| How do I find foundations to fund my nonprofit? | Use grant databases to filter and search for foundations that support work like yours. |
If you were to close your eyes and picture a classic nonprofit organization, what would you imagine? Maybe you picture a bustling room of campaigners. Perhaps you imagine social workers or counsellors visiting homes. But, do you picture databases of foundations providing the grants funding this work?
“Nonprofit” conjures up images of service organizations – staff and volunteers who work every day to aid their communities. There is another kind of nonprofit, though. Equally important, equally influential – they are, in many ways, the other half of the equation. They are the partners to the service providers and the advocates. They are the foundations.
Foundations are a kind of nonprofit organization. They don’t act alone to achieve their goals; instead, they work through a network of partnerships and relationships. They give the money that service providing organizations use to achieve health education, social, economic, and environmental goals.
With assets of $120-billion in Canada and $1.057-trillion in the United States, foundations are influential contributors to public interest work.
If you are doing nonprofit work, there is a very good chance that you benefit (or could benefit) from foundation grants. But when you are new to the grantmaking world, it can be hard to know where to start.
With over 50,000 foundations in Canada and the USA, you can’t possibly know every foundation in existence.
Most nonprofits use a grant database to help them navigate the world of foundations. It’s an essential tool for identifying and filtering foundation funding prospects. If you haven’t used a grant database or feel overwhelmed by all the options, here are the essential first steps to get you started.
Once you explore opportunities with the people and funders you already know, it’s time to broaden your network and diversify your funders. That’s where a grant database comes in handy.
Grant databases are online services that provide information about foundations, such as their names, donation history, interests, and application deadlines. These databases are rarely free, but they are an essential time-saving tool for any organization that raises money from grants.
Grant databases aren’t quite as user-friendly as dating apps, but the concept is basically the same: you have specific interests and goals, and you are looking for funders who match.
These databases let you search for foundations that match your interests, so you can figure out which opportunities to pursue. (Ranking your matches is usually called “qualifying” in grant-speak.)
Qualifying for grants is a mysterious art. There’s no perfect, universal formula for how to find the right match, but there are criteria you need to consider when utilising a grant database.
Apply to foundations who give grants in your geographic area. Many foundations only give within their own countries or focus on specific communities. If you aren’t in their area, you probably won’t get a grant.
Foundations generally focus on specific issues, like environment or equity. If you are raising funds for cancer research, don’t spend precious time applying to a foundation that only funds music education.
Some grants only fund specific types of expenses, like advocacy or conferences or supplies. If you need money for labour, then you shouldn’t apply for grants that can only be used to purchase supplies.
Sometimes the people who benefit from your work need to meet specific criteria. Foundations might want to focus on programs that benefit children or youth, or for working with a specific cultural group.
Make sure that your organization’s status matches the foundations ability to give. Some grantmakers are able to give to all kinds of organizations. Others can only give grants to specific kinds of organizations (e.g., charitable foundations). If you don’t have the right kind of organization status, you won’t get the grant no matter how fantastic the proposal.
When you’ve got access to a grant database, you can easily search and filter for foundations who supports work like yours, in your area, for the project you are trying to run.
You’ll also be able to create lists or bookmarks to track qualifying foundations. Once you’ve found several foundations whose giving interests match your program needs, you’ll need to prioritize a little more.
This is where the practical stuff comes in.
When assessing foundations via grant databases, there should be a good match between the amount you are trying to raise and the grants that foundations usually give.
A foundation that gives $2,500 grants is unlikely to fund your million-dollar project on its own. If you can’t find enough prospective grant funders to match your fundraising target, there is a very good chance that you should change your fundraising strategy to include other funding sources.
At the same time, if you have never received a grant before, smaller foundations and grants are great opportunities to establish relationships and build familiarity with grant application and reporting cycles.
Most foundations have application deadlines. If you need money for a summer project, be wary of deadlines in June or July — by the time the foundation gets back to you, your project will be half over!
Even if the timing is a good match, you may not be able to whip off a major grant proposal to hit a deadline in 48 hours.
Armed with the list of foundations that match your filter and practical needs, you can move on to relationship building and the grant application process.
The database should provide contact information to reach the foundation, as well as details about their application process.
You should look for specific grant deadlines and applications, which might be online forms, templates, or guidance on what to put in a letter. If foundations are open to connecting with you, it’s incredibly helpful to introduce yourself and talk through the potential match between your two organizations.
A grant database isn’t going to save the world. It won’t find you all the money you need to find. But it will expand your circle and give you a better understanding of who else shares your organization’s goals.
It comes down to this: If the funders you’re looking for are out there, looking for you, don’t you want to know?
Q: How do I … find foundations to fund my nonprofit?
A: Use grant databases such as Grant Connect to find funding that matches your filters and needs.
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