A letter of assistance is one that is used to solicit help. These letters are often written to subject matter experts who are well-versed in a certain field. They may also be sent to business contacts or organizations that can provide resources or support. Letters of assistance are usually required when applying for grants or funding for your project. They are very useful documents to have on hand when writing your grant application, as they allow you to ask others to do some work for you. For example, you could write a letter of assistance asking someone to review your literature search for relevance before submitting it with your application. The person reading the application would know what was expected of them and wouldn't feel like they were being asked to do more than their share. Letters of assistance are different from recommendations. A recommendation comes from someone who knows you well and can attest to your character. It can be used to introduce you to people who might be able to provide assistance with your project. Letters of assistance, on the other hand, are used to get people involved in your project. They are not made public so individuals cannot be held accountable for their actions. However, if someone abuses this privilege by providing misinformation or irrelevant information, they can be removed from future correspondence.