A food bank drafts its first foundation inquiry

This example is fictional — an invented organization in a situation the sector will recognize. The skills it names are real library skills; the people and the organization are not.

Who: A four-person rural food bank that has lived on local donations for 20 years. The director found a local foundation that explicitly requests a letter of inquiry before inviting a full proposal.

Skills: Grant research to size up the opportunity, then Grant writing to write it.

Each example shows one or two skills at three depths: beginner (one draft), intermediate (a repeatable rhythm), and advanced (a connected workflow). Human review remains part of every level.

Beginner: one foundation inquiry draft

Use the grant-writing skill as a drafting partner for a single letter of inquiry. You bring the program details; the skill brings the structure, funder language, and common failure modes to avoid.

1. Install the grant-writing skill and provide the foundation's current, complete inquiry guidelines. Confirm eligibility, deadline, word limit, required attachments, and who can authorize submission.
2. Answer the skill's intake questions: need, program design, budget, outcomes.
3. Ask for a draft letter of inquiry, organized under the funder's stated priorities.
4. Edit for local detail and the director's own voice.
5. Have the program and finance owners verify the claims and budget, then obtain submission approval from the authorized person. A draft is not an application-ready package.

Worked example: a request with a checkable budget

What you bring: All details here are invented. The foundation requests an inquiry of up to 250 words. The food bank proposes a six-month delivery pilot for 80 enrolled households. The proposed budget is $28,000, with $8,000 committed locally and a $20,000 request.

What you ask:

Use the grant-writing skill to draft a short inquiry from these facts. Separate proposed reach from achieved results, reconcile the funding request, and flag missing evidence rather than inventing it.

What comes back, excerpt:

We request $20,000 toward a $28,000, six-month food-delivery pilot for 80 rural households. Local supporters have committed $8,000. The pilot would test whether scheduled delivery improves access for enrolled households; we would track completed deliveries and participant feedback. Before launch, we will confirm routes, staffing, and participant enrollment.

What the human changes: The director confirms that the $8,000 is committed rather than merely pledged in conversation, and checks whether staffing can support 80 households. If not, revise the scope and budget together.

Ready-to-use check: The request matches the actual foundation's instructions; finance verifies the amounts and commitments; the authorized submitter approves the complete package. This foundation example is not a federal-application workflow.

Intermediate — a reusable proposal library

Before the next application, build a reusable library of organizational facts and narratives, with an owner and review date for each piece.

1. Ask the skill to interview you and assemble an organizational profile: mission, history, programs, board, financials.
2. Generate the standard narratives funders ask for — statement of need, program descriptions, evaluation approach, sustainability.
3. Store the pieces where your agent can reach them: a folder, a doc, or your project files.
4. For each new opportunity, pull the matching pieces and tailor them to the funder.
5. Update the library whenever facts change, not whenever a deadline looms.

Advanced — a managed grants pipeline

Combine grant research and grant writing into a managed pipeline: qualify funders before writing, assign deadline owners, and check reminders.

1. Use the grant-research skill to score a list of funders for mission fit, capacity, and timing.
2. Build a grants calendar with deadlines, renewal dates, and report dates.
3. Run each qualified opportunity through the intermediate proposal library.
4. Log every decision — funded, declined, deferred — and why.
5. Review the pipeline quarterly: prioritize opportunities that fit the mission, eligibility, and staff capacity; record why others are deferred or declined.