January 01, 2017
Once you are clear on the project or activity to be funded, know how much funding you need, and have identified who will do the work, you are ready to start researching potential funders.
When you start researching funding opportunities, ideally, you'll have the budget to subscribe to a funding database. There are free options for funder research. However, paid tools are the best option if you want access to the most comprehensive listings.
Below are profiles of six databases for foundation research and one government-sponsored database for U.S. government grants.
The foundation databases range from free to more than $ 1,000 per month. The databases contain similar content but vary in their focus. Some target an academic clientele, while others are oriented more toward nonprofits. Which database will work best for you depends on your budget, whether you want to save your search results, and whether you are interested in government grants or just foundation funding
Prospect Research Tools for Foundations
If you want to research private foundations, subscribing to a donor database is going to be the most efficient way to conduct prospect research. Depending on the database, you'll find information on private foundations, corporate philanthropy programs, and, in some cases, government agencies. The databases typically include descriptions of foundations, their funding interests, and eligibility requirements. Many databases also provide links to each foundation's recent IRS filing (Form 990).
If you decide to use free resources for your prospect research, some options include using a search engine such as Google and plugging in your keywords (project type, geographic location, etc.) and words like “donor," “funder,” “philanthropy,” or “foundation" to see what comes up. Next, you'll need to follow the links to each foundation and review its website to determine its potential.
The advantage of a subscription database over Web-based research is that a paid database will give you most, if not all, of the information you need to decide whether a foundation could be a good fit, so you do not have to visit the foundation's website or third-party resources. Most databases also allow you to save your search results so you can return to them later, which is something you cannot do when using Google.
In addition to using donor databases, you can identify promising funding sources by examining the annual reports and IRS filings of nonprofits that do similar work to your own to see where they get their funding.
Six Funding Databases to Consider for Foundation Research
Foundation Center's Foundation Directory Online: The Foundation Center offers both free and paid content. The free content includes brief profiles of approximately 90,000 foundations. The profiles include the foundations' funding interests, year-end assets, and total giving. The free version is helpful if you have a foundation's name and want a quick overview of what it funds. The paid version of Foundation Directory Online is required if you need complete foundation profiles, search capabilities, and data storage. There are three annual subscription plans ranging from $399 for one license to $1499. The Foundation Center says in its promotional materials that the Foundation Directory Online is the only resource you'll need to find foundation funding, which may very well be the case. However, there are several other options to consider.
Foundation Search: FoundationSearch is similar to the Foundation Center's premium version of Foundation Directory Online. The FoundationSearch database contains approximately 120,000 foundations and includes the funders' areas of interest, giving trends, and past grant recipients. FoundationSearch does not list subscription prices on its website, so it is not possible to compare its pricing plans with those of the Foundation Center. You can call FoundationSearch at 1-888-538-2763 for more information.
GrantSelect: GrantSelect's database includes government funding opportunities and foundation grants. GrantSelect advertises its searchable database as appropriate for "nonprofits, universities, research institutions, and community organizations." GrantSelect offers two subscription levels. For individuals, the rates are $150/3 months or $495/year. For institutional subscriptions, contact GrantSelect for a quote. It is worth noting that GrantSelect markets its database to public libraries, allowing library patrons to access it for free from library computers.
Grant Forward: Grant Forward has been around since 2012 and targets academic institutions (of which it boasts 125 subscribers). It lists funding opportunities from both foundations and government agencies. Some of its features include a well-designed, attractive interface and the option to receive new opportunities via email. Grant Forward updates its database twice a week, making it among the most up-to-date grant databases (some update only monthly). Subscriptions range from $19/mo. for individuals: $1,500- $3,000/mo; for institutions: $3,000–$5,000/mo.
GrantStation: GrantStation is one of the more affordable donor databases. GrantStation lists private foundation and government grant sources and includes links to federal and state agencies. GrantStation can get the job done, and for newly formed nonprofits, the price is right, but it would be difficult to rely on as your only resource.
NozaSearch: NozaSearch is a Blackbaud company. The subscription is not cheap. It costs about $900/year ($99/mo.) for a single license. Blackbaud offers a "free" foundation search option, but it only returns IRS Form 990s for foundations, which you can also obtain for free through the Foundation Center or Guidestar. NozaSearch allows you to search for donations by individuals as well as foundation giving, making it an attractive option for organizations looking to develop an individual giving campaign. Blackbaud advertises NozaSearch as the "largest database of charitable donations. " You can see a demo of the product at https://www.nozasearch.com/VideoDemo.aspx.
Prospect Research Tools for Government Grants
If you are interested in U.S. government grants, the only place you really need to go is www.grants.gov. Grants.gov is a U.S. government website that lists grant opportunities from 26 federal agencies. Because it is a U.S. government service, this is a free resource. Be aware that if you type “government grants” into Google, you’ll see lots of ads for non-government-affiliated websites that say they are the resource for government grants but actually are private sites offering fee-based services. To make sure you land on grants.gov, type "grants.gov" directly into your search bar, or, if using Google, make sure you land on a ".gov" website.
Grants.gov lets you search for funding opportunities in several ways. You can search for opportunities by federal agency, category, or eligibility. You can also set up alerts to have opportunities meeting your search terms emailed to you.
Once you identify the federal agencies that are a good fit, it's always a good idea to visit each agency's website and review their postings on Grants.gov. Although the agency websites often direct you back to grants.gov, they sometimes post additional information about grant opportunities and application guidelines.