Nonprofit organizations have two essential jobs. First and foremost, they are tasked with carrying out their mission. Second, they are faced with finding the necessary funds to do so! Even the best causes need money to be able to carry out their work.

Acquiring funding is a crucial responsibility to ensure sustainability and yet, can be a nonprofit’s biggest challenge. In this article you will learn how to successfully find funders for grants that are a good match for your organization.

Before you embark on a search for grant funding, it is helpful to do a quick organizational assessment.

Grant funders will ask for pertinent pieces of information about your organization. This includes mission statements, organizational history, program description, impact data and financial records, among other things. Below is a checklist of pre-inquiry questions that will be helpful to address before you spend time pursuing a search for funding.

1. Does your organization have a clear mission statement or project idea?

Many new or developing nonprofit organizations try to seek funding before they have a clear mission statement, service area, or purpose. Or some may have a well-established mission, but then only have “ideas” for programs or projects which may not be clearly related to their organization’s mission.

This is one of the biggest initial hang-ups for nonprofits before they even get started with the funding process. Refer to your organization’s strategic plan or talk with your Board of Directors if there are any questions about what organizational needs or programs you’re seeking funding for. This will help narrow the search focus and ensure you’re using time efficiently.

2. Are you seeking general operating funding or money for a specific project?

Most nonprofits need money for organizational overhead – rent, utilities, staff salaries, and technology. These are all the essentials which keep an organization afloat. The umbrella term for these items is “General Operations Expenses.”

Some grants will provide funding for general operations, while others will be project specific. Project specific grant applications will usually have more stringent criteria and will also require more detailed reporting on how dollars were used to fund the project. Grants for general operating allow for a more liberal use of funds and have broader reporting requirements.

3. How much time do you have to look for grant funding? Do you have it marked in your calendar?

Searching for grant opportunities takes time. If you’re an experienced Executive Director or fundraiser in a well-established organization, then the process might be old hat. But most of you reading this article may be new to your position or new to nonprofits in general.

The search process will (and should) take time, especially at the onset. Assess how much time you realistically can spend on looking for grants. Carve out a day and time in your calendar each week. Many organizations erroneously view finding grants as an afterthought – a “nice to have” but not a “need to have.” Acquiring grant funding is an important part of building a diverse revenue stream. Take time to devote to the search process.

4. Do you have a budget for grant search assistance?

While there are many free resources to help find funders which we’ll discuss in this article, there are also paid services. These services often help streamline the search process. And while they may incur a cost, the outcome is increased efficiency through saving valuable staff time and ultimately, a better chance of your organization acquiring grant funding!

Instrumentl helps you secure smart matches for your projects. Keep reading for more information on our services to decide if a paid grant tool that brings grant prospecting, tracking and management all in one place could help your organization.

Now that we’ve covered some of the prerequisites, let’s dive into the grant search process and how to get started.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when faced with the prospect of finding a grant for your nonprofit. There are so many opportunities and yet, it often is challenging to find a good match. Here’s a few items to look for when assessing which grants are good fits for your organization:

Focus Areas and/or Priority Funding Areas

A grantmaking foundation or government grant will usually outline several focus or priority funding areas in their criteria. For example, they might list “health and wellness”, “food insecurity”, or “education.”

Right from the get-go, you can easily assess whether your organization or project fits into the focus area. Here’s an example from the Denver Foundation. This grantmaking organization clearly outlines their priority funding areas.

Service Area

Like the focus areas described above, many grant opportunities will target specific geographic areas and only those nonprofits serving the specified area will be eligible. Foundations or municipalities will often use a county or a zip code to provide guidance for the service area requirements.

An important note – many times the criteria refer to where clients are being served, not necessarily where the organization has their home office. Or vice-versa! Some applications will utilize the home location of the organization, regardless of where they provide services. Government grants will often rely on census tracts in their criteria. Keep reading below for more information on how you can find and use data on your service area.

Demographics of Service Area

Often the service area and the demographics of the service area are closely aligned in criteria. Grant applications may stipulate a nonprofit’s eligibility based on percentage of low-income populations served, percentage of housing insecurity within a given zip code, or income level of a particular census tract.

