In-Class Assignment, Monday & Wednesday: While your classmates meet with me, I will ask you to launch in on a business letter assignment—a letter of inquiry requesting permission to submit a full request for funding from a NYC non-profit based on web research.
1. Before beginning the assignment, please read these guidelines to creating a Letter of Inquiry:
2. Learn about Letters of Inquiry–please learn and follow this general formatting: http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/grants/samplefoundation.html
Also, see this for a good example: http://grantspace.org/tools/sample-documents/Letter-of-Inquiry-from-Cleveland-Entrepreneurial-Preparatory-School-to-Burton-D-Morgan-Foundation
3. Choose a nonprofit organization. I suggest you choose from one of the following groups, unless you know of another nonprofit you’d like to write about. These groups have good information on their websites. If you do choose another org, please get my approval first!
- Community-Word Project (http://communitywordproject.org)
- Midori and Friends (http://www.midoriandfriends.org)
- Free Arts NYC (http://www.freeartsnyc.org)
- Henry Street Settlement (http://www.henrystreet.org)
- New York Foundation for the Arts (https://www.nyfa.org)
4. Address your letter to:
Mr. Tom Finkelpearl
Commissioner
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
31 Chambers Street
New York, New York 10007
New York, New York 10007
5. Finished draft of this letter is due by the end of class this Wednesday, 4/1, as a Microsoft Word Document via our upload manager.
Learning Outcomes
The essential point of this letter is to…
- learn standard business letter formatting
- develop a persuasive style while adhering to professional standards
- develop an ability to synthesize new material based on research
- produce a polished piece of writing
- appreciate and find out how you can produce good writing in a condensed time span
