Who will benefit from the program is, of course, the important part of a program description. Foundations and other funders seek to solve some social problem, whether it’s hunger, literacy, access to the arts, or helping nonprofits work better. In submitting a proposal, you are volunteering to help them solve one of their problems. Focusing on the needs of the ultimate beneficiaries of the program (rather than on your charity) will resonate more strongly with the funder’s “problems.”

Emotional stories about the people your project serves enrich this section. Even a short anecdote gives your proposal a human dimension the reader can respond to compassionately.

This section must also include some cold, hard facts about how many people you will serve and how well you will serve them. To corporate and some other funders, the numbers make a huge difference in judging the worthiness of your proposal. Giving exact numbers before the program even begins is impossible, but you can give ranges.

You might feel you need to inflate the number of people who will be served to make the funder feel like it will be getting its money’s worth. Don’t! Those numbers will come back to haunt you when it’s time to report on your results. But don’t give numbers that are too low, either, or funders might think the program isn’t cost-effective.

Funders realize that different kinds of projects are more efficient than others and that efficiency is not the sole judge of worthiness. A website might cost $50,000 to make and reach 250,000 people or 20 cents per person, whereas a workshop series might cost $50,000 and serve 100 people or $500 per person, but in a much more direct and personal way. The value of the program is not just in the math—it’s in the ability of your charity to deliver a program that accomplishes its goals and serves a worthy purpose.