Warm intros beat cold applications

Program officers fund people, not paperwork. A short intro months before a deadline changes the tone of the whole application.

A 20-minute rhythm

• Pick two funders a week from your pipeline.
• Read their last three awards — who won, and for what.
• Send a short note: what you do, why it maps to their focus, one specific question.

No ask, no attachment. Just a real question a human can answer.

What to say in the meeting

• The problem you work on and one concrete outcome.
• Where you are in your funding cycle.
• One question that only they can answer (e.g. "would this program be a fit for your Spring RFP?").

After the meeting

Send a two-line thank-you within 24 hours. Add them to a light quarterly update — not a newsletter, just a paragraph on what changed.

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