How to write a concept note

The short document that decides whether a funder asks for more. What goes in it, in what order, and what to leave out.

Last updated 13 November 2026

Concept notepage 1 of 3

Counselling within a week: youth mental health in Siaya and Homa Bay

Young people in Siaya and Homa Bay counties who need counselling wait a long time for it. In 2025 fewer than half of those referred to our counsellors were seen within a week.

Kijani Afya Trust asks for KES 9,600,000 over 24 months to bring counselling to four more health centres.

By December 2028 we expect three in four referrals to be seen within seven days.

The first page of a concept note: the problem, the request, the result. An invented example.

The short answer

A concept note is a short summary of a project, usually two to five pages, sent before a full proposal so that the funder can decide whether to invite one. It covers, in this order: the problem, what you will do, the results you expect, why your organisation, and how much you are asking for. Use the funder's own headings and limits when the call gives them.

What a concept note is for

A funder reading two hundred concept notes is sorting, not studying. The note has one job: to show, quickly, that you are eligible, that the project fits what this call funds, and that you can name the change it will bring. Detail comes later, if you are invited.

Do not treat it as a rough idea, though. In EU calls the main elements of the concept note may not be changed in the full application. You may also see it called a concept paper, a pre-proposal, an outline proposal or a project enquiry.

Before you write

Check that you are eligible. Country, type of registration, years of operation, audited accounts, grant size against your annual budget. If one hard rule excludes you, do not write the note.
Read the whole call, including the annexes and the questions and answers. Note the page or word limit, the template, the language, the deadline and the time zone. Check who may lead: some calls require a lead applicant from a certain country, or a set number of partners.
Register on the funder's portal well before the deadline. EU calls need a PADOR registration and are submitted through PROSPECT. UN agencies need a complete profile on the UN Partner Portal. Both take longer than you expect.
Find the scoring table in the call, if there is one, and give most space to what carries most points.
Write down the funder's priorities in its own words. You will use those words.
Gather your facts: registration, people reached, one or two results with numbers, your annual budget, the staff who would run the project.

The sections

When the call provides a form, follow it exactly. When it does not, this order works.

Section	What to write	Length
Title and summary	A plain title. Then three sentences: the problem, what you will do, the change you expect, with the amount and period.	Half a paragraph
Fit with the call	Which of the funder's stated priorities the project meets, in the funder's words.	Two or three sentences
The problem	Who is affected, where, and how badly, with one or two numbers and their source. Local figures beat national ones.	One or two paragraphs
Who benefits	The people you work with directly and the wider group who gain, with numbers. Say how women, girls and people with disabilities are included.	A few lines
What you will do	The approach and the main activities, for whom and where. Not a work plan.	Two paragraphs
Expected results	Two or three results with numbers and dates, written as changes for people.	A short list
Risks	The two or three things outside your control that could stop it, and what you would do.	A few lines
Why your organisation	Registration and years, one past result most like this project, the partners you work with. Facts, not adjectives.	One paragraph
Budget summary	The total requested in the call's currency, the period, three or four main lines, and any other funding.	A few lines
Contact	A named person, role, email and phone.	Two lines

Send no annexes unless the call asks for them.

The EU concept note is a fixed form

The order above suits a free-form note. An EU call is different: the concept note is a set form, and you must keep to its order and page limits.

A summary table: objectives, target groups, final beneficiaries, expected outputs and main activities.
Description of the action, two pages: background, objectives, stakeholders, the logic of the intervention with its risks and assumptions, activities, cross-cutting issues such as gender and human rights, and the timeframe.
Relevance, three pages: to the call, to the needs of the country, to the target groups, and what the project adds.
The amount requested and its share of the total cost. No budget lines.

There is no section on your organisation's history and none on sustainability; those come in the full application. The note is scored out of 50, with 20 points for relevance and 30 for design.

A worked opening

This is for an invented organisation, Kijani Afya Trust. The figures are invented. Notice that every number could be traced to a document.

