How to find foundation grants for U.S. nonprofits
The first step in grant writing is finding the right grant opportunity. But where to look? Nonprofits often wonder where to find foundation grants for anything from seed money to capital funding and just about everything in between.
Luckily, there are some great databases out there to help.
We use the Candid as our primary resource for locating grants for U.S.-based nonprofits from private and public foundations. (International nonprofits and government grants are a different story.)
The Foundation Center has several levels of paid subscriptions; the more you pay, the more opportunities are visible to you. We have the highest subscription level, which allows us to access information on more than 100,000 foundations, corporate donors, and grantmaking public charities and over 2.4 million recent grants, and we suggest any nonprofit serious about raising money through grants do the same. Some local nonprofit resource centers and local libraries offer access to the Foundation Center free of charge, too.
Another great option is Foundation Search. This is also a fee-based service that gives you access to more than 120,000 foundations. While we usually find the same information in both databases, every now and then there’s a new grant that pops up that we would have missed had we looked only in the Foundation Center. It’s always a good idea to be thorough.
Google searches will sometimes yield pertinent information, but more often than not, you’ll miss opportunities presented by less sophisticated, small foundations that do not have their own websites.
We always urge you to visit the foundation’s website if there is a link in either database. Sometimes there are additional details that help clarify a foundation’s priorities.
Interested in learning more about our grant writing services? Contact us.
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