Letter of Intent to Apply
Some funding agencies follow certain procedures, which you must also follow. A letter of intent to apply is a simple preliminary letter that notifies the agency that a proposal will be forthcoming. You should include a little bit of basic information about your organization and the nature of the things you will be proposing.
If a letter of intent to apply is required by the funding agency, the agency should also be able to provide you with a list of the items that must be addressed by the letter of intent. If no guidance is forthcoming, it's a good idea to make sure that your letter of intent includes the following:
Name of organization
Contact person, title
Address Telephone (and extension, if applicable)
Fax number
E-mail address
Web site address
Project title
Brief project description
Amount requested
Your project description should be brief — no more than three or four lines. The purpose of its inclusion in the letter of intent to apply is only to make the staff at the funding agency aware of the program. Your proposal will outline how you plan to achieve the goals.
This is also the place to include questions about eligibility, the application process, or any other questions or concerns you may have. While the letter of intent often is not even considered by the actual decision-makers, it provides invaluable information to the staff and evaluators, and aids them in their case management.
Coalition for Community Involvement
Fred J. Esquire, Coordinator
123 Fake Street
Needsfunding, OH 59119
Telephone: (419) 555-9877
Fax: (419) 555-9876
FredEsq@communitycoalition.not
Project title: SkaterSpace
Our proposal will address the current problem of teen skating activity in unauthorized areas, such as busy parking lots, parks, and malls, and will assist in reducing the amount of citations issued to teens caught skating in these unauthorized areas. The Coalition for Community Involvement has developed an approach that will benefit the community, both by providing a place for teens to skateboard while also removing the problem of unauthorized activity in other areas.
We anticipate that our proposal can be implemented for a cost of $5,000. We will submit a full budget and cash flow forecast along with our proposal.
The Coalition for Community Involvement is not yet a body corporate; it is a nonprofit association of interested individuals from the community. If Magma Funding requires that sponsored agencies are incorporated, we will undertake to meet your qualifications; however, we would hope that any required incorporation could be done concurrently with the execution of the proposal, so as not to delay this season's proposed program.
Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call. We will forward our full proposal within the next thirty days.
If you are sending your letter on letterhead, the name of your organization and the address should be obvious. If the funding agency asks for the information in a specific format, however, follow that! Do not assume that the address on the letterhead will suffice; some places are sticklers for detail, and the slightest deviance from their standard form will often result in delays.
