Legacy Research Institute

Transforming medical care through science, technology, and innovation.

GRANTS MANAGEMENT - Letters of Support

Supporting our researchers' projects from concept to close-out.

Jump to:  Examples and Templates

The "Letters of Support" attachment is required in certain circumstances, optional in others.

There is no page or word limit for this section.

Multiple letters of support must be combined and uploaded as one PDF file.

Include letters of support to clearly spell out the roles of your collaborators/co-investigators, especially those classed as 'Other Significant Contributors' and co-investigators at other institutions (a letter of support is always required from a sub-award/consortium PI). 

NIH Guidance:

NIH Application Guide - Letters of Support

Content:

Your application should contain a signed letter from each collaborator to the applicant (you) and should detail the contribution they intend to make and their commitment to the work. These letters are often the primary assurance the reviewers have that this work will in fact be done.

  1. Letters of support should always be on official letterhead from the letter-writer's organization.

  2. Identify the specific addressee - this will usually be the application's Principal Investigator.

  3. Include the following information at the beginning of the letter:
    • Type of grant (e.g. R01, R21, etc.) and grant number (if for a renewal or resubmission)
    • Full title of the application
    • Funding opportunity number and title (e.g. PA-19-056 Research Project Grant, PAR-13-073 Clinical Study Planning Grant, etc.)

  4. In the opening paragraph explain the following:
    • Letter-writer's role and position/stature (Co-Investigator, Program Director, Department Head, etc.) 
    • Why are you writing?
        - To support the proposal or agree to participate? 
        - To commit resources?
        - To provide cost share/matching funds?

  5. Include some or all of the following points in the body of the letter:
    • Proposal and scientific strengths and PI's leadership and scientific team's strengths
    • Your fit in the project
    • Support for the team of scientists/staff
    • Describe the track record of PI in this field of research
    • Briefly describe relevant LRI strengths and how the proposal aligns with our strategic direction
    • Resources/facilities for the project
    • If applicable, outline resource commitment/funds to be matched

  6. Concluding Paragraph:
    • Reiterate support for the application and briefly indicate how this will meet a larger goal, such as improve understanding of a condition, determine possible therapeutic value of a substance, improve patient care, increase innovation and discovery, etc.

  7. Signature:
    • All letters must have a signature

Examples and Templates:

Many examples can be found online: Search now for sample letters of support