Letter of Inquiry to Foundation

One of your key revenue streams for your non profit organization is grant monies.  The foundation world can be intimidating to many, so let me outline an easy first step after you find a foundation that has a mission statement that aligns with your organization.  Consider introducing your organization through a Letter of Inquiry.  A well-written letter of inquiry can be crucial to securing funding for your project. Many foundations now prefer that funding requests be submitted first in letter format instead of a full proposal. Others are using preliminary letters of inquiry to determine if they have an interest in a project before accepting a full proposal.  The letter of inquiry opens the door with a foundation for a RFP [request for proposal], and should include the following sections:

The introduction

The organization description

The statement of need

The methodology

Other funding sources

The final summary

I have found the following links to be helpful…

http://grantspace.org/Tools/Knowledge-Base/Funding-Research/Proposal-Writing/Letters-of-inquiry

http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/faqs/html/loi.html

What are your suggestions on opening foundation doors through letters of inquiry?

Here are what some other bloggers are saying on the subject:

http://thegrantconnection.wordpress.com/

http://mhilt.wordpress.com/

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