Grant Research/Writing

Lesson 2: Searching for Funding

Private Foundations

A private foundation is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that has principal, usually from an endowment from an individual or from another foundation, that has its own board of directors or trustees, and primarily makes grants to other nonprofit organizations for charitable, educational, religious, or other purposes that are intended to serve the community.

If you are intending to pursue funding through private foundations, The Foundation Center should be your first stop (www.fdncenter.com). The Foundation Center publishes directories of all foundation and grant programs and, for a small fee, individuals or organizations are given access to these extensive databases.

Search the directories and assemble information on at least six foundations that may be willing to fund programs similar to the project you are proposing. Once you have identified these potential funding sources, it is time to contact each for specific information, i.e., what awards have they made in the past? To whom? How much? What is their area of special interest/mission? What are the guidelines for submission? Some of this information may be obtained from the foundation’s annual report, but others may appear in specialized publications of the foundation.

The best way to obtain this information is to submit a letter to the foundation. A sample letter will be provided in the first assignment of this lesson.

Once this information has been received, you will need to review it carefully to determine whether or not this foundation would likely fund your project. Consider whether your organization and the foundation have related missions or special areas of interest. Also look carefully at the projects that have been funded in the past. It would not be wise to invest too much time on a foundation that is unlikely to approve funding of your project.

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