Selasa, 03 Januari 2017

Tugas Softskill Inquirry Letter

Nama : Arjuna Ryan Shakti W
NPM  : 21113382
Kelas  : 4KB01




Inquiry Letter


Inquiry Letter is a letter written to request information and/or ascertain its authenticity. A letter of inquiry deals with various matters like job vacancies, funding, grants, scholarships, projects, sales, pre-proposals and others. The term is common in various business setups as it implies fund request or pre-proposal information. Owing to this usage, the term may be considered exclusive to these setups alone. But that is not the case, to this effect the below definition offers a justified meaning.
  • Inquiry Letter Definition
       A document requesting information sent on behalf of an individual or an organisation for their own respective purposes, which can be mutually beneficial to the recipient and the sender.

The term ‘Inquiry’ is same as ‘Enquiry’. The former is more commonly used in U.S. and the latter one is more common in U.K. There are some other terms which represent the letters; these are Letter of IntentLetter of InterestQuery letterProspecting Letter, Pre-proposal Letter and Concept Paper. The term ‘Cover Letter’, ‘Business Letter’, ‘Request Letter’ and ‘Sales Letter’ is also applied to an inquiry letter especially when the objective is same as that of letter for inquiry.

       A letter of inquiry serves to facilitate business operations and satisfaction of the sender. Inquiry letters remove any misunderstanding and are time savers, especially when two parties want to reach an understanding. The communication towards this effect resolves the issue without any delay. With relation to it being a ‘Pre-proposal letter’, the inquiry letter is also termed as a ‘Condensed Version of a Proposal’. It is the outcome of the purpose of the letter which highlights the points of a proposal instead of a full-fledged proposal.

       On an individual’s basis, these letters are sent to companies that are willing to hire but haven't advertised job openings. It can also be a letter addressed to editor in-charge of a publication proposing certain literary work. It can be a letter from a student who is vying for a seat in a college or a business that provides an internship. So, the objective of an enquiry letter is same but its projections and audiences are different. Same goes for its method of delivery, it can be sent via paper mail or electronic mail.

·         How to write Inquiry Letter

 
In the ideal world (or at least the fundraiser’s version of it), an inquiry letter is the next step in approaching a foundation, after contact has been established and interest expressed by the funder. Perhaps the foundation is interested in you because they’ve funded your work before, or you’ve somehow been introduced to the program officer, or they know you by reputation.

Or perhaps the foundation has issued an RFP (request for proposals) and explained in their guidelines that the first step in the application process is a letter of inquiry.

More often, though, in this non-ideal world, where we actually live, an inquiry letter is your only option for trying to get the attention of a foundation that you have not yet made any contact with.

The first step is to review the guidelines of the foundation, which are almost always available online. (I can’t prove this, but I think it’s a safe bet that if a foundation doesn’t have the time and resources to create a Website, or provide guidelines via the Foundation Center, it probably won’t have the time and resources to respond to your unsolicited inquiry.) Read the guidelines. Nothing annoys a funder more than being asked for a grant from someone who couldn’t take 15 minutes to read their guidelines. If they offer instructions on how to submit an inquiry, follow the instructions carefully.

But if they don’t provide instructions, here’s a suggested approach to your letter.

1.      Explain the purpose of your letter

Identify yourself. If there is a connection, establish it – but don’t push it. “I’m following up on our conversation at the Meet-the-Grantmakers seminar last week” is appropriate (assuming you really had that conversation). “I’m writing in response to the Request for Proposals announced on your Website” is good too. It’s helpful if they know you are writing to them specifically, and not mail merging them into a generic letter.

“My cousin and your cousin attended the same wedding in Pittsburgh four years ago” or “I saw you across the room at the opening reception for the science museum but I didn’t want to interrupt you because you were talking to someone who I’m sure was more interesting and important than me” probably isn’t such a good idea. Because…who cares? Just use common sense to determine if there’s a connection worth mentioning.

Then very briefly identify the project for which you seek support and the amount of money you are asking for. Like this:

We are requesting a grant of $25,000 to expand our preschool free-breakfast program to 10 additional schools during the coming school year.

2.      Explaining who you are – the Organizational Background

As with everything in your letter, this should be concise. Don’t brag about how great you are – just explain your place in the nonprofit cosmology. If you’re the largest fully accredited animal shelter in Harris County, you can say “The Acme Critter Home is the largest fully accredited animal shelter in Harris County.” If you’re the second largest, you might say something like “The Acme Critter home is one of the largest animal shelters in Harris County, and the only one that is certified as a “humane safe haven” by the ASPCA.” (I just made that credential up – my apologies to the ASPCA. The point is, there is probably a reason you exist. State what it is.)

