Chapter 4
Finding Funding Sources Using Library Resources

Now that you have completed a draft of your need statement, it is time to look for potential sponsors for your project. In researching sponsors, you will want to research government sponsors and foundations—both corporate and independent. What you are seeking is a match between what your organization wants to do and what these sponsors want to fund. In this chapter, you will learn how to use grant-seeking resources in local libraries. (In Chapter 5, you will learn to conduct online searches for sponsors.) The kinds of information you will find in print and online can be different. Moreover, less than half of the information available is currently online, so you will want to check print sources as well as online sources. The chapter ends with an exercise on how to interpret a Request for Proposals (RFP), a Request for Applications (RFA), or a program announcement to help you decide whether or not a potential sponsor is a good match for your project.

Learner Outcomes

After completing this chapter, you will be able to
  1. Conduct a search for sponsors using library resources

  2. Identify the major differences, advantages, and disadvantages between foundation and government sponsors

  3. Identify at least three potential sponsors for your projects

  4. Interpret an RFP, RFA, or program announcement

Key Terms

501(c (3) status—Nonprofit organizations are granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS. Most sponsors will only make awards to nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, and they ask for a copy of the IRS determination letter in the appendices to the proposal.

Annual report—The annual report is a report you are required to submit for each year of a multi-year government-funded project. This report demonstrates how you have accomplished the outcomes laid out in your annual workplan.

Civic organizations—Civic organizations include local clubs such as Rotary Clubs, the Jay Cees, local garden clubs, the Kiwanis, the Lions Club, etc. These organizations often award small amounts of money for community projects or scholarships to students.

Community foundation—A community foundation is supported by public funding, contributed by a combination of individuals and businesses, to support worthwhile projects in the community.

Corporate foundation—A corporate foundation is supported by a corporation out of its annual profits. Corporate foundations make awards in communities where they have offices or manufacturing plants.

Federal Block Grants—Federal Block Grants are formula funds that Congress allocates to state and local governments based on pre—determined formulas tied to population figures. Because the decisions for funding priorities are made by Congress, the criteria and focus of block grants are prescribed by law.

Federal government subagencies—A subagency is a unit of the federal government whose funding is determined and distributed through a federal government agency. For example, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are subagencies of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal Register—The Federal Register is a daily publication by the federal government which contains, among other things, notices from Federal agencies that pertain to grants, RFPs, and RFAs. The Federal Register is used by experienced grant seekers daily to keep track of government notices for funding.

Foundation Center Cooperating Collections—The Foundation Center Cooperating Collections are collections of print and CD-ROM resources about sponsors and funded projects published by the Foundation Center and located in many public libraries across the country.

Foundation Center Directory—The Foundation Center Directory is a print resource published by the Foundation Center. Part one lists the 10,000 largest foundations in the U.S.; part two lists the next largest 10,000 foundations. Both parts are updated annually.

Foundation Center—The Foundation Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help connect sponsors with the nonprofit organizations they fund.

Government agencies—Federal government agencies are top-level departments or agencies directly funded through federal legislation. They often award contracts and grants to nonprofits for purposes specified by law. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Education are examples of government agencies.

Independent foundation—An independent foundation is formed by wealthy individuals, families, or groups of individuals to fund projects of particular interest to the founders of the foundation. They usually operate from endowment funds.

IRS 990 tax forms—IRS 990 tax forms are filed by foundations and show total contributions, gifts, and grants paid, as well as a summary of the foundation's four largest charitable activities for the year with the expenses for each. These tax forms help you decide whether your project fits within a foundation's giving patterns.

Match—A match is a sponsor whose goals and priorities may be fulfilled, at least in part, by the outcomes of your proposed project.

Nonprofit status—Nonprofit status is a determination granted to qualifying organizations by the IRS for tax purposes. Nonprofit organizations have letters of determination from the IRS that certify that they have 501(c) (3) status, and they file yearly 990 tax forms.

Operating foundation—An operating foundation is funded by a larger foundation to support specific foundation programs. Operating foundations do not accept unsolicited proposals from nonprofit organizations. They determine their priorities and then approach the organizations they would like to carry them out.

Program announcements—Program announcements define current funding priorities, programmatic areas, and target populations for foundation sponsors. They are similar to RFPs and RFAs but result in grants rather than contracts.

