diff --git a/src/applications/project/engineextension/PhabricatorProjectHovercardEngineExtension.php b/src/applications/project/engineextension/PhabricatorProjectHovercardEngineExtension.php
--- a/src/applications/project/engineextension/PhabricatorProjectHovercardEngineExtension.php
+++ b/src/applications/project/engineextension/PhabricatorProjectHovercardEngineExtension.php
@@ -28,6 +28,26 @@
       ->execute();
     $projects = mpull($projects, null, 'getPHID');
 
+    $custom_fields = array();
+    foreach ($projects as $project) {
+      $field = PhabricatorCustomField::getObjectField(
+        $project,
+        PhabricatorCustomField::ROLE_VIEW,
+        'std:project:internal:description');
+      if ($field === null) {
+        // This means the field is disabled, it would always be null.
+        break;
+      }
+      $field
+        ->setViewer($viewer)
+        ->readValueFromObject($project);
+      $custom_fields[] = $field;
+    }
+
+    id(new PhabricatorCustomFieldStorageQuery())
+      ->addFields($custom_fields)
+      ->execute();
+
     return array(
       'projects' => $projects,
     );
diff --git a/src/applications/project/view/PhabricatorProjectCardView.php b/src/applications/project/view/PhabricatorProjectCardView.php
--- a/src/applications/project/view/PhabricatorProjectCardView.php
+++ b/src/applications/project/view/PhabricatorProjectCardView.php
@@ -68,6 +68,28 @@
 
     $description = null;
 
+    // This getProxy() feels hacky - see also PhabricatorProjectDatasource:67
+    $description_field = PhabricatorCustomField::getObjectField(
+      $project,
+      PhabricatorCustomField::ROLE_VIEW,
+      'std:project:internal:description');
+
+    if ($description_field !== null) {
+      $description_field = $description_field->getProxy();
+
+      $description = $description_field->getFieldValue();
+      if (phutil_nonempty_string($description)) {
+        $description = PhabricatorMarkupEngine::summarizeSentence($description);
+        $description = id(new PHUIRemarkupView($viewer, $description))
+          ->setContextObject($project);
+
+        $description = phutil_tag(
+          'div',
+          array('class' => 'project-card-body phui-header-shell'),
+          $description);
+      }
+    }
+
     $card = phutil_tag(
       'div',
       array(