If you do not know the demographic information about your service area, the Census Bureau website is a great resource. It provides community data on age, income levels, unemployment, and other factors. It will be helpful in finding grant funding to have as much knowledge as you can about your nonprofit’s service area and its demographics.

Type of Funding – General Operating or Projects

As mentioned in a previous section, you should determine beforehand whether you are seeking funds for general operating costs or a specific project. Many grant applications will state explicitly what they fund and what they do not fund.

Some foundations may have several grant cycles: some for general operating funds and others for targeted projects. If you need money for rent and the electric bill, it's best to seek general operating monies. If you need dollars to expand a program or create a new initiative, you may seek project-based funding that aligns with your goals.

Date of Grant Cycles/ Disbursement of Funds

Acquiring grant money is often a lengthier process than many new nonprofit workers realize. Even when approved, monies often take weeks to months for disbursement. This means if you have a project slated for spring, applications will often be due the previous fall. Determine when you need the funds and make a timeline to find grant funding. Expect for it to take three to six months from the time of application to see a funding check, so plan accordingly. For more help with creating a timeline, read this helpful Instrumentl article on establishing a grant writing calendar.  

Overall Alignment of Missions

While it may seem like a basic concept, it's important to remember that when searching for grant funding, you should search for opportunities that align with your nonprofit’s mission. Also, keep in mind that whether it’s a grantmaking foundation, a government entity, or a corporation, each of these funders will have its own mission and also look for applicants that align with its model and values.

Many nonprofit organizations, particularly if they are struggling financially, get into a mode of “chasing money” rather than seeking out opportunities that truly align with their missions. If you ever find yourself thinking “Well, we kind of do that” or “We sort of meet the focus areas”, then it’s probably not a good match. Applications themselves will ask for compelling reasons why you are a good candidate and will challenge you to prove it with impact data.

You may find unique funder insights useful in this area. Instrumentl will show you what areas a foundation has funded most frequently over the last few years through visualizations like these:
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For example, in this situation, the funder has a clear interest in funding projects related to the environment or education.

You can create your own Instrumentl account here.

Finding grant funding has become increasingly competitive as more organizations vie for the pool of available philanthropic dollars. Make your process efficient by applying to only those opportunities that are a good fit to yield the best chances of approval.

Now that you know what makes a good fit, keep reading for resources on how to find these grant funders.

Much like the steps in finding a good fit for your organization, the search process begins with covering the basics. Here are a few guidelines to help you find foundation or corporate grants.

1. Know Your Organization’s Service or Geographic Area

If you are new to an area or new to working in the nonprofit realm, it’s helpful to get a pulse on the area and its community stakeholders. For example, most areas have philanthropic or family foundations who partially fund the community services of the region. A quick Google search will reveal many of these regional heavy hitters. Then you can start by going to specific websites to learn more about grant cycles and specific focus areas.

Here’s a screenshot from a Google search for grantmaking foundations in Omaha, NE. Even this quick search displays notable partners in the Omaha, NE community. It provides a mix of both nonprofit foundations (red arrow), a corporate foundation (yellow arrow), and even a database list of funding opportunities (green arrow). Score!

Want to see even more opportunities in your area? Browse Instrumentl’s database of grants and foundations. This comprehensive list allows viewers to search by state or focus area. Here’s a sample of available grants in Nebraska.
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2. Know the Major Employers in Your Service Area or Geographic Region

Most companies have embraced the social responsibility component of private business by dedicating some funds for giving back to their communities. Large employers in the region have an investment in the area for good cause – they want to see an area thrive so they can retain their employees and attract new ones!

Identify large institutions in your area (banks/credit unions, colleges, hospitals, technology firms, grocery stores, and manufacturing companies) and check their websites to see if they have a “community” section or something similar where you can find information on potential grant opportunities.