But try not to say something like, “One of the nation’s most important and effective animal shelters, the Acme Critter Home is a unique resource for people who really care about animals.” It’s vague and annoyingly self-aggrandizing.

And resist the temptation to list a dozen examples of your great programs, a half dozen things that have been said about you in newspapers, a handful of touching anecdotes and the full transcript of a proclamation about you from the lieutenant governor of your state. No one will read it, but you have begun to build your reputation as a nuisance.

Please, be simple and factual.

3.      Explain the need

That means a specific problem outside of your organization that needs to be addressed.

If humanly possible, quantify it: where, how many, etc. “More than 2,000 pre-schoolers in Harris County do not have breakfast each morning because their parents cannot afford to feed them” is a quantifiable need.

“Many people these days go hungry” is also a need, but it’s vague (not quantified or defined in terms of place, time, etc.) , which immediately indicates that you haven’t thought clearly about the problem you’re trying to solve and would almost certainly waste their grant money with an equally vague solution.
“The Acme Nutrition Center wants to provide breakfast to pre-schoolers” is a solution, not a need. You’ll get to the solution in a minute – in the “needs” section, stick to the needs. Mixing up your needs and your solutions makes your letter confusing, and it indicates you’re more interested in yourself than the people you’re trying to serve.

And remember, the need should be outside of your organization. That the Acme Nutrition Center is running a deficit is only interesting to people who are already invested in your organization. (And even they will quickly tire of hearing about your problems.)

Last thought on the need statement: don’t spend time persuading the reader that the need is a need. If you articulate the need clearly, it speaks for itself.

For example, imagine you’re writing about a bicycle helmet project to a foundation dedicated to children’s health. Let’s say you explain that in your community, children from families with incomes below the poverty line sustain three times as many head injuries as children from families above that level. (Remember, I’m just making this all up.) And let’s say you also explain that the reason for this is that children below the poverty line ride bicycles as much as richer kids, but are three times more likely to do so without helmets.

By presenting all of that, you’ve explained the need. You don’t need to go on at length about how horrible it is to have to tell a mother that her child has sustained a head trauma. (A little human emotion is fine, but don’t create the impression that the reader needs a life lesson from you about when and how to feel sad.)

If you can alert them to, or remind them of, a specific, quantifiable need and then (in the next section) present your effective plan for solving the problem, you’re in good shape. Don’t spoil it with an attempt at passive aggressive emotional manipulation.

4.      Now explain what you intend to do to address the need

Write a series of straightforward declarative sentences that explain:
·         What your goals are
·         What exactly you’re going to do to achieve those goals
·         Where you’re going to do it
·         When you’re going to do it
·         How many people will be affected by what you do
·         What organizational resources will be involved
·         What it will cost
·         How you will measure your success

Here’s an example of what I mean:

The Acme Nutrition Center seeks to provide 50 percent of Harris County pre-schoolers from low-income families with free breakfasts. We will accomplish this by hand distributing a five-day supply of boxed breakfast meals at 15 houses of worship each Sunday. The participating houses of worship include 12 churches of various Christian denominations, 1 synagogue, 1 mosque and 1 Hindu temple. Participating families may choose any of these houses of worship as their pickup point, regardless of whether or not they worship at that (or any) house of worship. However, participants must choose a specific pick up point and stay with it.

The program will begin on Sunday, September 2 – the Sunday before the first day of most pre-school programs – and continue through Sunday, June 25. We will not omit any Sunday between these dates, regardless of school holiday sessions. Distribution will be conducted by five of Acme’s full-time field workers, each working alongside approximately three volunteers. We project that we will provide an average of 1,000 meals each week. As you will see from the attached budget, the total cost will be $2,000 per week ($2 per meal), for a total of $88,000 over the 44 week program. Acme Nutrition will evaluate the success of the program according to

several criteria, including the extent to which it reaches its goal, the diversity of the population served, and the response to mid-term and post-term written and verbal surveys pertaining to convenience and food quality. Acme will also mail an anonymous survey to non-participants inquiring about why they opted not to participate in the program. The entire operation will be managed by Joanne Smith, Acme’s Director of Direct Services.

I hope you’ll agree that it’s all plain English – no “funderese.” (Whatever that means – see below.) It may not win a Pulitzer Prize or double as a doctoral dissertation, but it clearly communicates where the funder’s money would go.

