New Digital Resources for Nonprofits & Individuals Looking for Grants & Scholarships

Posted on July 12, 2023 at 6:00 am

By Crystal Miller

The library has two new resources for grant seekers from Candid: GuideStar and Grants to Individuals.

You can find grants, fellowships, and scholarships for yourself or your student with Grants for Individuals.

If your nonprofit organization is on the hunt for grants and funding opportunities, stop into the library to access GuideStar and Foundation Directory to help you with your funding research.

These three digital resources are now available for in-library use at all of our libraries, accessible from our reservable computer stations and on personal mobile devices while using the library’s Wi-Fi.

GuideStar

Searching for Nonprofits

With GuideStar, you can search for an organization’s charitable status and get up-to-date information on more than 2 million nonprofits. This is great for anyone looking to donate and wanting to make sure the charitable organization aligns with their values and interests.

And you can dive deeper and get more details about charitable organizations while accessing GuideStar at the library, including GuideStar Pro options.

GuideStar has an impressive quantity and quality of data. Easily search 1.8 million IRS-recognized, tax-exempt organizations and thousands of faith-based nonprofits. With in-dept data you can gather insights on an organization’s financials, people/leadership, mission, and more.

All the data found in GuideStar (as well as in Foundation Directory) is authoritative, derived from validated sources, including 990s and direct reporting, that are verified and updated daily. This robust data encourages productivity (instead of just speed) so that you aren’t wasting your time.

You can also research valuable nonprofit partners to efficiently find organizations that will meet your goals and gain more valuable partnerships.

For example, when searching “The Arc of Spokane” in GuideStar and going to its profile page, you can see the Summary of the organization, their Programs + Results, details regarding their Financials, and Operations information including the hierarchy and names of individuals in specific positions (Figure 1). This detailed, credible information gives you information on organizations that may be of use to you for funding and/or networking.

Claiming & Updating Your Nonprofit

If you have a nonprofit organization, you can attract donors through GuideStar by claiming and updating your organization’s nonprofit profile. When you earn a Seal of Transparency, you give donors the information and confidence they need to support you. The good news is that it’s free.

Grants to Individuals

Find foundations that give scholarships, fellowships, and awards to students, artists, researchers, and individuals. Grants to Individuals (GTI) includes profiles of over 10,000 grant makers with details on funders that provide scholarships, fellowships, and grants.

This online resource has a basic search where you can use descriptive phrases for the funding you’re seeking, such as “Art School Scholarships in Washington State” or “Medical Research Grants in Oregon.” The Advanced Search options let you search multiple fields and select multiple subjects, geographic focus, and more (Figure 2).

You can also search current RFPs (Requests for Proposals) to see what organizations are accepting funding proposals and even subscribe to weekly updates so you never miss a new posting (Figure 3).

When you do your initial search for funding, the results provide a list of grant makers. When you click on one, you are taken to their profile where you will see their funding interests, their background information, contact information, financial information including giving activities, and most importantly, the Applications/RFPs section.

Using the advanced search option, I searched the subject area of “human services” with the geographic focus of “Washington (United States)” and found College Success Foundation based in Issaquah, Washington. On their profile, you can see their Funding Interests (Figure 4), About information, and the Applications/RFPs (Figure 5).

Foundation Directory

You can access comprehensive and current information on more than 240,000 grant makers with tools to find the best grants for your organization with Foundation Directory (Figure 6).

Foundation Directory helps you find:

• Who has money to give
• Who they have given money to in the past
• How much money they are giving and where
• When they accept applications and how
• Who or what they won’t fund

This resource is a powerful tool to connect you to the grant makers that are actively funding organizations like yours. With information from Foundation Directory, you can spend your grant writing time focusing on grant makers that are the most likely to fund your cause.

Candid Learning

With Candid Learning, you can learn more about how to best approach your search for funding, how to write grant proposals, and more.

Candid Learning has live training events, videos, podcasts, and expert advice on how to secure the funding you need. Below are some examples of the free online training events you have access to through this resource (Figure 7).

Along with individuals, Candid Learning is for organizations seeking funding and for grant makers as well. Here are some of the topics you can learn about:

• Proposal writing: Build the essential knowledge and skills to craft effective grant proposals.
• Fundraising: Nonprofits thrive when they have strong, diverse sources of funding.
• Starting a nonprofit: Learn the characteristics of effective nonprofits and assess your readiness.
• Nonprofit transparency: Earn a Seal of Transparency to demonstrate to donors that your organization deserves their trust and support.
• Strengthening your foundation (for funders): Strengthen your grantmaking practices by tapping the practical wisdom of a diverse group of your experienced funding peers.

Books for Grant Writing

Check out this list of books in both digital and print that will help you hone your grant writing:

• Grant Writing for Dummies, by Beverly A. Browning
• Grant Writing for Impact, by Peggy Downs
• The Only Grant-Writing Book You’ll Ever Need, by Ellen Karsh
• How to Write a Grant: Become a Grant Writing Unicorn, by Meredith Noble
• The Grant Writing and Funding Coach: Target and Acquire the Funds You Need, by Deborah Griffiths

Book a Librarian

If you’d like assistance with any of these online resources, you can Book a Librarian for one-on-one help with library staff who can show you how to access and use these grant researching tools to get the most out of them.

Crystal Miller is a Business and Career Development Librarian at Spokane County Library District as well as the Community Librarian for Cheney Library, creating library programs, connecting with the Cheney community, and supporting local businesses and job seekers. In her free time, she enjoys her daily walks with her two dogs, trying out new recipes, and listening to audiobooks on the Libby app!

Tags: adults, artists, books, Candid, charity, funding, grants, Grants to Individuals, GuideStar, instruction, scholarships, students, teens