Storytelling for Grantseekers: A Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising

The Difference Between Goals and Objectives

It is typical for funders to ask applicants for a description of agency goals and objectives in the proposal narrative. Many people confuse these terms: goal and objective. I confess to having been confused myself early in my grantwriting career. So just what is a goal? What is an objective? And how do they differ?

 

Goals A goal is the ultimate result an agency hopes to achieve. Goals are big and broad. A goal is unlikely to be accomplished in the near future. In fact, arriving at an agency’s end goal could be years or even decades away. It is possible that the end goal will never be achieved. A small or medium-size nonprofit agency is likely to have only one or two, or perhaps up to three, primary ...