November 10, 2000                                                (SAMPLE LETTER)

Carol Gruen

Contributions Manager

Bank of America Foundation

800 Market Street

MO 1-800-13-01

                St. Louis, MO  63101-2607

Dear Ms. Gruen,

It is my pleasure to write to you concerning available grant resources from the Bank of America Foundation. I am writing on behalf of the MO-KAN-NE Chapter of Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (MAEOPP). MAEOPP is an organization committed to broadening accessibility to and success in formal post secondary education. MO-KAN-NE is a subset of that regional organization serving students and staff of educational opportunity programs in the states of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

MO-KAN-NE seeks to create a community of likeminded advocates among educators and other interested persons in the three-state area. Specifically, our purpose is to increase accessibility to and success in post secondary education among students who are less likely to enter and succeed in college due to socioeconomic or ethnic background, physical or learning disability, and/or limited cultural/educational experiences.

In an effort to increase the effectiveness of our work with low-income students, MO-KAN-NE has created a scholarship fund to award to high school seniors or persisting college students who are a part of the programs MO-KAN-NE represents. Currently the membership of MO-KAN-NE awards six $500 scholarships each year. This amounts to two for each state, one being designated for graduating high school seniors and the other for current college students. We would like to triple the number of scholarships we award next year, to six in each state, totaling 18. To this end, we are requesting $9,000 from the Bank of America Foundation.

We have a scholarship committee who has been specifically charged with soliciting applications and choosing award recipients. That committee reports to the MO-KAN-NE Board of Directors.

Attached are the following documents for your information:

1.        A copy of MO-KAN-NE’s IRS 501©(3) designation letter.

2.        A current list of MO-KAN-NE Board members with their affiliations.

3.        An audited financial statement for the previous two years.

We welcome your response to this request. If any further information is needed, please contact me at:

Yvette H. Rosenberg, Assistant Director

Student Support Services Program

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, NE  68588-0403

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Yvette H. Rosenberg