Letter of intent and concept note

A letter of intent, expression of interest or concept note is a short first submission that decides whether you are invited to write the full proposal. Length runs from a page to ten, and the assessment is usually on fit and outline quality rather than full merit.

The critical question is whether it is MANDATORY or advisory, and notices are not always loud about it. Where it is mandatory, missing it makes you ineligible for the full call however good the eventual proposal, a gate rather than a courtesy. Where it is advisory, it exists to help the funder plan reviewer capacity, and skipping it costs you nothing but goodwill.

Where it is binding, the full proposal is expected to be the same project. Titles, principal investigator and scope should carry through; substantial divergence between the outline and the full submission invites the reviewers to ask what was actually assessed.

Write it as a compressed version of the real thing rather than a teaser. The reader is deciding whether to invite a full application, and vagueness reads as an idea that has not been worked out rather than one being held back.

The gap between stages is where consortia lose momentum. Months pass, partners' priorities move, and the team assembled for the outline is not the team available for the full proposal. Confirm commitments in writing at the outline stage, not after the invitation arrives.