Letter of Intent: the preliminary step that screens applications early

What is a letter of intent?

A letter of intent (LOI) is a short preliminary submission in which an applicant outlines a proposed project, allowing a funder to gauge fit before inviting a full proposal. It is typically a page or two, sketching the idea, its relevance to the program, and the rough scope.

The LOI is deliberately lightweight. Its purpose is not to make the full case for funding, but to give both sides a low-cost way to test whether a full application is even worth preparing, before anyone invests serious effort.

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Why do funders use a letter-of-intent stage?

The economics of research applications are the driving reason. Preparing a full research proposal can take an applicant weeks of work, and evidence consistently shows the great majority of the total cost of a funding round falls on applicants writing proposals, most of which will be declined.

An LOI stage filters that cost. By screening ideas for fit early, a funder saves unsuitable applicants the effort of a full submission with little chance of success, and saves its own reviewers from assessing proposals that were never a match, making the whole round more efficient.

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How is an LOI different from a call for proposals?

The two are easy to place once the direction is clear. A call for proposals is the funder's public invitation that opens a round; the LOI is the applicant's short response to it, submitted before a full proposal.

The call goes out from the funder to the field; the LOI comes back as an early, filtered expression of interest. One opens the opportunity, the other is the first lightweight step an applicant takes toward it.

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Running an LOI stage in a platform

A research grant management platform supports a two-stage process: applicants submit an LOI through a short form, reviewers screen for fit, and only invited applicants are opened up to submit a full proposal, keeping early filtering and full submission management in one connected flow.