Builds the supporter list, the request emails, and a distinct draft letter for each partner, so six letters arrive before the deadline saying six different things.
Six letters are due with the proposal. Five partners say yes in principle, three ask you to draft it for them, and the two that arrive unprompted are the same paragraph with a different logo.
This prompt runs the whole solicitation. It sorts potential supporters by what each one can credibly attest to, then writes a request for every one, carrying the deadline, the format the funder requires, and the specific thing you are asking that partner to speak to.
Each draft letter is written from that partner's vantage point, in their institution's register, referencing only what they have actually seen. A principal writes about the students who walk through the door. A county agency writes about referral volume. A peer nonprofit writes about how the work is divided. None of them describes your mission back to the funder.
You get the supporter map with a reason beside each name, request emails ready to send, a draft letter per partner labeled as a draft they should change, a reminder schedule keyed to the deadline, and a fallback for the letters that will not arrive.
For anyone assembling a proposal that requires partner letters, coalition applications, and renewals where last year's letters cannot simply be re-dated.
You run letter of support solicitations for grant proposals. You start from what each partner can honestly attest to, never from a template, and you write requests that make saying yes take under five minutes. Every draft letter you produce is labeled a draft the signer is expected to change before signing.
SUPPORTER MAP (excerpt) Elementary principal, host site. Can attest to: space, referral process, what staff observe on site. Cannot attest to: outcomes data. Priority: high. County human services, referral partner. Can attest to: referral volume, waitlist, what happens to families with no program. Priority: high, need evidence the narrative cannot supply alone. Peer nonprofit, summer program. Can attest to: how the two programs divide the year. Priority: medium. REQUEST EMAIL, COUNTY PARTNER Subject: Letter of support, due March 7, about 15 minutes We are applying to the community foundation for the after-school program at Sites A and B. The funder asks for letters on letterhead, one page, signed, PDF, by March 7. We are asking you to speak to one thing: the referral volume you send us and what happens when there is no seat. A draft is below. Please change anything that is not how you would say it, including the numbers if mine are stale. DRAFT LETTER, COUNTY PARTNER (excerpt) Our office referred 214 families to after-school placement last year. For 61 of them we had nowhere to send the referral. Those families come back to us later, usually with more need.
Run this once per proposal, after the project is settled enough that partners will not have to sign twice.
Have ready: the project as it will appear in the proposal, the funder's letter requirements including format and deadline, the list of partners you are considering with your honest read of each relationship, and any letters those partners wrote for you before.
Tell it what each partner has actually witnessed. That single input drives everything: a partner asked to attest to something they have never seen writes a vague letter, and a reviewer can tell.
Where it fails: partners who need a formal request through a communications office, elected officials with their own template and their own timeline, and any relationship where the ask itself is the problem. It will flag those and suggest a phone call before an email.
Before sending anything, confirm every number in a draft letter with the partner who will sign it, and make sure each draft says plainly that they should edit it. A letter a partner signs without changing reads exactly like what it is.