Letter of Inquiry Template for Nonprofits
Three documents and three sheets that convert every funder's stated limit into one comparable unit, then show which required element each version is missing.
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Submission Register
One row per funder, and the limit converted before it is compared
Built before anything is cut. A stated limit goes in the second column and a length goes in the fifth, and they are not the same object.
| Funder | Stated | Format spec as published | Renders at | Converted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funder A | 2 pages | font, size, margins, spacing | - | - |
| Funder B | words | needs none | n/a | - |
| Funder C | characters | SPACES COUNTED? | n/a | - |
| Funder D | 2 pages | a different font and margin | - | - |
| Master letter | measured once | words, characters both ways | - |
Why the third column decides the fifth
Two funders can both say two pages and mean numbers hundreds of words apart, on nothing but font size and margins. So no limit here is compared to another until both have been converted into the same unit, against the same measured draft.
The two tests, kept apart
Length is one test and content is the other. A letter can sit inside a funder's limit and still be returned because an element that funder named by name is absent. Only one of those two shows up in a word count, which is why the register has a second sheet behind it.
River's letter of inquiry pack is three documents and three sheets, built around the step every LOI template skips: converting each funder's stated limit into one unit you can actually compare. Page one of this query agrees on one to two pages, single spaced, with a fixed list of six or seven sections that stays the same whichever foundation you are writing to. The full proposal is what an accepted letter gets you invited to submit. Getting there means passing two separate tests, and a word count can only see one of them.
A stated limit is not a length until the format spec attached to it is applied. Two pages at 12 point with one inch margins and two pages at 10 point with half inch margins differ by 618 words on the same letter. Where a funder publishes type density and line spacing, the ceiling stops being a rule of thumb and becomes arithmetic. NIH's attachment rules allow 15 characters per linear inch and six lines per vertical inch, so one page holds at most 6,750 characters.
Wrenhill Community Trust's 982 word letter is going to five funders whose converted limits run from 494 words to 1,637, and the two rankings nearly reverse. One version sits 18 words inside its limit and is 53 words over once the two elements that funder named are written. The tightest reads as a 488 word rewrite and is a 275 word compression, because 213 words of the letter cover things that funder never asked for.
What is in the pack
Submission Register
Every funder's stated limit with the format spec attached to it, the render, the converted limit, the contact rule, and the reading taken where a requirement is ambiguous.
Element Coverage Matrix
One row per element any funder requires and one column per funder, with the master letter's word count where it exists and a flag where it is written nowhere.
Length and Content Method Note
The conversion arithmetic for every limit, the derived page ceiling, and the four figures per funder: naive overage, free deletion, addition, real compression.
Letter of Inquiry
The letter at one funder's converted limit, in that funder's published sequence, with the element name on every heading so both tests can be checked against the document.
Follow-up Note
Short, sent only where the guidelines permit contact and only after the stated window, carrying one genuinely new fact rather than a reminder that you are waiting.
Response Tracker
Sent date, channel, confirmation reference, response window, and the outcome in the funder's own terms, plus a revisit condition on every row that is not an invitation.
A stated limit is not a length
The space rule every prompt reads first: measure once, never compare two limits in their stated units, and treat length and content as separate tests.
How it works
- 1
Send the guidelines and your draft
Every funder's published guidelines in full, not the limit alone: the format spec, the enumerated content list, any published sequence, and whether contact about a pending inquiry is allowed. Plus your current letter, or the funders worth writing to at all.
- 2
Measure once, convert every limit
Words, characters with spaces, characters without, and the page count rendered under each distinct spec. Then every limit converted into one unit, with the conversion shown rather than asserted, and the funders ranked twice.
- 3
Map the elements across all funders at once
One matrix, every element any funder names, every funder as a column. The gap comes out as a word count of new copy, which is the reusable half of the work and the half that gets done last.
- 4
Cut in the order that is free first
Delete what this funder never asked for, add what it requires and you have not written, then compress the remainder. Re-measure in the funder's own unit, and where it is a portal field, read the counter rather than the word processor.
Frequently asked questions
Is this free, and what format are the files?
Yes. The download is three Word documents and three CSV spreadsheets, which open in Word, Pages, Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets with no conversion. Edit with AI opens the same pack as a working space instead, where the register converts your own funders' limits against your own measured letter.
How long should a letter of inquiry be?
That question has no answer independent of the funder. Fordham's research office publishes three real funders' requirements and not one states a limit in pages: 700 words in a single box, 7,750 characters across eight boxes, and 19,000 characters across five. The usual advice, one to two pages, describes none of them.
Can we not just send the same letter to every funder?
You can, and in the worked example it is returned by all five. Three fail on length and four are missing at least one element that funder named. Aldergate and Ellersby both say two pages and are 618 words apart, so a single version is over for one and half-empty at the other.
Does a portal character field count spaces?
Usually it does and almost never says so. On ordinary prose the two counts differ by about 16 percent, which on a 3,000 character field is 494 words against 591. Where the form is silent, plan against the stricter reading, then paste into the field and read its own counter, because pasted formatting carries hidden characters.
Our letter fits the limit. Why would it be returned?
Because length and content are separate tests. In the worked example one funder's version has 655 words to spare and is still unsubmittable, since three of the ten elements it requires by name are absent. A word count cannot see a missing element, which is why the matrix runs at the same time as the conversion.
What if the funder publishes no format spec?
Record it as silent rather than filling it with a default from another funder. Federal notices are required to state page limits, formatting including font and margins and paper size, and the sequence sections must follow. Private funders publish far less, so a word limit needs no spec and a bare page limit is a question to ask.
What happens after the letter goes out?
An invitation leads to the full proposal and the budget behind it, reusing the outcome measures it promised. The mission and capacity paragraphs can come from a content library too, already reviewed and dated. A declination gets a revisit condition on the tracker row, and the reasons worth extracting from it are usually not the reasons the letter stated.
Find out what your funders' limits actually are
Send the guidelines and whatever draft you have. The first things back are the converted limits, the two rankings, and the elements no version of your letter currently covers.
Edit with AI