Most request memos are refused for the same reason: they describe a wish rather than a decision. The person reading yours has a budget, a headcount ceiling and a diary full of other people's priorities. A good request memo makes saying yes straightforward — the ask, the reason and the cost should be clear within the first few lines. The template below works for three of the most common requests: more budget, another pair of hands, and equipment that needs signing off.
Start with the decision you want
Put the request in the subject line. "Request: approval for [budget/staff/equipment] — decision needed by [date]" tells the reader everything they need in order to prioritise it. Then open with a single sentence that states what you want, how much it costs and when you need an answer.
- Weak: "As you know, the team has been very busy lately, and I wanted to raise a few thoughts about resourcing."
- Strong: "I am requesting approval for a one-off spend of [amount] on [item], to be committed by [date]."
The first version makes the reader hunt for the point. The second lets them decide before their coffee goes cold. Everything else in the memo exists to support that opening sentence, not to replace it.
A skeleton you can copy
Subject: Request for [budget/staff/equipment] — decision needed by [date]
Request: One or two sentences. What you want, how much it costs, when it starts, who it affects.
Reason: The problem, the evidence you hold, and the consequence of delay.
Cost: Full cost, timing, budget line, and anything you can offset.
Approval needed: Named approver, the form of approval, and the deadline.
Next step: What you will do the moment it is approved.
Six headings, kept short. If the memo runs beyond a page, the extra material should be an appendix — supplier quotes, rotas, usage figures — rather than more argument.
Build the justification around consequences
Approvers rarely say no to a good idea. They say no because the case is not yet strong enough for them to defend elsewhere — to a finance director, a board, or their own manager. Write the justification for the person who has to repeat it in a room you are not in.
Be specific about the problem. "The team is stretched" is a feeling. "Two of the four reporting deadlines last quarter slipped by more than a week, and the pattern repeats at every month-end" is a fact someone can act on. Use numbers you genuinely hold: volumes, turnaround times, error rates, overtime hours, days lost to manual workarounds.
Then name the cost of doing nothing. If this stays unfunded, what happens? Deadlines slip further, a service level is missed, staff turnover rises, or you keep paying for a workaround that costs more than the fix. One honest paragraph with three solid points is more persuasive than five paragraphs of pressure. If part of your case rests on a risk you cannot quantify, say so plainly and explain how you would manage it.
Cost details: what approvers actually check
Money sections get skimmed first and scrutinised hardest, so make yours easy to check and hard to misread.
- The full cost. Purchase price plus delivery, installation, training, licences and maintenance. For staff, include employer contributions, equipment and recruitment costs, not just salary.
- The timing. When the money leaves the account, and whether it falls in this financial year or the next.
- The budget line. Name the cost centre that pays, confirm the funds are available, and state the trade-off if they are not.
- What you can offset. Costs avoided, subscriptions cancelled, overtime reduced, agency cover no longer required.
- Options. Two or three, with your recommendation clearly marked. A cheaper option that fails to solve the problem is not a saving.
For equipment, add a line on compatibility and who maintains it once it is in use. For staff, state the duration: a fixed-term post is an easier yes than a permanent one when the need is temporary. For both, say what happens when the funding ends so nobody is surprised later. If your request touches employment contracts, tax treatment or anything with legal weight, check the wording with HR or a qualified adviser before you put figures on paper.
Approval requirements and what happens next
Do not leave the reader to work out their role. Spell it out:
- Name the approver, or the two approvers if both must sign, and give the order in which they sign.
- State the form of approval you need — email reply, signature on a form, purchase order reference.
- Give the deadline and the reason for it. "The supplier's delivery slot is held until Friday" is specific; "as soon as possible" is not.
- Describe the next step you will take, so approval feels like progress rather than an open-ended commitment.
Copy in anyone affected by the decision — the finance contact who will process the invoice, the manager whose team will use the equipment, the colleague picking up the work if a new post is agreed. It saves a round of forwarding later.
Before you press send
Re-read your opening line. Does it name the ask and the amount? Then delete anything that exists only to soften the request: apologies, hedges and long preambles all read as doubt.
Next, check the memo stands alone. Your reader may forward it, file it, or read it months from now without any memory of the conversation behind it, so names, dates, amounts and the budget line all need to be written in full. Keep a copy of what you sent and the answer you received. The next time a similar request comes round, you will have a template that has already proved its case — and a record of how long approval took.
Photo: olia danilevich / Pexels
