For consultants in the first week of a project
Project Charter Template and Example
A project charter for client work: nine sections with rules, from purpose to sponsor sign-off, plus a one-page version and an annotated example.
Section by section
What goes in each section of a project charter
California's project management framework describes the project charter as the document that formally authorizes a project1, approved by the sponsor. For a client project, use the nine sections below. Write them in order, since each builds on the one before: objectives follow from the purpose, and milestones from the deliverables.
| Section | What to write | The mistake to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Purpose | Three to five sentences in the client's terms: the problem, what it costs today and why now, with the source of each figure. End with what the project will deliver or decide. | Describing your method or your firm, or promising the answer before the work is done. |
| 2. Objectives and success measures | Three to five results, each with a measure, today's figure, a target, a date and a source, so two people would score it the same way. Example: from 9 to 3 business days to a usable account by February 5. | An activity posing as a result, such as "run 12 interviews", or a target the project can't reach before it ends. |
| 3. Scope | In scope lists the work with numbers: sites, teams, systems, interviews, rounds of review. Out of scope names what the client will likely ask for next, such as rollout beyond a pilot. | Lines nobody can check, such as "onboarding, broadly", or wording that goes wider than the SOW. |
| 4. Deliverables | One row per deliverable in the SOW: what it contains, the one client person who accepts it and the due date. Say how many business days they have to reply. | Contents too vague to check, or a whole team named as the acceptor. |
| 5. Milestones | Five to eight dates: kickoff, charter signed, each deliverable and every decision the client must make. Mark what each date depends on from the client. | Listing every task, or leaving out client dependencies, so a late data extract looks like your delay. |
| 6. Stakeholders and roles | Everyone with a role on both sides, and what each person decides or does. Name one sponsor, who approves the charter, accepts the main deliverables and decides changes. | Listing people who only need updates, or every task's owner. Those go in a stakeholder analysis and a RACI matrix. |
| 7. Risks, assumptions and constraints | Three to five of each. Write each risk as cause, event and effect, with one owner. Give each assumption a person and a date to confirm it, and list fixed limits as constraints. | Risks with no cause or owner, such as "resourcing". Keep the full list in a RAID log. |
| 8. Budget | Your fee and payment schedule exactly as the SOW states them. Then each cost the client carries outside the fee, such as vendor work or staff time, with who approves it. | Guessing a client cost nobody has given you. Write the date the estimate is due instead. |
| 9. Sign-off | Signatures from the sponsor, the client project lead and your engagement lead on the same version, before the main work starts. Start the change log at signing. | Starting work on an unsigned draft, or editing the signed version without a change request. |
Examples come from the template and its annotated charter for an invented credit union. In the template, each section opens with its rules in italics; delete them before you share the charter.
How it works
How to write a project charter for a client project
Draft the charter in the first week, from the signed statement of work (SOW) and your kickoff notes. California's framework has the project manager lead the charter's development1, so bring the sponsor a draft rather than a blank page. The SOW is part of the contract: it sets the deliverables, how each is accepted and the fee. The charter is how both teams will run the project, so where the two overlap, match the SOW's wording and never widen it. If there's no SOW yet, start with the SOW generator.
Three sections need the most care: objectives, roles and risks. Take the objectives from the client: in the same framework, the sponsor identifies the key business objectives and criteria for success1. For roles, ask for names rather than departments, because a department can't accept a deliverable or send you data. For risks, the UK's Association for Project Management advises separating causes, which are facts now, from risk events and their effects2. A named cause shows you what to act on now.
Walk the sponsor through the draft, then get three signatures on the same version: the sponsor's, the client project lead's and your engagement lead's. Cleveland State University's open textbook notes that once signed off, the charter becomes an agreement between the project leader and the sponsor3. Sign before the main work starts, and change it only through a change request. River can write the first draft from your SOW summary: paste it into the box at the top, and every fact it doesn't give stays in brackets.
How it works
From SOW to signed charter
Download it or open it in River
Download the three Word documents free, or click Edit with AI to open them in River. Paste your SOW summary first if you have one.
River drafts the charter
River fills in the full template from your notes, copies the fee exactly, and brackets any name, date or figure they don't give.
Settle the open questions
River lists each fact the client must supply as a plain question. Take the list to the sponsor before sign-off.
Sign it in week one
Ask River for the one-page version or a RACI if you need one, then run the checklist and get three signatures.
