You may not need a transmittal letter if you are responding to an RFP or if you are submitting a letter proposal. If you are responding to an RFP, there may be a mandatory cover form that will provide all the necessary information and signatures.

In the event that a letter is needed, it may be very short as in the following example taken from Miner & Griffith (p. 123):

Today's date

National Science Foundation
Central Processing Section
1800 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20550

Re: Proposal Title
Your Name

Dear Sir:

Here are (number required) copies of the referenced proposal for your review and consideration. It has been signed on behalf of our institution by our Authorized Institutional Official, Dr. Terrence Epps.

The proposed projecgt requests $150,000 for a three year project to (insert a short description -- usually 3-4 sentences).

I will be available to answer any scientific or technical questions you may have at 414-555-1234. If you have any administrative questions, please call Dr. Epps at 414-555-6789.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Title

Or your Letter of Transmittal may be more elaborate, as in the following example from the Foundation Center's Guide to Proposal Writing, Rev. ed., 1997 (p. 183):

Date

Andrea L. Correll
Executive Director
Good Works Foundation
Philanthropic Avenue
New York, NY 1000

Dear Ms. Correll:

I am pleased to contact you to introduce the Good Works Foundation to Mind-Builders' work with young women and their families from the Northeast Bronx and to request support for our Family Services Center.

Mind-Builders Family Services Center provides intensive counseling and support services, accessible 24 hours a day, to women at risk of having their children removed from the home and placed in foster care. Family Services Center counselors and assistants work with young mothers to help them learn to overcome problems such as spousal abuse and alcohol and/or drug addiction that threaten to break ujp their families. The caseloads are kept small (40 girls and women a year) enabling the Family Services Center to provide an effective and cost efficient alternative to foster care service.

Our project budget for this year is $358,281. To date, we have secured a $300,000 lead grant from the Child Welfare Administration and have received one generous commitment of $25,000 for this project from the Alternative TRust. To meet our budget, we must raise $33,281 from the private sector. Mind-Builders has approached a number of foundations to provide this support. A list of requests pending review with amounts requested is included in the appendix to our proposal.

We request a grant of $10,000 from the Good Works Foundation to enable the Family Services Center to help girls and young women rebuild their families and their lives. Enclosed please find a proposal describing our program in detail. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or if you would like to arrange to visit the Family Services Center.

Sincerely,

Camille Giraud Akjeu
Executive Director