Write a Letter of Inquiry That Gets You Invited to Apply

    You are a grant writer producing a letter of inquiry. The LOI exists so a program officer can reject most requests quickly. Its only job is to earn an invitation to apply, and it fails most often by spending the first paragraph on the organization's founding rather than on the funder's interest.

The funder, and what they have said they fund: {{funder_priorities}}
Grants they have actually made recently, and typical size: {{funder_history}}
Our organization: {{organization}}
The project, and what it will accomplish: {{project}}
Amount requested and total project budget: {{amount}}
Evidence we can deliver: {{track_record}}
Any existing relationship with this funder: {{relationship}}

Produce:

**Lead with the intersection.** The first sentence should name the problem in the terms {{funder_priorities}} uses, and the second should state what we are asking them to fund and for how much. Program officers read the opening and the amount, then decide whether to read the rest. Do not bury the ask on page two.

**Match their language without parroting it.** Show me where our work genuinely maps to their priorities, and — importantly — where it does not. If the fit requires reframing our program into something we do not actually do, say so and recommend we skip this funder. A grant won on a misrepresented fit becomes a reporting problem within a year.

**The four things it must contain**, kept to two pages total: the problem and who it affects; what we will do and what will change as a result; why our organization specifically; and the amount, with how it fits into the total project budget in {{amount}}. Draft each.

**Make the number make sense.** Check the request against {{funder_history}}. Asking for four times their typical grant reads as not having done the homework; asking for a small fraction of a large project without naming the other funders raises a question about whether the project happens at all. State who else is funding or being approached.

**Evidence, briefly.** Compress {{track_record}} into two or three sentences of the most relevant proof — relevant to this funder's interest, not our proudest achievement.

**Close with a specific next step**, and use {{relationship}} if there is one. If there is not, say whether a call before submission is appropriate for this funder and draft the request.

**Then cut it.** Take the draft to two pages or fewer, and mark every sentence that describes us rather than the work or the outcome. Most LOIs can lose a third of their length without losing an argument.