 1-day conference project.
The primary benefit or outcome to the funder for funding this project is to improve Kansas’ rural caregivers’ abilities to better serve the elderly with cognitive disabilities benefit.
STEP 2 – Apply Your Responses To The “Summary Sentence” Template.
Simply take the information you filled in the sentences in Step 1 and apply it to the template below.
The Summary Sentence Template follows this sequence…
Agency, unique claim, expectation in a request from funder for a project that major benefit.
EXAMPLE
The XYZ Nonprofit agency, America’s newest state-of-the-art facility for aging and health care education unique claim, invites the investment expectation of $8,500 budget request from the Health & Elder Care Foundation funder in a 1-day conference project that improves Kansas’ rural caregivers’ abilities to better serve the elderly with cognitive disabilities major benefit.