In adding front and back matter to a proposal, it needs to be pertinent in every way to what you are trying to accomplish. Although most of the time these components may not be necessary, if you do choose to use them then you have to make sure that they are serving a purpose. This is part of seeing the document as a whole. The idea of "need to know" must be maintained.
Letters or memos can be very enticing as Johnson-Sheehan points out. They may very well be the first thing that funder sees in regards to your proposal; however, it may not hurt to send this letter well in advance even before you decide to submit a proposal. It never hurts to let your funder know that you even exist. Extending that "handshake" early on can have a very big impact once your proposal is received.
In regards to the back matter, if at all possible, supply an itemized budget, and if anything, without a question, provide a budget narrative. These are simply imperative to your proposal (that is of course if you're requesting money). All proposal authors will have done their research; therefore, a bibliography is almost certainly a must. Also, if your organization has supporting articles related to your proposal and the funders objectives, make sure those are included in the appendices. It can never hurt to build as much credibility as possible.
The revision is the reason why you start a potential proposal as soon as possible. It is during the revision that you finally get to see the proposal for the first time as a whole document. This can be a very rewarding or frustrating time; which is why you want to be revising your document as you write it from the beginning. The revisionary period should mostly focus on the rhetorical elements and rhetorical situation. By this point, you have hopefully thought through what you hope to accomplish and how to meet the funders objective(s) and expectations.
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