Counselling within a week: youth mental health in Siaya and Homa Bay
Young people in Siaya and Homa Bay counties who need counselling wait a long time for it. In 2025 fewer than half of the young people referred to our counsellors were seen within a week. Kijani Afya Trust asks for KES 9,600,000 over 24 months to bring counselling to four more health centres, train 40 community health workers to recognise and refer, and support peer counsellors in 14 schools. By December 2028 we expect three in four referrals to be seen within seven days.
We are a Kenyan NGO, registered in 2014. In 2025 our counsellors and peer supporters reached 4,320 young people in six health centres and 14 schools.

Two short paragraphs give the problem, the request, the activities, the result and the track record. The next paragraph of the note would give the county figures on need, with their source, and the results as a short list: each a change for people, with a number and a date.

Common mistakes

Applying when not eligible. One of the most common reasons for rejection, and the easiest to avoid. One UK study found that more than a third of applications to grant-making charities were ineligible.
Starting with the organisation's history. Start with the problem and the people.
National statistics only. Say what is true where you work.
Activities with no results. “We will hold 20 workshops” does not say what changes.
Adjectives in place of facts. “A well-established, credible organisation” says less than “registered in 2014, audited every year since 2017”.
Ignoring the limit or the template. Many funders reject on format alone.
A budget that does not match the activities, or a total above the call's ceiling.

Check before sending

Every hard eligibility rule is met, and you can show it.
The note is within the limit, in the required format and language.
The funder's priorities appear in the funder's words.
Every number has a source you could produce if asked.
Results are changes for people, with a number and a date.
The amount is within the call's range and adds up.
Someone who did not write it has read it.
You are sending it the way the call says, before the deadline in the funder's time zone.

Concept note, letter of inquiry or expression of interest?

Name	Who uses it	Usual form
Concept note	Bilateral and multilateral donors, UN agencies, many international NGOs	Usually two to five pages, often a fixed form
Expression of interest (EOI)	UN agencies publish a “call for expression of interest” on the UN Partner Portal. Also used in calls for consultants.	For the UN you answer with a concept note on the agency's own template. Elsewhere, a short form.
Letter of inquiry (LOI)	Private foundations	A letter or online form of one to three pages

These are habits, not rules. The call decides.

If you are invited to the next stage you will usually need a logframe: see how to write a logframe.

Writing a concept note in Afrant

Afrant checks the call's hard rules against your records before you start, then drafts each section from your fact sheet in the order the call asks for, with every figure linked to its source. How the eligibility check works.

Questions people ask

How long should a concept note be?

Follow the call. When the funder gives no limit, two to three pages is usual and five is plenty; a few funders allow up to ten. If the call says 1,500 words, a note of 1,600 can be rejected unread.

What is the difference between a concept note and a proposal?

A concept note is a short summary, sent first, that lets the funder decide whether to invite a full application. A proposal is the full application: detailed activities, a full budget, a logframe, annexes. A concept note that is too detailed is as weak as one that is too vague.

Should a concept note include a budget?

In a free-form note, include the total you are asking for, the period and three or four main cost lines, in the currency the call uses, unless the call says otherwise. In an EU concept note you give only the amount requested and its share of the total cost, with no budget lines. Take care with that figure: in the full application the EU contribution may not differ from it by more than 20%.

Is a concept note the same as a letter of inquiry or an expression of interest?

They do the same job: a short first approach. Foundations, especially in the United States, tend to say letter of inquiry and expect a letter or online form of one to three pages. Bilateral and multilateral donors tend to say concept note and often provide a form. With UN agencies the two go together: the agency publishes a call for expression of interest and you reply with a concept note on its template. Use the funder's word and format.

Can we send the same concept note to several funders?

You can reuse the facts, but not the note. Each funder states its own priorities, and an assessor can tell when a note was written for someone else. Rewrite the opening and the results in the words of each call.

What do funders look for first?

Whether you are eligible, whether the project fits what the call funds, and whether the results are specific. Many notes fail on the first two. In EU calls the note is scored, 20 points for relevance and 30 for design, and only the highest-ranked go forward. Eligibility papers are checked at the end, so an organisation that is not eligible can lose months of work.

Write your concept note from your own records.

Afrant is in pilot and opens one organisation at a time. It is free during the pilot, and there is a sample workspace to explore before you upload anything.

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