How to Find New Grant Opportunities
For organizations with a July-June fiscal year, it’s that time again: searching for new grant opportunities to fill out your grant budget and calendar!
There are a variety of paid and free services available. Paid databases vary in cost, and I’ve found the old adage is true: you get what you pay for.
The list below includes my go-to services and tricks. However, the list is by no means exhaustive! I also subscribe to funding opportunity newsletters (Candid’s is one of the best), and there are many other great databases out there.
When reviewing funders, make sure they’re a good match for your organization: the funder should have a history of giving to organizations like yours. This includes geographic location, services provided, and budget size, among other criteria. But that’s a topic for another day!
PAID SERVICES
Instrumentl
A workhorse of a grant search engine, Instrumentl takes into account your organization’s geographic location, services provided, and budget size (remember above how those are the things you need to prioritize to find funders?). Then the system delivers suggested matches for funding opportunities and funders. With each opportunity and funder, you can review an in-depth analysis of the funder’s past giving history. Their grant tracking has also gotten better, allowing you to build your grant budget and keep track of deadlines.
If you’re interested in a free 14-day trial of Instrumentl, use my affiliate link (or code NOMAD50). We both get $50 off one month!
GrantStation
Significantly cheaper than Instrumentl (but not quite as user-friendly), GrantStation allows you to refine your search by multiple criteria and review a basic funder profile. I have access to GrantStation through my Grant Professionals Association membership. I like that I can save a particular set of search criteria and re-run it over time.
FREE SERVICES
990-PF lookups
While government funders publish detailed criteria about how their grants (and contracts for service) are awarded, private foundations are often more of a guessing game. It’s a rare find when you can get a foundation staffer on the phone who is explicit about what program you should apply for, and how much you should ask. So the next best thing is to mine funders’ 990-PF filings (PF stands for “private foundation”). I search for 990-PFs using either the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer (which often has more recent 990-PF data than the IRS).
Grantmakers.io
I forget where I first heard about Grantmakers.io, but it’s a great resource for a quick, easy-to-read reference on funders’ past giving history. The system takes the machine-readable info from 990-PF data and lays it out in a profile for each funder, with easy-to-use filters. Built and maintained by some guy named Chad! I find this is the resource I use the most when I’m talking through a prospective foundation with a client.
OTHER FREE RESOURCES
Your organization’s own grant history
If you’re rebuilding a grant program at your organization (say, after a period of transition or after staff turnover), this is a great place to start. Remember (again) that funders’ past funding is the best predictor of their future funding. That applies to their past giving to your organization! Review your files for why the funder stopped granting to your organization. Did the funder’s giving priorities change? Did your organization change its programming outside the funding area? Does the funder only award grants every two years? Did your organization miss important deadlines? While the first questions would likely rule out the past funder, others might be a reason to reestablish a relationship. And if you don’t have notes in your files, it’s time to give that funder a call!
Benchmark and aspirational organizations
During your organization’s strategic planning process, you probably identified local, regional, and national benchmark and aspirational organizations. That is, organizations that are doing similar work to yours and are probably a similar size (benchmark) and organizations that are doing the work you’d like to do or have grown in a way you’d like to (aspirational). Using a list of these organizations, comb their websites for funders that fit your criteria. This also works for benchmark and aspirational programs.
Other ideas
While I’d discourage a straightforward search engine search (“grants for arts organizations” returns more than 40,000 results on Google), if you’re crafty with your search engine queries, you might be able to narrow those results down. I’ve heard of some grant professionals even using generative AI / large language models to input their program information and request grant matches.
CONCLUSION
Depending on your comfort level with technology, the amount of time and money you have to spend, and your preference in research, there are many ways to find grant opportunities that match your organization’s work.
How do you find new opportunities? I’d love to hear about your must-have resources.