Issue 4.11 – November 2009
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Where are your funders?
Most of us think that grantors are in the business of giving money away. While this is technically accurate, it is not their main purpose. They exist to help solve problems in their charitable areas of interest. To do so they need to find organizations able to implement solutions to problems within that sector.
Therefore, the object of both sides is to find a satisfactory partnership, where together, they can meet a community need. Consider that again, grantseekers and grant-givers are partners!
As a grantseeker, this understanding should give you confidence that you are not looking for a handout. Instead, you are searching for the funders who are a perfect match for your program or project.
You can actually help them carry out their mission of funding activities just like yours. Now, how do you find those funding partners?
Foundations
There are a variety of foundations, some of which have legal definitions that relate to your country of residence. In most cases, foundations have a pool of capital and they provide grants from the interest they gain from this larger pot of money.
Governments
Look for funding opportunities at all government levels, from local to national. Try to find the ministries/departments and programs that relate to the mission and activities of your nonprofit. Be aware that government funding programs and criteria change often, so even online or published directories of government grants can quickly become outdated.
Corporations
Corporations usually have specific areas of interest and large companies often have very structured giving programs. They may operate through a corporate foundation or a head office granting program. Sometimes local branch offices have smaller granting budgets.
Employee Charitable Trusts
Some large companies have employee charitable trusts or organizations that either choose one or two large projects annually or give many smaller grants.
Service Clubs
Many service clubs also give grants. In your community these might include such organizations as Rotary, Lions Club, Optimists, Kiwanis, Junior League, and the Legion.
You can learn more about how to find funders by taking the Grantseeking Campus online training course.
Learn successful grantseeking techniques
In these challenging funding times, are you looking for new funding opportunities? Are you wondering which funding sources to pursue on behalf of your organization? Check out Grantseeking from CharityVillage Campus. Learn the essential steps in grantseeking from identifying and researching funding sources to effectively following up on your proposals. [Read more...]Sponsor Message
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Campus Q & A
Question: I am looking to help my organization broaden its funding base, especially in light of the funding challenges of the past year or so. Where should I start with prospect research and how do I narrow down my results?
Answer:
The first thing that you'll want to do when conducting funding prospect research is to define your search criteria. You can do this by using the following parameters:
1. Geographic focus. Grants in a particular city, province or state, region, or country.
2. Funding focus (areas of interest). Specific subject fields or target populations such as the arts, literacy, health, environment, youth, or others.
3. Type of grant. Some may restrict giving to building funds or seeding new programs or scholarships, while others may exclude specific types of funding.
4. Usual size of grant. Small nonprofits don't usually apply to Gates Foundation, and large organizations rarely apply for for grants of less than $5,000.
5. Actual grant history. Provides clues as to the true interest, size, and type of grants.
6. The size of the grantor. How much do they hold? This will affect the availability of funds, staffing, and competition.
7. Limitations. Some grantors won't give to endowment funds or provide programming funding.
There are both formal and informal information sources where you can search for prospective grantors. You will notice that informal information sources begin close to home with the CharityVillage database and include brainstorming exercises, networking, Internet searches, and scanning the media.
At one time, prospect researchers would spend hours in the library looking for more formal lists of funders. Now, thanks to the Internet, most major listings of funders are found in online databases. What's more, there are excellent subscription databases of funders. While the initial outlay may seem high, you can easily recoup those costs when you are successful at targeting one or two new grantors for your organization.
Got a question that you'd like answered in an upcoming issue? Email it to us today at editor@charityvillage.com.
Subscriber-only bonus download
Competing for funding for your organization is never easy, but knowing where to look for potential grantors is half the battle. Find out where to start your research in Prospect Information Sources, a free download from our online Grantseeking course.
Upcoming events
LGBT Giving Network Conference 2009
Dates: November 6 - 8, 2009
Location: 15 King’s College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cost: $150 - $175
Complete details
Vancouver's 12th Annual National Philanthropy Day Luncheon
Date: November 10th, 2009
Cost: $50 Single Ticket/$500 Table
Location: Westin Bayshore
Complete details
Campus Course List
"Excellent course and programs. This is easy for anyone to use as a beginner, or as a refresher for those of us who just need to get back to basics! The Grantseeking course was excellent! The resource materials and information learned from the course allows beginners and experienced fundraisers to hit the ground running! Bravo!"-- Marianne Hebb, London, ON
• NEW: Attracting Corporate Sponsorship: Learn the key components of a sponsorship program, including how to attract and keep sponsors, write proposals, and develop appropriate pricing.
• Receipting Charitable Gifts in Canada: Learn the critical elements of gift receipting, from fair market value to split receipting rules and much more!
• Strategic Planning: Learn the core elements of a strategic plan and the basic process of strategic planning.
• Event Planning: Discover how to plan, run, and evaluate a flawless special event for your organization.
• Getting Started in Planned Giving: Learn how to get a planned giving program up and running successfully.
• Building a Great Volunteer Program: Delight your volunteers and deliver results for your organization by developing an effective system to manage your volunteers.
• Boards That Work: Learn what it takes to be an effective board member and build a successful board of directors.
• Proposal Writing: Translate your ideas into dollars by improving your funding proposals today.
• Grantseeking: You'll have better success with your proposals if you fully understand the grantseeking process.
• How Fundraising Works: Once you get the basics, you'll be in a great position to find support for your organization.
• Writing Effective Policies and Procedures: Policies and procedures form the backbone of your organization and this course makes them easy to write and implement.
• Telling Your Story Through the Case for Support: Write a compelling story about your organization that will entice and captivate supporters.
• NEW PACKAGE: SpringBoard: The Better Board Kit: a 3-step process to help your organization's board members ensure that they know their responsibilities, are prepared to act on them, and that your board works as a team to help accomplish the organization's goals.
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