Executive Summary
The executive summary comes after your cover letter. It helps the grantor to understand at a glance what you are asking. The summary can be as short as a couple of sentences, but no longer than one page. Aim to be complete but brief. The summary gives a taste of the proposal to come and should entice the reader to keep going.
Need Statement
The statement of need is the meat of your grant proposal. You must convince the funder that what you propose to do is essential and that your organization is the right one to do it.
Never assume that the reader of your summary knows much of anything about the issue. Use your expertise to explain it, but make it simple to understand.
Don't fall victim to the curse of knowledge. Remember what it's like to be a novice and write your need statement accordingly. Explain why the issue is essential, and what research you did to learn about possible solutions.
Goals and Objectives
Your goals and objectives explain what your organization plans to do about the problem. State what you hope to accomplish with the project (goals) and spell out the specific results (objectives) you expect to achieve. Think of goals as general outcomes and objectives as the particular steps you'll take to get to those outcomes. Brush up on SMART objectives.