It should be. But for some reason, most nonprofits don’t write their project descriptions like that. They write them like this:

The Acme Nutrition Center is creating a highly unique program to address issues of hunger in Harris County by empowering local community residents in a nutrition program that will help students start life right by getting the food they need. Many people in this country go to bed hungry. This isn’t just a problem in Africa or China. And while celebrity spokespeople may find it more appealing to focus attention on international problems, these are just as prevalent in our own country which is why needs in our own community are being addressed by the Acme Nutrition Center, creating a project where these urgent issues are more effectively combatted than has been done before. This unique approach will ensure that students who might be too busy thinking about lunch to focus on their academic work, and thus getting an equal opportunity to compete with their more privileged peers. This lack of equal opportunity can have a devastating effect on these young people throughout their lives.

Seem ridiculous? Maybe, but I’ve been asked to read a lot of draft letters and proposals in my life, and the project descriptions usually sound more like the second example than the first one. Note the most common mistakes: 1) a general tone of boasting, especially about the “uniqueness” of the project, 2) the jumbling up of general needs with specific solutions, 3) sloppy grammar and unnecessary use of passive voice; and 4) the utter failure to explain what would be done with the money if it were granted. In general, the writing suffers from the misguided belief that the job of a grant writer is to use impassioned and earnest (albeit ungrammatical) prose to dazzle an overfed funder into writing a check.

5.      Explain how you intend to fund the project

You should be able to articulate a reasonable plan for how you will fund the project.

“Wait a second,” you may say – what do you mean “fund the project? That’s why I’m writing the letter – to fund the project.”

Think of it like this. Imagine you’re back in college. Somehow, a bunch of people are hanging out in your dorm room – some of whom you barely know. (It’s college.) One of the people suddenly gets very excited about an idea – let’s create an intramural flag football team with great t-shirt uniforms! As he explains the idea, you realize everyone else has left the room. It’s just the two of you. He asks you for $100 to pay for the t-shirts. Or if you don’t want to pay for the whole thing, how about pitching in $20 to help?

How do you react? Even if you love flag football, you probably think: 1) I don’t know this guy – how do I know he’s actually going to do this? 2) I don’t want to pay for the whole thing. That would be unfair and feel a little embarrassing. 3) Pitching in $20 would be okay if I knew a bunch of other people were pitching in too. But if he has no other takers yet, I don’t want to be the only one. He won’t have enough cash to pull this off and I’ll probably never get my money back.

Well, that’s exactly how your foundation prospect may feel when he or she gets your letter. In most cases, the funder will not want to be the only entity supporting the effort. If you can’t prove you have a bunch of friends – preferably people they know, or know of – already participating, they probably won’t want to be the first ones in.

Ideally, you should list several other funders who are already committed to the project, or are reasonable prospects. For example, if you are seeking a $25,000 grant from the XYZ Foundation for a $100,000 project, you’re in the strongest position if you can say: “Our Vice Chairman has committed $50,000 toward this project. We have also had promising meetings with the ABC and DEF Foundations, both of which are considering a request for $25,000 each. A grant of $25,000 from you will enable us to close 50 percent of the remaining gap, and will further encourage those individuals and foundations considering this proposal to approve our request.”

That’s the ideal. Another pretty good scenario is something more like: “The ABC Foundation, which has supported several Acme programs in the past, is now considering a grant of $50,000 for this project. At the same time, we have grants under consideration with the DEF, GHI and JKL Foundations.”

What you don’t want to say is: “We are sending blind letters to Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates and Bill Cosby in the hope that they will fund this project too.”

[If you are thinking to yourself: “But we don’t have any other funders or prospects -- that’s why I’m trying to learn how to write an effective inquiry letter!” then be honest about it in your letter. But you probably need to do some organizational development work before you will have much success with foundations.]

6.      Conclusion

Close the letter with a brief and gracious statement of your appreciation for the funder’s consideration, a reiteration of the ask amount, and information about how to contact you for further information.

7.      Attachments

Often the foundation provides guidelines for what attachments they want. If they don’t, we suggest the following: a copy of your 501(c)(3) letter, your board of directors listing (one page, names and affiliations – no contact information needed), your organizational budget for the current fiscal year and a project budget. That should be four sheets of paper. Resist the temptation to send reams of newspaper clippings, letters of recommendation, brochures, etc. A big pile looks wasteful and self-aggrandizing. It hurts more than it helps.