3. Join Your Local Civic Association, Business Networking Group, or Nonprofit Association

In many areas, there is often a nonprofit assistance group or a civic group that may provide guidance for nonprofits and access to resources for funding opportunities. As nonprofits are vital businesses to any economy, your city or regional chamber of commerce or business development department may also have resources for grant opportunities.

Many nonprofit organizations forget that even though they are nonprofits, they are often also considered “businesses” and therefore may qualify for business assistance grants. An example is the small business relief grants that have been provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many for-profit businesses and nonprofits alike qualified for grant funding and were able to stay afloat.

4. Use the Library

Most people equate a library with just loaning out books. But today’s libraries are full of so much more - technological materials and resources, database access, and community knowledge. Many larger libraries have research librarians or other personnel dedicated to helping patrons find resources. Plus, library systems will often have licenses so that you can access grant databases for free, services that you would normally have to pay for. It only takes a few minutes to sign up for a library card and then the world is your oyster!

Many types of grant funding fall under the umbrella category of “government grants.” Think of them as any grants that are issued by municipalities, states, or the federal government. They can include focus areas like housing and urban development, agriculture, health care, education, business, transportation, and many others.

Government grants will often have more rigid criteria and formalized reporting requirements and a uniform application process. Some government grants are administered through government employees, and some are managed by contracted agencies. Here are a few tips on locating government grants:

1. Utilize the Grants.gov Website

Bookmark the grants.gov page and refer to it for federal opportunities. Government grants are posted to provide easy public access to information and deadlines. This site includes a list of grant funding opportunities that is searchable through region, category, and many other filters. It provides a summary of the opportunity, eligibility requirements, and due dates. The best part – it’s FREE!

2. Check Your State/ County/ and City Websites

States and municipalities will also post funding opportunities. Typically, a state government website will list both statewide opportunities and may even provide links to other local or regional possibilities. Pictured below is an example of California’s state grants database with its search capabilities.
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3. Sign Up for Email Notifications or Newsletters

Who needs more email, right? But in this case, getting an email notification of a new government grant opportunity that just opened will help ensure potential grant monies don’t go by unnoticed. When you can do so, sign up to receive emails from your state, county, or city, or departments like Community Development and others that align with your mission and service area. After a while, if nothing is coming your way of interest, you can always unsubscribe.

We’ve covered some tips and guidelines that hopefully are helpful in your search for grant funding. Many of the resources discussed in the preceding paragraphs also provide help at no cost to your organization.

However, if you have exhausted your search efforts and still cannot find good matches for your organization, or you just do not have the staff bandwidth to search for grant funders, that’s where a tool like Instrumentl could help!

Instrumentl is the institutional fundraising platform. We are the only tool built specifically to bring grant prospecting, tracking and management to one place.

Once you create an Instrumentl account, you can create a project, which allows you to keep a saved grant search while also saving grants to individual Trackers.

Our unique matching algorithm will output good fit funders based on your project’s needs. In this example below, we’ve identified 109 matches for our Air Quality project:
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Trackers replace the need for grant writers to keep Excel spreadsheets, as they let you manage all your grants in one place. Within these Trackers, you can create tasks for yourself or a team member, as well as store notes and documents year-over-year.
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Tasks can be a great way to promote cross-team collaboration and create a replicable process when reviewing different funders for grants.

Aside from our Matches and Tracker, Instrumentl makes 990 reports easy to digest. We’ll help you identify key financial trends, such as the average and median grant amounts of a particular foundation.
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You can even reverse search a past recipient’s funding history to identify even more good fit funders:
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It’s for these reasons and many more that Instrumentl saves development teams more than three hours a week per team member and increases grant application output 78% within a year.

If any of this interests you, create your Instrumentl account here.

Finding grant funding is often a long process but a necessary and worthwhile one! Hopefully the tips in this article provided you with some resources as you begin (or continue) your grant search. The prize in the process is gaining the funding to keep up the work of your nonprofit’s mission and most importantly, those you serve.

Once you land a potential funder, find some grant writing tips and best practices by checking out these articles: Top 15 Things to Do Before You Write a Grant and How Many Grants Should I Apply For?