Your research on potential funders often
reveals the grantmakers' preferred way to be approached initially.
The most common preferences are telephone call, application form,
letter
of inquiry and full proposal.
Letters of inquiry are becoming more popular with grantmakers. Given
everyone's time crunch, this makes sense: In a brief format, a letter
of inquiry explores the possibility of a match between the organization's
needs and the funder's interests. The letter's objective is to get
the funder to invite you to submit a proposal.
A letter of inquiry should be no more than two pages, but it should
touch on all the elements that would be included in a proposal:
- request for funds
- organization overview
- program information
- why you are a good fit with their grantmaking priorities
- thank you and details about how you will follow up
Remember: Refer to the foundation's guidelines
or website if available, or call to find out its preferred method
of approach or letter format, and follow that.
Assign someone in your organization to take charge of these to-dos:
- follow up with the foundation
- enforce and manage deadlines
- become an expert about your organization, being able to speak
on its behalf and articulate the rationale for funding it
If you do not have these areas of expertise in your organization
already, consider hiring a consultant to help you for a limited
time.
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