Letters of support and letters of commitment
What is the difference between a letter of support and a letter of commitment?
A letter of support says a partner thinks well of your project. A letter of commitment says they will do a specific thing, usually with a quantity attached: refer twenty participants a month, provide meeting space, contribute $15,000 in matched funds. Reviewers score them very differently, because one is an opinion and the other is a resource. If an announcement asks for commitment and you supply support, you have answered a different question, and the scoring reflects that. Both take two to three weeks to collect, which is the part that catches people out.
Last reviewed 10 August 2026.
What separates them
- A commitment names a quantity
- What, how much, how often, starting when. "We will host the Saturday sessions in our community room, twice monthly, for the twelve months of the project." That is a resource a reviewer can score.
- A commitment is signed by someone who can commit
- A programme coordinator enthusing about your work is support. An executive director committing space is commitment. The signature line is what makes it one or the other.
- Support still has a job
- It demonstrates that the community wants this and that you have standing with the people who would know. It is not worth nothing; it is worth less than a commitment and should not be substituted for one.
How to actually get them, three weeks out
Ask early and ask specifically
"Would you write us a letter?" produces a vague letter in three weeks. "Would you confirm you can take twenty referrals a month from March?" produces a useful one in one week.
Write the draft for them
Standard practice and universally appreciated. Send a paragraph they can put on their letterhead and edit. A partner who has to compose from scratch is a partner who replies the week after your deadline.
Check the announcement's format rules
Some agencies specify letterhead, a date within a window, a wet signature or a page limit, and some count letters toward your total page count. A perfect letter that breaks a formatting rule still costs you.
Keep them, and refresh them
A partner who committed once will usually commit again. Keep the letters in your document room with their dates, and a re-ask next cycle is an email rather than a negotiation.
Where Quillify comes in
The compliance checklist names every letter an announcement requires, and flags it as something your team has to produce rather than something the writer can draft. That is deliberate: this is the requirement most likely to be discovered in the last week, and it is the one with another organization's calendar in the way.
Letters already in your document room are reusable material the writer can draw on, so a refreshed commitment is a shorter conversation than a first one.
Who asks this most
The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.
Related
- What to have ready before you need itWhat documents do I need to apply for a grant?
- The parts only your organization can supplyWhat parts of a grant application can software not do for me?
- How to read a funding announcementHow do I read a NOFO or funding announcement properly?
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