Case Study

Theimportance of listening Grant told his assistant, Melinda, to sendan e-mail to

the finance committee of the company's board of directors about some missing
funds. Melinda knew this would be a sensitive matter, so she wrote a draft and
got Grant's approval of the wording. Then she sent it to the group in her e-mail
address book called "Board of Directors." A few minutes later, she realized that it
was not supposed to go to all board members, only to the finance committee. If
you were Melinda, would you tell Grant about your mistake, or wait until he found
out? What would you say to him?

If you write funding for your organization, you'll surely get a rejection letter. The phrase
"rejection letter" applies here. It is a letter informing you that the grantmaker has
declined to provide the funding you requested.The majority of grant rejection letters will
promptly and precisely inform you that your funding request was denied. Most of these
letters will be very brief; Foundations and grantmakers know that reading a lengthy
letter to find out that your project was not funded is not what you want. A sign of respect
and awareness of the disappointment that will accompany their message are short
letters. The tone of a grant rejection letter should not be harsh or critical. In fact, the
majority of grantmakers want you to know how much they appreciate your application
submission effort. As a result, feedback is frequently included in these grant rejection
letters. Keep your next proposal in mind as you read these letters. A grant rejection
letter can contain a lot of useful information on how to improve your subsequent
proposals in just a few short paragraphs.