Letter of Inquiry Sample: A Complete Annotated LOI

A letter of inquiry has one job: earn an invitation to submit a full proposal. It is a screening document, and the most common mistake is treating it as a compressed proposal, cramming in evaluation design and budget detail nobody asked for while omitting the two things a program officer actually needs.

Below is a complete grant inquiry letter sample, followed by an annotation of what each paragraph is doing.

The worked example

Northgate Community Health Alliance 412 Warren Street, Northgate, OH 44601

14 August 2026

Dr. Elena Marsh Program Director, Health Equity The Calloway Foundation

Dear Dr. Marsh,

The Calloway Foundation's Health Equity portfolio funds work that moves care to where people already are, rather than expecting them to reach clinics. Northgate Community Health Alliance is writing to request $85,000 over two years to place licensed diabetes educators inside four food pantries serving Northgate's east side, where the adult diabetes rate is 18.2% against a state average of 11.4%.

Northgate's east side has one primary care practice for 24,000 residents and no public transit route connecting the neighborhood to the regional hospital. County health data show that 61% of diagnosed diabetics in the 44601 ZIP code had no HbA1c test in the preceding twelve months. The barrier is not willingness; it is distance, cost, and hours. The same residents visit one of four food pantries an average of 2.3 times a month.

We propose to place a licensed diabetes educator in each pantry for one four-hour session weekly, delivering point-of-care HbA1c testing, medication review, and enrollment support for patients who have fallen out of care. Residents already at the pantry receive clinical contact without travel. Over two years we expect to reach 480 residents, complete 900 HbA1c tests, and reconnect 200 people to a primary care relationship.

Northgate Community Health Alliance has operated in this neighborhood for fourteen years and currently runs a mobile screening program reaching 1,100 residents annually. All four pantries have signed memoranda of understanding to host the sessions. Our clinical partner, Meridian Family Medicine, has committed to accept referrals and provide physician oversight at no cost to the project.

The $85,000 request covers 0.5 FTE of educator time, point-of-care testing supplies, and evaluation. We anticipate submitting a request to the Ohio Department of Health's Chronic Disease program in year two to extend the model to two additional sites.

I would welcome the chance to discuss whether this fits your current priorities, and can provide a full proposal on your timeline.

With thanks,

Ruth Adeyemi Executive Director, Northgate Community Health Alliance radeyemi@northgatehealth.org · (330) 555-0148

Paragraph by paragraph

The opening: fit first, then the ask

"The Calloway Foundation's Health Equity portfolio funds work that moves care to where people already are… we request $85,000 over two years to place licensed diabetes educators inside four food pantries…"

Two moves in three lines. First, a specific statement of what this funder funds, phrased so it is obvious the writer has read their materials rather than their homepage. Second, the amount and the project, immediately.

Compare the version most LOIs open with: "Founded in 2012, Northgate Community Health Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to improving health outcomes…" That paragraph tells the program officer nothing they can act on and delays the ask by a third of the page.

Name the amount in the first paragraph. An LOI without a figure makes the funder guess your scale. They guess low, or they decline because they cannot tell whether you fit. Naming it also lets them screen you out fast when you do not, which is a kindness to both sides.

The need: compressed and evidenced

"18.2% against a state average of 11.4%… one primary care practice for 24,000 residents… 61% had no HbA1c test…"

Four statistics, each doing distinct work: the problem is severe, it is worse here than elsewhere, there is a structural cause, and the cause has a measurable consequence. That is an entire statement of need in four sentences.

Then the pivot: "The barrier is not willingness; it is distance, cost, and hours." This one line pre-empts the reviewer's unspoken question about why people are not already seeking care, and it does so without condescension toward the population.

The final sentence ("visit one of four food pantries an average of 2.3 times a month") sets up the intervention so the next paragraph feels inevitable rather than clever.

The project: mechanism and numbers

"one four-hour session weekly… 480 residents, 900 HbA1c tests, 200 reconnected to primary care."

Specific enough to be evaluated, short enough not to pre-empt the full proposal. Note there is no logic model, no evaluation methodology, no workplan. Those belong in the proposal you are trying to be invited to write. An LOI that includes them looks like an applicant who cannot prioritize.

The outcome figures matter, though. They convert an idea into something the funder can divide into their money: $85,000 for 480 residents reached is roughly $177 per participant, and a program officer will do that arithmetic whether or not you show it.

Credibility: why you and not someone else

"fourteen years… mobile screening program reaching 1,100 residents annually… four pantries have signed memoranda of understanding… Meridian Family Medicine has committed to accept referrals."

Track record, existing scale, and (most importantly) commitments already secured. Signed MOUs before the money exists tell a funder the project is real and the partnerships are not hypothetical. This is the paragraph where organizational history belongs, and it is short.

The close: sustainability in one sentence

"We anticipate submitting a request to the Ohio Department of Health's Chronic Disease program in year two…"

Named successor funder, specific programme, stated timing. That is the entire sustainability plan at LOI stage. Anything more is premature; anything less leaves the funder assuming they are being asked to fund something permanent.

What to leave out

An LOI is defined as much by omissions as inclusions. Leave out: detailed budget tables, evaluation methodology, board lists, your full history, letters of support, and appendices. If the funder wants any of these they will say so, and several explicitly instruct applicants not to send attachments.

Also leave out hedging. "We hope to potentially reach approximately 400-500 residents" reads as uncertainty about your own program.

Follow the funder over the convention

Everything above is the general form. It is overridden the moment a funder publishes their own requirements, required elements, a word limit, an online form with per-field character counts, or a mandated order. Some foundations reject LOIs that do not follow their structure without reading them.

Read the guidelines twice, build to their shape, and use the structure above only to fill the space they give you.

For the underlying concepts, see how to write a letter of inquiry, and to draft against a scaffold use our letter of inquiry template. Before writing to anyone, make sure they are the right funder, grant prospect research covers how to establish fit, which is what the whole first paragraph depends on.