Nonprofit One‑Pager: What to Include, With an Example and Template

This guide covers the six parts every nonprofit one-pager needs, a real example taken apart section by section, the mistakes that make funders stop reading, and a template outline you can copy.

Who reads a nonprofit one-pager, and what they look for

Most nonprofit one-pagers are read by one of four people, and each one scans for something different:

Write for the reader you will meet first. If you have more than one audience, make more than one version: the facts stay the same, and the order changes.

The 6 parts of a nonprofit one-pager

1. The ask, at the top. Say what you want: an amount, a partnership, a meeting. Funders read the ask first, so don't hide it at the bottom.
2. The need, in two sentences. The problem, in numbers you can source, in your area.
3. Your proof. What changed for the people you serve last year, measured. One or two figures beat a paragraph.
4. Where the money goes. A short breakdown by line, so the reader can see what a gift buys.
5. What they would fund. The outcome of this gift, specifically: how many people, over what time, measured how.
6. How to reach you. One named person, an email and your website.

Your mission statement belongs in one line under your name, not as a paragraph. A funder learns more from your results than from your mission.

A nonprofit one-pager, taken apart

Here is a sample grant request One-Pager made with MakeOnepagers from a longer proposal. The organisation is a sample, not a real charity, but every part of it maps to the six parts above.

A sample grant request: the ask is the biggest number on the page, and the budget adds up to it.

• The ask is the largest number on the page: $180k over two years. A funder knows what this is about before reading a word.
• The need is two sentences: a third of children in the district leave elementary school reading below their expected level, and last year's program moved 71% of its cohort back to grade level within nine months.
• Where the money goes is four boxes: tutors $104k, materials $38k, space $24k, evaluation $14k. Together they make $180k, so the reader can check the math.
• What you would fund is one outcome: 2,900 children reached over two years, with an independent evaluation at the end.
• Last year's results are four figures, each against the year before: 71% back to grade level (up 14 points), 1,180 children reached (up 340), 92% attendance, and cost per child down to $58.

You can open this layout as a ready-made grant request One-Pager template.

Notice what isn't there: no history of the organisation, no list of every program, no stock photos. Every section answers a question a funder would ask.

Mistakes that make funders stop reading

How to make a nonprofit one-pager fast

Most nonprofits already have the content in a longer document: an annual report, an impact report or a grant proposal. The slow part is cutting 20 pages down to one without losing the numbers that matter.

You can do that by hand in Word, Google Docs or a design tool such as Canva, using the outline below. Or you can upload the longer document to MakeOnepagers, which reads the whole file, pulls out the figures and the ask, and lays them out as a designed One-Pager you can then edit line by line. It leaves out anything it can't tie back to your document, so no figure appears that your report doesn't support.

If you're starting from a grant application, see how MakeOnepagers handles grant applications and annual reports.

A nonprofit one-pager template you can copy

[Organisation name]

[One line: who you serve and where]

The Ask

$[amount] over [time] for [program]

The Need

• [Problem, with one sourced number, in your area]
• [What you do about it, in one sentence]

Last Year's Results

• [Figure 1, vs the year before]
• [Figure 2, vs the year before]

Where the Money Goes

• [Line 1]: $[amount]
• [Line 2]: $[amount]
• [Line 3]: $[amount]

What You Would Fund

[Number of people] over [time], measured by [how]

Contact

[Name, role] · [email] · [website]

For more layouts, browse our free One-Pager templates and real One-Pager examples.

Turn your annual report into a One-Pager

If your story is already written in an annual report or grant proposal, upload it and get a designed nonprofit One-Pager back in a minute or two. MakeOnepagers is free for 7 days with 3 One-Pagers included. Make your first One-Pager.