So you’ve had a really positive meeting with the program officer, and you know just how to pitch your proposal. Now you discover that one of your board members went to college with one of the funder’s trustees. So you call your board member and ask her to phone her old school chum to recommend your charity.

That’s all well and good, but you’ve skipped an important step. The program officer who you’ve worked so hard to cultivate might feel blindsided if word comes from above to take special care of you. Instead, upon discovering your connection, phone the program officer and tell him or her of your discovery and ask for the program officer’s advice on using this knowledge. Or at the very least, let the program officer know you’re planning to use your connection.

If, of course, you’d discovered the board connection earlier, an inquiry letter might not have been necessary. If one of the funder’s trustees has invited you to apply, you’d state that in the very first sentence of the proposal’s cover letter. Knowing someone on the inside with the authority to ensure that your proposal will receive serious consideration separates yours from the masses of proposals the funder receives every day. Just be up front with your contact at the foundation about what strings you plan to pull.

When you’ve discovered a personal contact between your charity and a funder (usually through one of your board members), ask that board member if he or she will contact the foundation on your behalf. In the case of foundations that do not accept unsolicited proposals, this will be the only way you can get your proposal read. In other instances, it can make your proposal stand out from the other proposals.

Your board member’s contact with the funder could take several forms, listed here in the order of decreasing effectiveness:

Use whatever method your board member is most comfortable with, but you can certainly encourage the phone call.

Chances are that if a letter is involved, you’ll be asked to write it. If this is the case, be sure to use a different tone and don’t repeat phrases from your cover letter or the proposal. Indent the paragraphs of the board member’s letter to make it look more personal, and be sure to use the correct salutation (first name, nickname, whatever). Letters from a board member ideally will be on their personal or business stationary, not that of your charity.