Project charter: member onboarding redesign (example)
Kestrel Valley Credit Union · Sponsor: Maria Okafor, COO
- Purpose
- Cut the nine-day wait for a usable account: redesign account opening, pilot it at two branches, recommend whether to roll it out.
- Objectives
- From 9 to 3 business days to a usable account, and online drop-off from 31% to under 20%, by Feb 5.
- Out of scope
- Business accounts, core system changes, and rollout beyond the two pilot branches.
- Budget
- $118,000 fixed, as in the SOW. The vendor's estimate for online form changes is due Nov 20.
- Sign-off
- Sponsor, client project lead and engagement lead, Nov 6.
What you'll get
A charter for client projects, with rules, a worked example and a one-pager
- Nine sections, each with its rules, from purpose to sign-off
- A one-page version for short projects and pilots
- A complete example charter, annotated section by section
Before and after
Your SOW summary in. A first-draft charter out.
SOW signed with Kestrel Valley Credit Union. Redesign member onboarding, pilot at 2 branches, Nov 2 to end of Feb, $118k fixed. Sponsor Maria Okafor, COO. New accounts take 9 days today. Need data from IT. Compliance must approve any change to ID checks.
1. Purpose: New accounts at Kestrel Valley take nine days to open today. This project will redesign member onboarding and pilot the new process at two branches. 2. Objectives: Cut the time to open a new account from 9 days to [target] by [date]. 6. Stakeholders and roles: Maria Okafor, COO, is the sponsor. [Compliance approver] approves changes to identity checks. [IT data owner] provides the data by [date]. 8. Budget: Consulting fees are $118,000, fixed. To confirm with the client: Who in IT provides the data, and by when? Who in compliance signs off changes to identity checks?
Facts your notes don't give stay in brackets, and each one the client must supply becomes a question for the sponsor.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the project charter template
- Project Charter Template
The main document: nine numbered sections from purpose to sign-off, each opening with its rules. - An objectives table
Room for three to five objectives, each with a measure and its source, today's figure, a target and a date. - Who decides what
Roles from both sides, one sponsor, who accepts each deliverable and how changes get approved. - A sign-off checklist
Nine checks to run before you ask for signatures, and a note on how the charter and SOW differ. - One-Page Project Charter
The same nine headings, one or two lines each, for short projects and pilots. - Example Project Charter, Annotated
A finished charter for an invented credit union, with a note under each section on why it works.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is a project charter?
A project charter is a short document that authorizes a project and records why it exists, what it must achieve, what's in scope, who decides and what it costs. The sponsor approves it before the main work starts. The UK's Association for Project Management uses the word differently, defining a charter as a document setting out a team's working relationships and agreed behaviors4.
What should a project charter include?
For a client project, nine parts: purpose, three to five measurable objectives, scope in and out, deliverables, milestones, roles, risks (with assumptions and constraints), budget, and sign-off. Cleveland State University's open textbook uses 13 sections, adding headings such as high-level requirements and project exit criteria3. On consulting work the SOW and contract usually cover those, so this template leaves them out.
What's the difference between a project charter and a statement of work?
A statement of work is part of your contract with the client: what you deliver, how it's accepted and what you're paid. A charter records how both teams will run the work, with success measures, decision rights and risks. Cleveland State University's open textbook notes that a project with an outside client needs a formal and legally binding contract3 as well as a charter.
Who writes and signs a project charter?
Usually the project manager drafts it and the sponsor approves it. California's framework calls developing the charter a collaborative process that includes the sponsor, the project manager and other key stakeholders1. On client work, have the client project lead and your engagement lead sign the same version. If a later change alters the SOW's scope, dates or fee, write a change order too.
How long should a project charter be?
Aim for two to four pages on most client projects, and one page for a short project or pilot. California's framework offers a mini charter for small, low-complexity projects, pilots and proofs of concept1, and this template's one-page version serves the same purpose. If any section of the one-pager runs past three lines, switch to the full template.
Is this project charter template free?
Yes. Download all three Word documents (the full charter, the one-page version and the annotated example) with no signup. Or click Edit with AI to open them in a free River workspace. Paste your SOW summary or kickoff notes into the box at the top of this page first, and you start with a draft.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens the three documents in a free River workspace. If you pasted your SOW summary or kickoff notes, River drafts the full charter from them, brackets each missing fact and lists questions for the sponsor. Otherwise, the documents open unchanged, and River offers to fill in the charter with you. Under River's privacy policy, your notes aren't used to train AI models.
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