Letter of inquiry
A short first approach to a funder — usually one to three pages — asking whether a full proposal would be welcome. Where a funder requires one, it is a gate: no invitation, no application, and its deadline is the deadline that matters.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called LOI · Letter of intent · Concept letter
In detail
Two different things share the abbreviation. A letter of inquiry to a foundation asks whether to proceed; a letter of intent to a federal agency is an administrative heads-up that helps the agency plan review capacity and usually does not bind you.
Where an LOI is required, its deadline sits weeks or months before the full proposal deadline, and a calendar built on the later date has already missed the programme.
Against the deadline we store
`deadline_at` is the date the source published, and `deadline_type` says whether it is fixed, rolling or absent. Where a notice publishes an LOI date and a full proposal date, only what the source stated is stored, with `deadline_note` carrying the qualifying wording. We do not silently prefer one date over the other or merge them into a range.
How GrantTrove stores it
- `deadline_note` keeps the source’s own sentence beside the date, so a two-stage process is visible rather than flattened.
- Where a source states no deadline at all, `deadline_type` records that rather than leaving a blank that would read as "no deadline".
Common questions
Is an LOI optional?
Where a funder requires one, no — it is the gate to applying at all.
Is a federal letter of intent binding?
Usually not. It helps the agency plan review capacity.
Which deadline do you show?
What the source published, with its own wording in the deadline note.