A proposal cover letter is a document used to introduce your company’s products and services to a prospective client. A proposal cover letter allows customers to determine whether you are genuinely engaged with them and have done your research—or whether you have copied and pasted generic language from previous proposals.
Proposal cover letters are important for grant requests or businesses. You may also have to send a proposal cover letter to a customer, depending on the kind of business you intend to get from them.
Before you write proposal cover letters, introduce your organization to the recipient. Ensure the introduction of your letter is catchy and explicitly spells out what you want the recipient to know about your business and what you hope to get from them.
How to Write Project Proposal Email and Samples
When Is It Appropriate to Send a Proposal Cover Letter?
Proposal cover letters should be used for companies and foundations but not grant applications to the federal or state governments. Funders want what they ask for, and they seldom ask for proposal cover letters in addition to the grant application. There are two characteristics of an excellent cover letter. Your proposal cover letters go straight to the point quickly and do not duplicate any material already included in the proposal.
It is recommended that you compose the proposal cover letters after you’ve finished the proposal and are in a thoughtful frame of mind. While you examine your big success (the completed financing request), let the creative, right half of your brain kick in and link your emotions of accomplishment to the person who will assist you in bringing your ideas to fruition.
How to Write a Business Proposal Email 7 Samples
How to Write Proposal Cover Letters
- Use a Letterhead
Take advantage of the letterhead provided by your organization. Make sure that the cover letter and the completed grant application both have the exact date on them. This is the day on which you will submit your grant proposal to the recipient. Using the precise date on all of the papers in your proposal documents ensures consistency.
- Address it to the right recipient
When writing your recipient’s address, write the name and title of the foundation or corporate contact person, address, city, state, and zip code of the funding source. Call or send an email to double-check the accuracy of the information you’ve received. Because this kind of information changes regularly, and you must have the most up-to-date name and address.
- Use the proper salutation
In your greeting, use “dear” followed by the personal title (Mr., Mrs., dr., etc.), followed by the last name of the person you’re writing to. You must address it to a specific individual. Check with the foundation or corporate office to ensure that you are speaking with the proper individual and that you have the correct personal title. These particulars may seem inconsequential, yet they are critical.
- Write the cover letter
Your opening paragraph should be straightforward and focused on a single point. Introduce your group (using its legal name, which will serve as your corporate name and explain to the funder why you are asking for the funds you are requesting. Describe your group’s mission and activities in a sentence or two, followed by one research-based statement demonstrating why what your organization does is needed.
Add one or two extra short paragraphs to your essay. Describe the goal of your project and how it aligns with the mission or financial priorities of the donor. Include the fact that your company’s board of directors is enthusiastic about the idea.
Make use of a concluding phrase such as “sincerely.” If possible, the letter should be signed by the executive director and the board president, if applicable. Type the signer’s first name, middle initial, last name, and work title in the space provided below the signature. Although the ed or board president should sign the letter, add the contact information for the person who will be most suited to answer queries after the last paragraph.
How Long Should a Proposal Cover Letter be?
Keep your cover letter to one page, with three or four paragraphs, and keep it concise. The tone and content of your cover letter may differ significantly if you’ve been requested to submit a comprehensive proposal after the submission of a letter of inquiry or if this is your organization’s first approach to a specific foundation.
