Letter of inquiry

he first step in learning if grant support from MacArthur is available is to thoroughly review the grantmaking guidelines that are on the Foundation’s website. At the end of the description of each grantmaking area is a brief item about the availability of grants. If support is available, the next step is to submit a cover sheet and a letter of inquiry about the work being proposed. Send it by mail to the Office of Grants Management at the Foundation’s Chicago address. The letter of inquiry can also be sent by e-mail to 4answers@macfound.org.

In order to expedite a letter of inquiry, it is important that it include a cover sheet with the following information.

• Information regarding who will carry out the work
• Name of your organization (and acronym if commonly used)
• Name of parent organization, if any
• Name of chief executive officer or person holding similar position
• Organization’s address (and courier address if different)
• Organization’s phone number, fax number, and e-mail address, if any
• Name and title of the principal contact person, if different from the above
• Address (and courier address if different), phone number, and fax number of    principal contact
• E-mail address of principal contact
• Web address, if any.

There is no set format, but letters of inquiry generally include the following:

• Name or topic of the proposed project or work to be done
• A brief statement (two or three sentences) of the purpose and nature of the proposed work
• The significance of the issue addressed by the project and how it relates to a stated MacArthur program strategy
• How the work will address the issue
• How the issue relates to your organization, and why your organization is qualified to undertake the project
• Geographic area or country where the work will take place
• Time period for which funding is requested
• Information about those who will be helped by and interested in the work and how you will communicate with them
• Amount of funding requested from MacArthur and total cost (estimates are acceptable).

The Foundation’s response

We will send you an acknowledgment that your letter of inquiry was received, and we will direct it to the appropriate staff members for review. If, as a result of that review, the Foundation concludes that there is no prospect of Foundation funding, we will notify you promptly. Please allow up to eight weeks for the Foundation to reply. If the Foundation decides that your project might qualify for a grant, we will contact you to discuss next steps and what further information is required.

As is now the case with most charities in the United States who make grants to organizations based outside the United States, the Foundation checks the names of foreign-based grantees, and the principal officers and directors of such grantees, against one or more lists maintained by the U.S. government, the European Union, and the United Nations, which contain the names determined by such entities to be terrorist organizations or individual terrorists. This process is a result of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, Executive Orders issued by the President, and suggested guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. A memorandum on this topic is available upon request.

All material submitted becomes the property of the MacArthur Foundation. The Foundation sometimes submits inquiries or proposals to confidential outside review.

Deadlines

With few exceptions, as noted elsewhere, there are no fixed deadlines.

What the Foundation does not support

Please note that the Foundation does not support political activities or attempts to influence action on specific legislation. We do not provide scholarships or tuition assistance for undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate studies; nor do we support annual fundraising drives, institutional benefits, honorary functions, or similar projects.