Grant Writing 101: From LOI to Report
Find the right funders, write a fundable proposal, and report in a way that earns the second grant.
Through the Higher Ed lens
The foundations you approach for a specific center, scholarship fund, or student program are typically corporate foundations tied to a relevant major or family foundations with an alumni connection, distinct from the federal research dollars your institution pursues through sponsored programs, and reading a funder's actual grant list is how you confirm interest at the scale you're proposing rather than assuming it from a shared alma mater. Because a university runs so many simultaneous asks across units, concentrating on a short list of well-researched, genuinely fitting funders is also a discipline against three different offices accidentally approaching the same funder in one year.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Securing the Gift · Current and Prospective Donor Research
Learning objectives
- Read a funder's Form 990-PF and recent grant list to find its median grant, its trustees, and whether it accepts unsolicited proposals, and explain why fit and low risk outrank prose quality on a program officer's docket.
- Write a one-page letter of inquiry that opens with an alignment sentence in the funder's own words, names the request amount and the total cost, and asks for a call rather than a grant.
- Draft a full proposal from the standard skeleton, distinguishing outputs from outcomes, budgeting with real numbers and true costs, and answering the sustainability question honestly.
- Build a one-sheet grant tracker with a stage column that runs from RESEARCH to RENEWAL CONVERSATION, work it in a 30-minute weekly rhythm, and use it to watch pipeline coverage, win rate by approach, and report deadlines eight weeks out.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 21 min
Video lesson
How foundations decide
II See · Current and Prospective Donor Research
- 17 min
Field guide· PDF
The LOI that gets a meeting
III Discern · Securing the Gift
- 22 min
Template· DOCX
Proposal skeleton with prompts
IV Invite · Securing the Gift
- 12 min
Template· XLSX
Grant tracking spreadsheet
VI Accompany · Securing the Gift
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
Fundamentals & Ethics
How Fundraising Works
The map you weren't given: where the money comes from, why people give, and what a development program is made of.
Major & Principal Gifts
Your First Donor Conversations
Scripts, practice, and nerve for the conversations that fund your mission: discovery visits, thank-you calls, and your first ask.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
The Annual Fund, Explained
Appeals, segments, and the giving calendar: how recurring annual revenue gets built, one season at a time.