25 Free Project Charter Templates

Download these 25 Free Project Charter Templates created using MS Word, MS Excel and in PDF Format to assist you in preparing your own Project Charter easily.

A legal document that announces the beginning of a project is commonly known as project charter. Amazingly the first charter dates back to as far as 800 years when the first charter was made to enlist the rights of civilians of feudal England. Later, it went through some changes but even the United States constitution is a form of this charter containing most of the same characteristics. If we want to explain a project charter briefly, it is referred to a document issued by an authorized person who is creating an entity i.e. a new project and it should include its purpose, principles, rights, rules and obligations of involved stakeholders.

Importance of Project Charter:

In modern project management, a project charter is the document that is given to the stakeholders i.e. clients to ensure they understand the scope of the project and agree to it by signing the charter. On one hand, this charter ensures clear understanding of what the company understands about the expectations of the client and how the project team has decided to deliver the project. This might include the beginning of the project, important milestones, completion time and most importantly, the budget of the project.

From the perspective of the client, this project charter tells him if the company understands what he wishes to see after the completion of the project, scope of the project, copyright situation and various characteristics of the project. Some people assume project charter and project scope are the same documents but in reality, they are different. Project scope document is the initial draft that is given to the client to confirm if he agrees with it or if he wants to change anything. Once the scope is confirmed by the client, project charter is created and immediately after it’s signed, the project officially begins.

Key Elements of a Project Charter:

Description of the project
Introduction to the involved stakeholders
Details of the end product i.e. completion of the project
Purpose of the project i.e. business need that it will fulfill
Key characteristics or features of the project
Important milestones
Project completion time period
Required budget
Details of exclusions

Free Project Charter Templates

Here are previews and download links for these free Project Charter Templates.

Here is download link for this Project Charter Template 01 in MS Word format,

Checkout another good looking Project Charter Template to help you in preparing your very own Project Charter easily.

Download link for this Project Charter Template 02 in MS Word format is bellow,

Here is download link for this Project Charter Template 03 in MS Word Format,

Please click on the link bellow to start downloading this Project Charter Template 04 in ZIP format,

Here is download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 05 in MS Word file format (DOCX).

Download this Project Charter Template 06 in Microsoft Excel Format to help you out.

Here is download link for this Project Charter Template 07 in MS Word format (inside a ZIP file).

Yet another useful Project Charter Template created using MS Word format,

Checkout download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 09 in MS Word format.

Here is download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 10 in MS Word format,

Download link for this Project Charter Template 11 is bellow,

Here is download link for this Project Charter Template 12 in MS Word file format.

Download link for this Project Charter Template 13 is bellow,

Here is download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 14 in MS Word format,

Please click on the download button bellow to start downloading this Project Charter Template 15 inside ZIP file.

Here is download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 16 in MS Word format.

Download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 17 is bellow,

Please click on the download button bellow to start downloading this Project Charter Template 18.

Here is download link for this good looking Project Charter Template 19 in MS Word format,

Download link for this Project Charter Template 20 in MS Word format,

Common Application of a Project Charter:

To give Authority to Project Team:

If you ask a project manager about what is the most common cause of delays in a project. The most common answer you get is to get approval of client or customer. It’s a common scenario that when things are not cleared initially. Project manager is required to seek permission of the client for almost all major portions of the project. With the project charter, these major milestones or tasks are already enlisted and by signing the charter, the client gives authority to the project manager and team members.

To get Management Support in Written:

You will be surprised to see how often it happens that the management just disapprove or disown a major part of a project just because it was not explained well in the beginning. With the project charter in place, not only that the client signs it to give approval but there is also the signature from the higher management to confirm they approve the project and will support the project manager and team members for successful and timely completion of the project.

Confirm Expectations of the Customer:

Sometimes clients disapprove or completely reject the end results of a project not because the project team made a mistake but it’s mostly because there wasn’t clear understanding of what the client expects out of the project. With a project charter in place, the project manager can ensure to explain each aspect of the project and to verify if the client has any objection or if he agrees with it.

To clarify Nature and Scope of the Project:

Explaining the overall project to the client is important but so is the explanation of the scope and nature of the project. This part of the project charter is actually the project scope where the project manager explains how they will complete the project, the time it will take to complete the project, important milestones completion duration and the overall budget of the project. If necessary, this part can also state potential risks and possible delays involved in project completion.

To align Project direction in the Right Way:

This purpose or application of a project charter is usually for internal or organizations use only. It’s quite often that during execution of a project, it’s seen that the project is not aligned with the overall objectives and goals of the organization and if the direction is not decided prior to project beginning, it can create problems and major delays to think of alternate ways that actually align with the correct organizational objective direction.

Here are more free Project Charter Templates bellow,