Still, you might be able to turn that into a few easy sentences. Ex. “We don’t think you have enough expertise on the topic”, “We don’t think you have the right skills for the project, we think there are likely better other candidates out there” “You’re research project is poorly scoped”,...
These are just quick examples I had on top of my brain, they likely could be massively improved.
Even just sharing something in the rejection letter like
“Unfortunately, even if the problem is solely due to project-specific competence and fit, there aren’t many tractable and high-EV levers for grantmakers to pull. If somebody applies with a poorly scoped research project, they may well be an amazing operations hire or entrepreneur but unfortunately a) the grantmaking process is not set up to evaluate this well, and b) we are specialized in evaluating grants, not in giving open-ended career advice.”
might be very helpful.
I agree, and like I said, I’m sure those sentences can be massively improved.
I prefer to have my feelings a little hurt than remain in the dark as to why a grant didn’t get accepted.