Most grant applications, and virtually all federal grant applications, require letters of support from local, regional, and state leadership depending on the project. This shows the funder that there is layered support for your organization or entity, and for the proposed project lending to its long-term success.
The best way to get letters of support in time to submit the grant application is to make it easy on the supporter. That means drafting letters of support to send to them to add their letterhead, adjust as they see fit, sign, and send back. When drafting a letter of support, be aware of who will be signing it, and where their influence and interests lie. For example, if it is an elected official, emphasize how the project will benefit their constituents and align with legislation or initiatives that they support. If the signer is a local nonprofit or business executive or other community leader, emphasize how the project supports their efforts to meet common goals through varied means.
Building relationships with local, regional and state leadership is a silver lining of soliciting letters of support. It is a way for you to introduce your organization to local leadership, forge alliances, and work together on initiatives that support mutual goals. The more grants your write, the more opportunity to build these relationships, which creates a sustainable support system for your entity, organization, and future initiatives.
Drafting letters of support should be one of the final steps in organizing your grant proposal. The project goes through a process of refinement throughout the grant writing process where objectives, deliverables, and other components are fleshed out. By the end, the project may look significantly different from its original form, or the organization may choose to go with a different project altogether that better fits the grant. By later stages, you should have all the information you need to draft topical, persuasive letters of support.
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