While specific demands and formatting vary from one request for proposal to the next, core elements to establish and communicate are:   The drafting and formatting steps of the proposal writing process go hand in hand. It may be more helpful to draft the proposal according to the guidelines that proposals require. The structure of a proposal varies according to the type of proposal, the type of project, and the organization. The major components of the proposal should be identified in this section. Because the summary is the first section of the proposal, it should be short, yet explicit enough to describe the problem or opportunity, solution, outcomes, timeline, expenses, and qualifications, while keeping the attention of the reader. It is important to use clear vocabulary to convey a persuasive message. The Foundation Center recommends the problem to be explained in one to two paragraphs. It should include a statement regarding a problem or opportunity that the applicant organization is ready to address. The solution should include a brief, yet explicit description of the project, its logistics, and benefits the program will provide once it is in place. The expenses should also be briefly discussed in this section. They should include the amount of funding required for the project, along with sustainability message that discusses the future plans for funding the project once the grant period ends. Such information should be conveyed in one paragraph. Finally, the organization's qualifications and credentials section should include a brief history of the organization, their purpose and activities, along with the credentials of any personnel that will be focusing on the project. The context, scope, and organization of the proposal is found in this section. Usually the introduction includes a brief description of the problem or opportunity, also known as the statement of need, the purpose of the proposal, the background of the problem or opportunity, sources of information, scope of the proposal, organization of the proposal, and key terms used in the proposal. Having the key terms in the introduction is a helpful way of avoiding the reader any confusion. Because the statement of need allows the reader to understand the applying organization's request and needs it to be clearly stated in the introduction. The Foundation Center lists in their website the following aspects to consider when writing the statement of need: what facts and/or statistics best support the project, give the reader hope, decide if the project should be showcased as a model, determine whether the need should be portrayed as acute, decide if it can be demonstrated that the proposed project or program addresses the need differently or better than other projects that preceded it, avoid presenting the absence of the proposed solution as the actual problem (circular reasoning).