Pay Attention to This

·    Do unsolicited inquiry letters work? Absolutely…sometimes. There are some foundations that are looking for compelling projects in line with their priorities from credible organizations. In those cases, if you are a close match with the foundation’s priorities and you make a compelling and succinct case, you’ve got a real shot.
·      The mass mailing of generic inquiry letters is not a fundraising strategy. Do not waste time imagining that fundraising is a numbers game – that if you send out enough letters to enough foundations then some small percentage will pay off. That’s a fool’s errand or fool’s gold or a fool’s paradise or some saying with the word fool in it. Anyway, it’s foolish. Almost certainly won’t work.
·         Another silly fallacy is that the best way to get a grant of the size you need is to ask for a much larger grant, on the hope that the funder will placate you by giving you a percentage of your ask. For example, ask the funder for $100,000 and perhaps they’ll give you $10,000 or $20,000. I think something like that worked on Leave it to Beaver a few times, but it doesn’t tend to work with professional philanthropists. The ask amount should be based on your need and a careful analysis of the funder’s typical grant range.
·    There’s no such thing as “funder-ese” – a secret way of writing to appeal to funders. Foundation program officers crave clear and concise language. If they can read your letter once and understand who you are and why you’re asking for a grant, you’ll be ahead of most of your competitors. If their eyes glaze over while they’re reading your letter and they wonder if 11:15 is too early to eat lunch, you’re probably not going to get that grant.
·     If the elements of this letter are too daunting, you may not be ready for foundation fundraising yet. You need to get your house in order – administratively, programmatically and fund-development wise – before you will be able to compete in the world of foundation fundraising.

Five questions you should ask yourself before sending your inquiry letter
1.    If I won the lottery, and my accountant told me I need to give away some money, would I fund this project? If not, why not?
2.    Am I certain that I’m writing to the right person at this foundation, and not someone who retired or resigned years ago?
3.      Have I proofread the letter carefully, and made sure that the numbers all match up? Did I spell all the names right?
4.      Did I explain what, when, where and how as clearly and concisely as possible?
5.      Did I make photo copies, file them and schedule a follow up call on my calendar?

Example Inquiry Letter :
SUMMIT CORPORATION
111 Empire Boulevard
Virginia, Bekasi Utara

Ref : CS / FI / 12A

12th April, 2014

PT. Robert Pattinson
12 West Point Square
Virginia, Bekasi Utara

Dear Mrs. Perry,

To meet the tastes of the public regarding food, especially bread of high quality and have a diverse taste in Bekasi and the surrounding area. Hereby we introduce ourselves as a company engaged in the manufacture of bread with good quality. And this bread companies we named RELISTA BREAD established since 06 march 2014 located in Passion, North Bekasi.

Since our company was recently established then we will ask you about the company that has experienced:
1. Promotion what is in accordance with our product?
2. When is the appropriate time?
3. Whatever media that allows for the sale?
4. Equipment needed promotion?
5. Total cost spent for promotion?

Hopefully you wish to reply and answer any questions from me. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,



Nurlinda Maya Puspita
General Manager.

Example Reply of Inquiry Letter :
PT. Robert Pattinson
12 West Point Square
Virginia, Bekasi Utara

Ref : CS / F2 / 12C

14th April, 2014

SUMMIT CORPORATION
111 Empire Boulevard
Virginia, Bekasi Utara

Dear Mrs. Nurlinda Maya Puspita

We thank you for your inquiry letter of 12th April, 2014. As requested we will answer the questions you ask.
  1.  Promotion for the product you are using a promotion distributing flyers and put your products on social media so that your bread products more quickly recognized.
   2.   Appropriate time for promotion is every day more especially in the holiday promotion multiply.
  3.  Media that allows for promotion by distributing brochures and social media, even better if you       log in television products.
   4.   Equipment needed promotion ie flyers, putting social media such as path, twitter, instagram, put the bread in shops pavement cafés can.
   5.   Total cost spent for the promotion :
Pay the printing brochures Rp. 1.000.000.
Buy pulse to incorporate social media into Rp. 100.000/month.
The total cost of the promotion : Rp. 1.100.000

After reading your letter and find out information about your product I would like to work together to promote your products, and of course I got provit too.

Your sincerely,



Reza Narita,
General Manager.









Daftar pustaka :

1. http://lindamaya.blogspot.co.id/2014/04/inquiry-letter-and-reply-of-inquiry.html
2. Bregman, M. (n.d.). How to Write a Foundation Inquiry Letter. 1st ed.