As a new or growing nonprofit, the grant application process can be pretty daunting. It can get overwhelming while trying to juggle multiple applications, all with deadlines around the same time. That’s why it’s ideal for every nonprofit to have a master narrative, which is essentially the “resume” of your organization: it’s a living document that includes things like its vital information, your organization’s mission and vision, what it does, who it’s meant for, and how you evaluate your yearly outputs.

A Master Narrative will save you time

Very often, grants will ask you the same questions, but in different ways, about the mission of your organization, the demographics you serve, what programs you offer, your budget breakdown, your sources of funding, your board of directors and collaborators, and the system you’ve put in place to evaluate your outcomes. Instead of scrambling around to find the right documents, having a master narrative allows you to have it all in one place, greatly reducing the time it would take to finish your grant application.

A Master Narrative helps you tell your story

When starting out, founders often don’t know how exactly to construct their organization’s story, and that’s okay. Creating your own narrative is a process that all organizations must go through in order to outline and convey to those from the outside looking in what they do and why they do it. Those topics while writing a master narrative include your organization’s history, geographic area and population served, the need for your organization, program descriptions, and testimonials of other people’s experiences after being served by your organization. These pieces of information are key in your storytelling.

A Master Narrative guides organizational development

Oftentimes, creating your master narrative can help in fleshing out your nonprofit itself! Writing about your organization in a way that relates to funders’ interests can lead you to brainstorm on how to structure and strengthen the programs and services your organization provides, as well as add new services, taking your organization in a broader direction.

Want to get started?

Writing a master narrative doesn’t have to feel burdensome or complicated. Boules Consulting offers a free master narrative checklist to new or growing organizations to help you get started: just click here to claim yours