BusinessHABProposal for Conducting a Seminar: A proposal letter is a professional letter that states, in an abbreviated form.
Why an organization, institution, or company should support a professional venture of yours.
You may write a proposal letter for a number of reasons—in particular.
You may be requesting a grant, requesting a business loan.
Or requesting that a publisher accepts your book idea.
There are general formats and specific arguments you should make in each instance.
Here’s what you should include.
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1. Write the sender’s address at the top of the letter.
In the upper left corner of the letter, write your your street address, city, state, and zip code.
The street address should be on one line and the rest of the address should be on the following line and single-spaced.
- You do not need to include your name or title in the return address.
- Do not type out the return address at the top of the letter if you are using paper with a formal letterhead that already includes the address.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
2. Include the current date.
Double-space after the return address and type the current date in month-day-year format.
The month should be spelled out, but the day and year should be represented by numerical values.
- The date should appear in the upper left corner of the letter.
- If you are not using a return address, the date should be the first piece of information on the letter.
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3. Type the recipient’s address.
Double-space after the date and type the recipient’s personal title, name, and address.
Include the street address, city, state, and zip code.
- The personal title and name appears on one line, the street address on the next, and the rest of the address follows on the last line. The entire block should be left-aligned and single-spaced.
- It is always best to write to a specific individual at a company by name instead of writing a general letter to anyone who may read it.
4. Include an appropriate salutation.
Double-space after the recipient’s address and type the salutation “Dear” followed by the recipient’s personal title and last name.
- If you do not know the recipient’s gender, skip the personal title and use the recipient’s full name.
- Follow the salutation with a colon.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
5. Write the body of your letter.
The exact content of your proposal letter may vary depending on the type of proposal you plan to write.
The format of the letter should remain the same for each type, though.
- Single-space and left-justify each paragraph.
- Leave a blank line in between paragraphs.
- Do not indent the first line of your paragraph.
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6. Use an appropriate closing and signature.
Double-space after the final body paragraph and include a formal closing, followed by a comma.
Hit the “Enter” key four times before typing your full name and professional title.
- Sign your name above the typed version on your letter and below the closing.
- Possible closings to use include:
- Thank you
- Sincerely
- Regards
- Best regards
- Faithfully
7. Mention any enclosures.
If you send any enclosures with your proposal letter, like a resume with an employment proposal.
Or financial information with a business proposal.
Indicate this by typing “Enclosures” one line below your typed name.
-
- You also have the option of listing each document you are enclosing below the “Enclosures” label.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
8. Include typist initials, when applicable.
If someone else typed the letter, include those initials on the left side of the letter on the final line.
- Do not include typist initials if the person signing the letter is the same person who wrote it.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
9. Review eligibility guidelines.
Most public and private organizations that issue grants for research or other projects will have a list of eligibility requirements.
You must meet these requirements and let the organization in question know that you meet those requirements, as well.
- Instead of dedicating an entire paragraph to explaining how you meet each requirement, weave this information into the body of your letter.
- For instance, if the organization has certain requirements concerning the types of projects the money can be used for and separate requirements about how that money will be allotted, describe these issues in separate paragraphs instead of trying to cram all the information into one.
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10. Introduce your organization.
If you are not in regular contact with the grant organization.
You should introduce your organization in the first body paragraph of your letter.
- State the name of your organization, what it does, why it does it.
- And who benefits from your organization’s work.
- If you have had previous contact with the grant agency or organization.
- Mention any changes or developments your organization has made since you were last in contact.
11. Explain what you need the grant for and why this is important.
In your next body paragraph, you should explain what you are trying to accomplish.
And for whom you are trying to accomplish it.
- You should also explain why your research, charitable effort.
- Or venture is important and what sort of outcome you are expecting to have.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
12. Provide a setting for the project.
In another paragraph, you should include information about the timeline your project will require and, when applicable, the place the project will occur at.
- State when the project will begin and how long you expect it to run.
- Some grants are location-specific. If this is true of the grant you apply for, you will need to indicate where your organization is based, the geographic area that will be studied during your project, or the geographic area that will benefit from the project.
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13. Mention how much the project will cost and how much grant money you are requesting.
You will need to state how much your project will cost overall so that the grant organization can get an idea of how crucial its funding is.
- If you are applying for a grant without a pre-determined funding amount, you should write how much money you are requesting.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
14. Include any additional information requested.
The grant agency or organization may not require any additional information.
But if additional documents are needed, you will need to include them as enclosures.
- Additional documents may include financial budgets, past financial records.
- And past records indicating the success of similar projects performed by your organization in the past.
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15. Refer to any prior contact.
If your business is already established and has a previous relationship with the lender.
Or funder you are contacting, mention that prior contact.
- If you interacted with a specific contact at the company, mention that individual by name.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
16. Discuss your company.
Provide a brief summary of your business so that the funder can get a good understanding of who you are and what you do.
- Include your mission statement and a short description of the products or services your company provides.
- To make your case more convincing, you should also include the number of customers served, the number of employees, and information about any administrative boards.
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17. Describe the amount of funding you need from the funder.
Explain why you need financial help from the funder and how much funding you are requesting.
- Mention what, specifically, the funding will be used for.
- You may need to include brief budget data that spells out how funds have been used in the past and projections on how the funds will be used this time around. This additional data may need to be included as a separate attachment or in the body of the letter.
- Regardless of how much information you include in the body of the letter itself, you should always state the total cost of the project and how much of that cost will be covered by the funder’s support.
18. Explain how you will use the funding.
You need to provide enough information about how funds granted by the funder will be used to make the prospective funder curious.
- This should only be a summary. With a full-scale proposal, this information can take pages.
- This information should take no more than a half page when writing a shorter proposal letter, however.
Proposal for Conducting a Seminar
19. Offer to provide additional details.
Since a proposal letter is shorter than a full proposal.
You should offer to provide additional detail if it is requested.
- You can also offer to meet with the funder personally or via the telephone.
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20. Include any necessary enclosures.
If the prospective funder requires additional documentation, include it in the envelop as an enclosure.
- Possible documentation includes a list of board members, copies of your tax documents, financial documents, and resumes of key staff members.
21. Check the submission guidelines.
Every publishing agency and publisher has its own set of submission guidelines.
These can usually be found on the publisher’s website.
But if not, you should call or write to the company and request a copy of those guidelines before proceeding.
- Submission guidelines outline the types of books a publisher or agent will accept, as well as the format the proposal letter should be in when submitted.
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22. Defend your idea.
The first part of your proposal is the query letter.
In which you need to convince the agent or publisher that the proposal you want to submit.
Should be successful in the market.
- Write a brief but intriguing summary of your book in the first paragraph.
- In the case of fiction or creative non-fiction.
- Outline the your narrative and describe your main characters.
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