Quarterly reports—A quarterly report is a progress report issued every three months, usually to government funding agencies. It documents project activities, impacts, and budget expenditures over the preceding quarter.

RFA—An RFA is a request for applications, usually issued by a government agency. It specifies the problem the agency wants to solve, provides guidelines for writing proposals, and includes standard cover and budget pages, similar to an RFP.

RFP—An RFP is a request for proposals, usually issued by a government agency. It specifies the problem the agency wants to solve, provides guidelines for writing proposals, and includes standard cover and budget pages, similar to an RFA.

Target population—The target population is the specific group of people who will directly benefit from your project. The target population is specified by the sponsoring agency or foundation.

The Foundation 1000—The Foundation 1,000 is a directory that lists the 1,000 largest foundations in the United States, and it is updated annually.

The Foundation Grants Index—The Foundation Grants Index is a Foundation Center publication that lists recently funded projects and organizations that received funding.

Workplan—The workplan is a document that government sponsors request at the beginning of each year for multi-year projects. It specifies the objectives, tasks, activities, outcomes, and budget for the year and has to be approved by both the nonprofit and the sponsor before any funding is disbursed.

Activities

1. Take a field trip to the Foundation Center Cooperating Collection in the library Check Appendix A in the book to find the nearest Foundation Center Cooperating Collection or you may want to check the Foundation Center Website www.fdncenter.org to find the Cooperating Collection nearest to you. Your instructor may take the class to the library to use the Collection or you might want to call the librarian in charge of the Collection to see if he or she will provide tours or workshops on how to use it. Then attend the tour or workshop and learn to use the Collection to help you find potential sponsors. Remember that these books are reference books and do not circulate. This field trip works best if you have at least two to three hours to spend in the library. To keep track of the best potential sponsors you find, fill out the Report on Funding Sources at the end of this chapter.

The following are some resource books you might want to check in the library in addition to those mentioned in the text.

Fund Raiser's Guide to Human Service Funding Fund Raiser's Guide to Religious Philanthropy International Grantmaking II National Guide to Funding for Children, Youth and Families National Guide to Funding for International and Foreign Programs National Guide to Funding for Libraries and Information Services National Guide to Funding for the Environment and Animal Welfare National Guide to Funding in Aging National Guide to Funding in AIDS National Guide to Funding in Arts and Culture National Guide to Funding in Health National Guide to Funding in Higher Education National Guide to Funding in Religion

If you are looking for corporate foundations, some of the print resources you can find in the library include:

Corporate Giving Directory Corporate Giving Yellow Pages Directory of International Corporate Giving in America National Directory of Corporate Giving

Summary

In Chapter 4, you learned a strategy for seeking sponsors for your projects by using library resources. The strategy taught in this chapter builds on the search strategies you learned in Chapter 3. By using your need statement and keywords, you discovered how to plan a library search. You learned the characteristics of different types of sponsors: government agencies and four types of foundations. You were able to track two sample searches before learning how to search for your own sponsors in the Foundation Center Cooperating Collections. You also learned about library resources for finding government sponsors. The search for sponsors using library resources requires that you be systematic and methodical, but also flexible. If you begin with very specific keywords—a narrow search—and find few matches, you have to rethink your strategy, identify new keywords, and search again under more general topics to broaden your search. You also learned how to triangulate your search by using a number of indices. Finally, to help you decide if you should respond to a particular RFP/RFA or program announcement, you learned a querying strategy for interpreting RFPs/RFAs and program announcements.

Writing Assignment

  1. Take your need statement and keywords with you to the library and search for potential sponsors by using the Foundation Center Cooperating Collection. Use the search strategy outlined in this chapter to conduct your search.

    Try to find at least three potential sponsors for your project: an independent or community foundation, a corporate foundation, and a government source. Obviously, if you can find more sources that seem to be a match, do so. You can save your search in your electronic or print notebook for future reference.

  2. Download multiple copies of Worksheet 4.1 Report on Funding Sourcesand fill in the information for the sponsors that seem to be the best matches for your project. Enter this information into your electronic or print notebook so that you have an easily accessible record of your search for future reference.

    If you have particularly long RFPs/RFAs or program announcements, you may want to use the Querying Strategy for Interpreting RFPs/RFAs or Program Announcements to determine if the sponsor is worth pursuing. Keep the results of your Querying Strategy in your electronic or print notebook so that you have a record of your analysis.

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