Earlier this week, I talked about the importance of a fundraiser’s commitment to active, ongoing research on potential funders. In the beginning, the background work of foundation research may seem tedious and unduly time-consuming, but in the end it’s definitely more beneficial to send appropriate requests to fewer grantmakers and foundations than to send a shower of appeals in the hopes that one may land in the right place. In other words, it makes absolutely no sense to send a mass slew of proposals to 50 different funders with no success, versus targeting your efforts to just a few key prospects who actually care about the kind of work your organization is doing. So, where do you look? We already talked about the utility of monitoring the support lists of nonprofits similar to your own, and keeping up with print media touting philanthropic gifts. But the bulk of your research usually begins less strategically before narrowing itself to those methods. Here’s how it starts:
Where to Begin Your Research
- Funder mega-lists on the web
- Printed foundation directories
- Electronic databases
- A trip to a specialized fundraising library collection (such as the Foundation Center in DC)
What Are You Looking For?
Subject: Identify foundations that have expressed an interest in funding programs in your specific subject field
Geography: Locate foundations that fund programs in your city, state, or region. Although some give nationally and even internationally, most funders limit their giving to specific geographic areas.
Types of Support: Looking at the type of support a foundation provides can help you focus on foundations that provide specific types of support such as building funds, seed money, operating support, or endowment funds.
Taking it a Step Further
- Don’t limit your search to the often minimal and outdated entries in funding databases and print directories. Aggressive grantseekers sleuth for additional information on the internet using common search engines.
- Examine foundations’ federal 990 tax forms on the web at Guidestar.org (These are required of all charities with gross receipts over $25,000 annually and of foundations. The 990 tax forms provide information on funder assets, expenditures, grantmaking, and board members and usually provide more recent data than the databases or print directories.)
Fundraising Research Resources
- Member Lists of Grantmakers’ Associations (such as the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers)
- RFP bulletin
- Guidestar
- The Chronicle of Philanthopy
- Meyer Foundation Database of Funding Opportunities
Up Next: After You’ve Done Your Homework: 5 Keys to Getting the Grant
