Summary or Abstract

The summary or abstract describes who you are, the scope of the project, and its projected costs.  It allows you to communicate the central message of your proposal right away, so that reviewers know immediately and precisely what the purpose of the proposed project is. It permits you to communicate enthusiasm for and commitment to the proposed project.

In order to be useful to those reviewing the grant proposal, the summary or abstract should generally include the following information:

	a brief introduction to your organization
	an overview of the proposed project
	the contribution the project makes to the field
	the project's potential to be used by other organizations to meet similar challenges.

Many experts say that this last element is the most important because examiners will read this section first, using it to determine whether the proposal is worth further examination and consideration. The document may continue to be used after a project is funded, to inform other officials who are to be involved in the project, or within the funding organization. Furthermore, you may want to use this document within your organization, in order to elicit support for the project.

Above all, experienced grant writers emphasize that the summary or abstract must be written concisely in clear, direct, and specific language. Readers need to be able to discern the key point efficiently without being bogged down in unnecessary or distracting details or vague language (Morrison and Russell).

Consider the following planning and writing strategies for the proposal summary or abstract:

	Write the section after the rest of the proposal has been written, so that you can draw upon the clearly laid out elements of the proposal.
	While drafting, take pertinent information from the completed proposal verbatim.
	Edit to make information fit the space allowed (Morrison and Russell).

Refer to proposal guidelines for length requirements. Generally, the summary/abstract section of the grant proposal will be between 250 and 500 words long, rarely exceeding a page (Hall 87).