How to Use Instrumentl for Grant Research (and Find Fits Faster!)

One of the most crucial aspects of an effective grant strategy is identifying compatible funders. As I’ve said many times, it’s important to identify funders whose programmatic and geographic priorities match yours. If your nonprofit implements arts education programs in Atlanta, you want to find funders who have funded (you guessed it) arts education programs in Atlanta. However, in the past, it’s been hard to sift through reams of 990s to identify these best matches.

Thankfully, Instrumentl has made grant research so much easier. They use publicly available tax data, presented in an easy-to-read format, that goes a step further: after you input an organization’s profile (where you operate, the work you do), the system suggests grant and funder matches that might be a fit for your work. While it’s certainly an investment, Instrumentl is a big part of my grant research toolkit. In this post, I’m sharing the ways I use Instrumentl to accelerate my grant research, using features like Matches, profiles, and the Tracker.

Use Instrumentl’s Match feature to find grant opportunities

When you first set up your project in Instrumentl, you’ll identify keywords for your work (e.g., arts and culture, historic preservation), your type of organization (nonprofit, school district, government, college/university), and the specific states/counties in the U.S. where you operate. You can even set preferences for the size grants you’re looking for and the type of funds (project/program, capital, general operating) and funders (corporate, private, government).

Once it’s set up, you’ll be led to the Matches section of Instrumentl, where you can see opportunity matches (grant applications) and funder matches (funder profiles). While not all matches are a good fit at this stage, it’s easy to see the opportunity deadline, eligibility requirements, and other parts of the application process that will allow you to determine whether each opportunity is a good fit for your organization. Sometimes all I need in this section is a few minutes to rule opportunities in or out.

Research funders using Instrumentl’s 990 Report

In the Match section, you can also take a look at the funder’s 990 report, which takes tax data and represents it in charts, graphs, and maps. The profile links out to available funding opportunities, gives an overview of the funder in terms of assets and grant giving, links to many years of 990 PDFs, and gives basic contact information. Then, it graphs key financial statistics, like total giving, giving average/median, and total assets, plus grant sizes over time (both in snapshot and yearly views). Sometimes I can rule a funder out just in this section: For instance, if their median grant award is only $500, it’s not worth a larger nonprofit’s time. (Some guidelines state that you can request a much higher grant award than what they have historically funded, which raises alarm bells–and is another great thing about this level of detail in Instrumentl.)

My favorite part of this report is the ability to see past grantees by state. For my grant research, I download the grantee data (available in a CSV file) and run my own proprietary analysis to drill down to the local level. If I’m looking for funding for a Georgia-based organization that’s not in Atlanta, it’s helpful for me to know, for instance, how many grants (by percentage and dollar amounts) are going to organizations outside the Atlanta metro. Or if I know the funder supports arts, culture, and humanities (based on the NTEE Code report on the profile), I can break down their funding by sub-category (symphony orchestra, museum, etc.). This sometimes reveals that, although a funder might seem like a good fit, they actually only fund children’s museums.

Discover new funders in Instrumentl by researching peer nonprofits

One trick of the grant trade is to identify similar nonprofits and determine which funders have supported their work. It’s possible that, if your programmatic and geographic priorities align, you might also be a good fit. (Yes, this does reveal, in part, how competitive grantseeking can be. Your nonprofit receiving a grant might mean another nonprofit doesn’t. All’s fair in grants and funding! Do remember, though, that much of grantseeking is based on relationships, so even if you’re a good match on paper, you’re best served by establishing and stewarding a relationship with the funder.)

The Past Grantees section in the funder profile allows you to view the profiles for nonprofits, which can also be helpful in my research to identify other funders that might be a good match. Recipient profiles list past awards received by year and link back to the funder profiles. I’ve found several opportunities this way.

And, Instrumental’s search feature allows you to look up any funder and/or recipient by name or EIN, so you don’t have to dive into opportunities in order to see these profiles.

Track deadlines and stay on top of new grant matches

Instrumentl is setting itself apart as the first full-cycle grant platform, and the Tracker is a great way to see this in practice. For each of the opportunities I identify with a grant management client, I ensure I’ve updated the status of the opportunity as “planned,” with a goal submission date. Instrumentl then sends me reminders via email for upcoming applications or when it has identified new matches for one of my projects. This is helpful especially when a funder changes or adds a deadline but doesn’t communicate it directly with the nonprofit. It serves as a great double-check for me to be sure I’m on the right track with our grant pipelines.

Get support from Instrumentl’s great team

Instrumentl has a great team of folks who are supportive by chat, email, and webinars. Any time I have an issue, whether technical or with information in the system, I always hear back. In an age when we’re increasingly talking to robots instead of humans, the human touch in Instrumentl sets it apart.

Try Instrumentl for your grant research (or work with me!)

Whether you’re at a nonprofit or working as a grants consultant, Instrumentl is a worthy, time-saving investment. I’m proud to be an Instrumentl Partner, which means I’m preaching the grantseeking gospel! I’m also able to offer you a benefit for signing up. If you’d like a free 14-day trial, here’s my affiliate link.

Or, if you don’t have the time to sift through all these matches (or don’t want to commit to the cost of the system), I offer funding research packages. Let me take the work off your plate and deliver a set of well-matched, vetted opportunities for your nonprofit. Check out the Plan Your Stops package on my Services page.

How are you currently doing your grant research? Have you tried Instrumentl?

Cover image by Instrumentl