Grant Research: Effective strategies to find grants

Explore federal, state, and local grant makers and learn to navigate the federal grants database and state/local portals, comparing high-value federal opportunities with local options.

Explore two business grantmakers: corporations and small local businesses. Corporations vary in reach (3M to Xerox), while local businesses offer faster, smaller grants.

Explore two foundation types—community foundations and private foundations—and how geographic focus, benefactor funding, and targeted causes shape grantmaking, and learn where to find them.

Learn how to find grants using Google to locate grant makers, and explore three free grant research databases: get Ed funding, grants Mint's ship's center, grants down Gov.

Explore GetEdFunding, a free, education-focused grant research database with thousands of grants from federal, state, regional, and community sources; learn to save, search, and tailor results for STEM after-school programs.

Explore the Grantsmanship Center's free funding by state resource to identify top foundations, community foundations, and corporate giving programs by state for STEM education grants.

discover how to navigate grants.gov to find federal funding opportunities, filter by keywords and eligibility, and leverage the program solicitation to assess fit and deadlines.

Discover five free resources to find grants, including lesser-known databases, to reduce competition and boost your chances of grant funding.

Explore state home pages for grants and funding, and sign up for state and town email lists to uncover grants and RFP opportunities in education, health, development, and housing.

Discover professional organizations as a grant source by checking discipline-specific and general associations for member-only grants, awards, and scholarships. Leverage newsletters and dues to uncover opportunities with lower competition.

Discover Twitter as a free source to find grant opportunities. Follow funding organizations like the National Science Foundation and use grant hashtags to uncover deadlines.

Learn how to find funders that are a good fit using grant research databases, filter by criteria, verify with funder websites and 990, and start local to avoid wasteful applications.

Create a ten-item intake sheet to screen grant eligibility. Capture official name and incorporation, location, mission, audience, focus areas, budget, geographic area, website, and top funding needs.

Learn the core grant research process using both paid and free tools, including Foundation Directory Online, with actionable steps and downloadable resources to streamline your grant search.

Use the grant research database with advanced search and filters in Foundation Directory Online, guided by intake form data on subject area, geographic focus, population served, and target audiences.

Learn to navigate grant search results, recognizing that large match sets may include unsuitable prospects from intake form data, and master one-by-one grant research screening to identify truly relevant grants.

Organize your grant prospects by turning a large intake list into a screened, qualified file. Capture funder name, website, deadline, approach, award amount, and focus areas to identify strong fits.

Learn how to screen grant prospects by verifying mission alignment, focus areas, geographic scope, and eligibility, then use the 990s and notes to build a qualified prospect list.

Screen the prospects list from the intake form, filtering eligibility and service area. Assess fits for sports and youth development, review 990s, and note five-to-ten year CLIA plans.

Learn how to screen a large list of grant prospects for fit and eligibility, using landing pages, deadlines, and proximity, guided by a foundation directory online.

Evaluate funder alignment by assessing community needs and funder priorities in a case. Identify future opportunities, such as a financial education program for teens, while noting current funding gaps.

Screen potential grants by evaluating geography, focus areas, and eligibility through pre applications and letters of inquiry, then select promising funders for full proposals.

Screen 390 grant leads to identify 70 good fits for closer review, cross out non-fits, and populate a screened prospects list for targeted applications.

Screen a prospects list of 30–70 grants, narrow to the top six best fits, and craft informed, aligned requests based on funders' interests and deadlines.

Discover how to get started with 990s, why they matter for grant research, and how to apply them, illustrated with real client examples.

Understand what IRS form 990 is and who files it, including nonprofits and foundations, and learn how 990s reveal finances, staff, donors, and mission for grant research.

Use Form 990s to gather mission, geographic preferences, and focus areas when a foundation lacks a website. Then verify fit for already screened prospects and fine-tune your list with examples.

Learn to research foundations without websites using the Foundation Center 990 finder and 990s, identify deadlines in March and October, and tailor proposals for homeless, youth, and community development.

Use the 990s finder to verify a foundation's fit for Willimantic community needs, then tailor a concise letter request under 3,000 dollars to match giving patterns.

Explore a free 990s database to identify education grants for a Montana summer camp serving at-risk youth, and use the 990s finder to locate funding amounts.

Transition from donor research to grant applications by examining the three options: letter of intent, application, and proposal, and their commonalities.

Explain the letter of intent, a one-page, high-level introduction of your organization and program to test interest, often used as a screening step before proposals.

Discover how grant applications function as screening tools or proposals, often online with mixed questions. Tailor answers to funders and draft in a word processor.

Learn next steps essentials for grant proposals by aligning your organization's mission with funder goals, meeting all site-specific requirements, and presenting a flawless, compelling case.