Proposal Cover Letters Sample 1
Dear Mr. Shawn Rodriguez I am pleased to enclose our proposal on Global Warming Adaptation: Farming, Sustainable Development, and Afforestation to implement EBI in Los Angeles. We hope this proposal will allow you to decide regarding support for this project in the coming weeks. EBI requests USD 255,285 from the Embassy’s Small Grants Fund for local NGOs. EBI last received funding from the Embassy two years ago for rebuilding after the earthquake. From our last meeting with your staff, we understand the Embassy is looking to build resiliency before the next significant disaster strikes. Our project directly addresses this issue. Global Warming Adaptation is a project focused on enhancing the resilience of small-scale farmers to the effects of global warming and opening up new possibilities for income generation. With your support, we will eliminate reliance on cash crops and diversify farmers’ income, allowing for a better, sustainable lifestyle for all 5242 residents of Los Angeles within 18 months. I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have about the proposal. I can be reached at agrodevelopment@EBI.com or +91-6735338. We thank you again for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you soon. Regards, Esther Bennet Manager on Special Duties
Proposal Cover Letters Sample 2
Greetings Dr. Smith, Having the biggest senior center in the county, servicing more than 500 senior citizens daily, we are well aware of the shifting demographics in our service region. And we are devoted to expanding and customizing our facility to suit the changing demands of our community. The senior American community outreach pilot project will allow us to test our center’s ability to effectively: provide comprehensive access to health and social services to seniors in the American communities served by our center; and raise and fully integrate the cultural competency of the board, staff, and volunteers of some city senior center over 18 months. We are excited about this program and ready to start it to become the most inclusive and culturally competent center for seniors in all of our areas who need these services. We have agreed to incorporate a percentage of the project’s annual expenditures into our annual operating budget if we discover after our pilot year that this program is, in fact, effective. If we find out this, we will make the program a permanent component of our core services. The center will become the critical referral point for health access for American families from any county and three community clinics within a fifteen-mile radius of our center due to this initiative. We will also recommend multilingual-speaking seniors from any other community organization in our local service area. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us for more information. Thank you so much for taking the time to examine our request. If you have any queries, please let me know, and I will follow up with you within the next week to see if we can arrange a meeting with you to explore the merits of our proposal. Meanwhile, if you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Indiana Jones, our Director of Development, at 816464364 or indiejones@email.com Sincerely, Mercy Joe, mercyjoe@gmail.com
Proposal Cover Letters Sample 3
Greetings, Ms. Artemis It is with great pleasure that Greenville Middle School presents this proposal for your consideration. The Read to Thrive program, which we will implement in collaboration with you, will help our students who have poor reading skills succeed in school. Greenville Middle School has over 80 students who are at risk of falling behind in their reading performance by at least two years compared to their current grade level. Using Read to Thrive Curriculum, all kids with inadequate reading abilities may learn to read at grade level while also increasing their reading speed, comprehension, and attention span while they are reading. The Read to Thrive program, which we have been testing with a small sample of kids with weak reading abilities for the last year, has shown spectacular results, with the majority of students raising their reading ability by one to two grade levels. Students who participate in the Read to Thrive Program have access to assistive reading systems, and classroom teachers and reading specialists receive training as part of the program. We have seen measurable progress, and we are now looking to expand our Read to Thrive Program to meet the needs of all at-risk students at Orchard Middle School, which is currently at capacity. Our proposal seeks $22,524 in funding to purchase the software, hardware, and training necessary to equip the Greenville Middle School resource room with ten assistive reading systems, each of which includes a computer, scanner, and assistive reading software, as well as the necessary training. Taking an interest in assisting our pupils in developing their reading abilities via our new reading program is much appreciated by us at XTGFJ Foundation! If you need any further information or have any questions about this proposal, please contact me at 88765434252. Thank you very much. How Brandsword, Director of Foundation Studies.
Proposal Cover Letters Sample 4
Greetings Allie, As promised, I’ve attached two copies of the proposal that reflects the agreements we reached in your office two weeks ago. This morning, I also forwarded an electronic version of the document. Please choose the choice you like, as well as the payment terms you prefer, and send one of the copies I’ve already signed back to me through the FedEx envelope provided in this package. I’ve also included several invoices in different formats in case this is of assistance during the process. I’m ready to start as soon as you accept my proposal, which is within a week of our meeting. Please keep in mind that this proposal is protected by intellectual property rights and contains my original ideas. If it is shared with anybody outside of your company for any reason, you must have my prior written agreement before doing so. If I don’t hear from you by Friday noon, I’ll phone you to find out whatever decisions you’ve made, as we had discussed. If you’d want to start right away with a telephone “handshake,” I’m more than delighted to oblige you. Thank you for providing me with the chance to collaborate with you on this critical initiative. Sincerely, Dr. Alberto Rodriguez Researcher in Marine Life
Fundamentally, the cover letter should be forward-thinking, simple to read, and compelling enough to entice the reader to read the rest of the proposal. Avoid placing any barriers in the path of the reader that might dissuade them from continuing to read.