The "blind" proposals I have successfully submitted were in response to an RFP or specific guidelines where our project was a good fit, but where the funder had no prior knowledge of or relationship with our organization. I do not mean to suggest that one should apply to any funder that does not seem to fund anything remotely like one's project! Nor do I mean to imply that one should send off identical "form" letters to many organizations. What I point out, from experience and from recent contact with foundation officials, is that many foundations do not have adequate staff to answer inquiries from everyone interested in applying to them, and many do not wish for us to make prior contact, precisely for the waste of time and resources issue Mark addressed. Foundations want to fund issue-specific projects, not necessarily organizations, and will often fund those with whom they have no prior relationship, if the project fits their mission and guidelines.
