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 Intent, Letter
of Interest, Query letter, Prospecting 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.
