The JMU Grant Writing class set a hard deadline of 11:59pm on February 14 for letters of intent from prospective agencies. At the start of class on February 15th, we received 30 submissions from a diverse array of programs. These include programs that center in the performing arts, childcare needs, eldercare, and education, among others.
Today in class, we evaluated all 30 submitted letters of intent. The goal was to narrow down the letters down to 20. The class determined to be strict on formatting rules when evaluating letters of intent.
In our call for letters of intent, we gave the following criteria: Should not exceed 1 page: 8.5 x 11, standard 1’ margins, double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font and sent as a PDF to an email.
We eliminated six letters of intent for failing to follow the instructions set out in the call. From there, we took an online poll after skimming the rest of the letters. Each student had 5 votes for organizations they wanted to keep and 5 votes against organizations they didn't want to keep. In the end, the four organizations with the highest no votes were eliminated from consideration.
After selecting the 20 organizations to request proposals from, the students selected which organization they wished to work with throughout the process. The only stipulation was that the students could not pair with an organization that they had a conflict of interest with.
We are excited to work with these organizations throughout the grant proposal process.