Drafting Letters of Inquiry

When you need an LOI

Most foundations require an LOI before accepting a full proposal, either as a hard gate or as a strong preference. Federal grants usually skip the LOI and go straight to a full application against a published NOFO. If you're not sure, check the funder's guidelines; if the guidelines don't mention LOIs, you can usually send a brief outreach email instead.

Generating an LOI in GrantMind

From any grant page, click Write LOI. The drafter:

1. Reads your org profile (mission, programs, populations served, budget, geography).
2. Reads the funder's published priorities and the program description.
3. Drafts a 1 to 2 page LOI in five sections: hook, need, approach + capacity, ask, close.

The first generation usually takes 15 to 30 seconds. You'll land in the workspace with the full draft visible and editable inline.

What to edit before you send

The AI does a strong first draft, but three things almost always need a human pass:

• The hook: the opening sentence is the most important sentence in the LOI. The AI gives you a solid generic version; replace it with something specific to a recent moment (a kid's story, a data point that landed last week, a policy change your org responded to).
• The ask: the AI defaults to a range based on the funder's past giving. If you have a more specific number from a budget you've already built, edit to that.
• Anything that name-checks the wrong program: if you have multiple programs, the AI sometimes picks the wrong one to lead with. Swap the lead program if needed.

Tone and length

The default tone is professional and warm. You can switch the tone from the workspace settings if a particular funder reads differently (e.g., community foundations often respond better to a slightly less formal voice; family foundations sometimes want more business-like brevity).

Length is capped at 2 pages. Many foundations specify their own max; if the funder's guidelines say “1 page” switch the length setting before generating to avoid a draft you need to cut in half.

Exporting

From the workspace toolbar:

• Copy formatted: copies the LOI with formatting preserved (paste into Gmail, Word, etc.).
• Download .docx: editable Word doc.
• Download PDF: print-ready PDF with your org letterhead if you've uploaded one in settings.

What to do if the LOI doesn't feel right

Re-generate with a different angle. The workspace has a “Regenerate” button with options for: more direct, more relational, more data-driven, more story-driven. Useful when the funder's past awards suggest a specific style and the first draft missed it.

For the actual editorial frameworks behind a good LOI, see the blog post How to Write a Letter of Inquiry That Gets You Invited to Apply.

Next: scoring the draft

Once you have an LOI you're happy with, the AI Reviewer scores it against the funder's public priorities and flags weak sections before you send.