General Training Task 1 · 213 words
Community event: a specific sponsorship request
Explain the event, request defined support and offer a proportionate benefit in a professional letter.
Study the method: Formal letters: develop every task point and make the request clear →
Band 6 goal: Formal requests
Complete every task part clearly and organise the response so the reader can follow it. This is a study route, not an examiner score assigned to the answer. How IELTS Writing is assessed.
The question
You are organising a community event and would like a local business to support it. Write a letter explaining the event, describing the support you need, and explaining how the business would benefit.
The sample answer
Dear Ms Grant, I am writing on behalf of the Brookton Residents' Group, which is organising a free community gardening day on Saturday 16 May in Riverside Park. The event will bring local families together to plant herbs and flowers in the neglected beds beside the playground.
We expect approximately sixty volunteers during the day and would be grateful if Grant Garden Supplies could lend us twelve hand tools and donate six bags of compost. Group leaders will supervise their use, record each borrowed item and return the cleaned tools to your shop on Monday morning. We can collect everything on the Friday afternoon if that is convenient.
In recognition of your support, we would place your business name on the event noticeboard and thank the shop in our follow-up newsletter. Volunteers who want to continue gardening would also receive your public shop leaflet, provided you are happy to supply copies. We would describe the contribution accurately and would not share volunteers' contact details.
Please let me know by 30 April whether you could provide all or part of this support, and whether you have any conditions for borrowing the tools. I would be pleased to visit the shop to discuss the arrangements. Thank you for considering our request. Yours sincerely, Alex Morgan
Vocabulary in context
Each phrase appears in the answer above. Learn how it works, not just a replacement word.
- in recognition of
- As a public acknowledgement or response to someone's contribution.
Follow the phrase with the support being acknowledged and promise only a proportionate benefit.
- all or part of this support
- The complete request or a smaller contribution toward it.
This wording gives the recipient a useful alternative to refusing the entire request.
- conditions for borrowing
- Rules or requirements that apply when an item is loaned temporarily.
Ask about conditions before collection so both parties understand responsibility.
Now make it your own
Rewrite the support and benefit paragraphs for a community reading event requesting chairs and refreshments from a café. Keep every promise measurable.
For a smaller practice step, use the explanation, knowledge check and self-review exercise in Write a letter with purpose and tone.
The practice link opens the original question, not a copy of this answer.
Open the writing workspaceMore examples of this question type
Write to an organisation or person you do not know. State the purpose clearly, cover all three task points and keep the tone polite and professional.