Books and Publications

The Foundation Center's Guide to Proposal Writing, Jane C. Geever and Patricia McNeill, 1997. 213 pages. $34.95. Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10036-3076, (800)424-9836 or fax (212) 807-3677. Covers all aspects of putting together a proposal, from setting funding priorities to proposal packaging. Comments from funders are sprinkled throughout the book.

The Foundation Center's Guide to Grantseeking on the Web, 1998. 392 pages. $19.95. To order, see above. Contains an incredible amount of information on electronic resources available to grantseekers.

The Foundation Center's User-Friendly Guide: A Grantseeker's Guide to Resources, Margaret Morth and Sarah Collins, eds., 1996. 40 pages. $14.95. To order, see above. Explains in easy to understand terms all the print and electronic information available for research. Although the focus is primarily foundations, it covers corporate, government, and individual giving, as well as how to write a proposal.

Foundation Fundamentals: A Guide for Grantseekers, 6th Edition, Mitchell F. Naufts, ed., 1999, 240 pages, $24.95. To order, see above. Provides a good overview of the process and strategies for raising funds from foundations. Includes information on different types of foundations and how much they contribute in comparison to all giving. Carefully describes how to conduct research (with sample forms from their directories) as well as how to present your idea to funders.

Grassroots Grants: An Activist's Guide to Proposal Writing, Andy Robinson, 1996, 194 pages, $25.00. Chardon Press, www.josseybass.com. Describes just what it takes for grassroots groups to win grants, including how grants fit into a complete fundraising program, using the grant proposal as an organizing plan, designing fundable projects, building the proposal piece by piece, and more. Includes 4 sample proposals with accompanying critiques.

Program Planning & Proposal Writing, Norton J. Kiritz, 1980. 48 pages, $4 plus $3 shipping. The Grantsmanship Center, PO Box 17220, Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213)482-9860 or fax (213) 482-9863. One of the most widely used and respected guides to effective proposal writing.

The Gransmanship Center Magazine. The Grantsmanship Center in Los Angeles, CA, publishes this excellent free quarterly newsletter. To subscribe, go to www.tgci.com.

Directories and other Research Resources

In addition to the directories listed below, directories of grantmakers are available for most individual states, and some regions and cities. A bibliography of State and Local Funding Directories is available online at the Foundation Center's web site, www.fdncenter.org. Go to the "Learning Lab" and click on "Topical Reading Lists" and then find "State and Local Funding Directories" under "Directories".

Directory of Funding Sources for Grassroots River and Watershed Conservation Groups, River Network, 2003. This directory, available to Partners as a searchable database, includes profiles of potential private, corporate, and federal funding
sources for river and watershed groups.

Foundation Center Directories and website. The Foundation Center publishes directories of funding opportunities, including:

1. The Foundation Directory, published annually in March, features 10,000 of the nation's largest foundations and costs $215 plus shipping.
2. The Foundation Directory, Part 2, also published in March, lists smaller foundations, and costs $185 plus shipping.
3. The National Guide to Funding for the Environment & Animal Welfare, an excellent resource published every other year in June, lists over 2,000 foundation and corporate funders and costs $115 plus shipping.
4. National Directory of Corporate Giving profiles nearly 3,000 corporate philanthropic programs and costs $195.
5. FC Search, a CD-Rom offers a comprehensive list of over 50,000 active U.S. foundations and corporate giving programs and costs $1,195.

These resources are available for sale from the Foundation Center, 79 5th Ave., New York, NY 10003, (212) 620-4320, (800) 424-9836 and can also be used at no charge at the Foundation Center libraries in New York City, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Cleveland and San Francisco. The FC also has 213 Cooperating Collections, usually libraries or nonprofit information centers, where the public can access these resources. For the Cooperating Collection Center closest to you, call the FC's toll-free line or visit the Web site at http://fdncenter.org. The Web site also contains links to hundreds of foundation web sites, "foundation folders" with profiles of foundations without web sites, and 990-PF files. Click on "Foundation Finder" and search by foundation name.

Grantmakers Directory 2000/2001.
This directory, updated annually, lists over 200 funders of social and economic justice, including many who fund environmental projects. It also has a great section on writing an effective proposal and a great list of online resources. Available from the National Network of Grantmakers, 1717 Kettner Blvd., #110, San Diego, CA 92101 for $50 plus shipping. Call (619) 231-1348, or e-mail: nng@nng.org.

Watershed Resource Directory. This online, searchable directory of funding sources created and maintained by the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at Boise State University includes information on funding programs available for federal, state (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska), private and other funding sources. While it is designed specifically for groups in the Northwest, much of the information it contains is applicable nationwide. The list of federal grant programs is particularly good. Go to http://efc.boisestate.edu/watershed/.

Grantmaker Networks

The Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA), at www.ega.org, is a voluntary association of foundations and giving programs concerned with the protection of the natural environment. From the home page, follow the "Who We Are" link to "Membership List". Here you'll find a list of over 200 EGA members; the members whose names are underlined have their own web sites. Click on an underlined gname to follow the link to their site.

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, at www.rag.org, is a national service association for philanthropy, whose members are 25 regional associations of grantmakers (RAGS) across the country. In their city, state or multistate regions, RAGs help local grantmakers practice more effective philanthropy and often provide good information and training opportunities for local grantseekers.

The Funding Exchange, at www.fex.org, is a network comprised of 15 foundations throughout the United States and a national office in New York City. All are committed to funding progressive grassroots groups whose work challenges and alters existing economic and social relationships and institutions which are inequitable and undemocratic. You can click on their name and be connected directly to their Web site.

National Network of Grantmakers at www.nng.org is an organization of individuals involved in funding social and economic justice. NNG works with grassroots allies to eliminate discrimination and oppression and to restore the health of the planet for future generations. Their website has a list of network members ( click on "Who we are" and then on "The Network") which will allow you to go directly to the web sites of many potential funders. There is also a great list of online resources for funders and grantseekers.

Grantsmanship Training

The Foundation Center, 79 5th Ave., New York, NY 10003, (800) 424-9836, http://fdncenter.org. The Foundation Center has some basic online training (click Online Library, then Online Training, and Proposal Writing Course) on its web site, but the real attraction is its hands-on training programs on the funding research process, proposal writing and local grantmakers workshops at all five of its offices. (New York, NY, (212) 620-4230; Washington, DC, (202) 331-1400; Atlanta, GA, (404) 880-0094; Cleveland, OH, (216) 861-1933; and San Francisco, CA, (415) 397-0902). Course cost is usually $175/day. Check the web site for updates on current course offerings in your area.

The Fundraising School, Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, 550 W. North St., Suite 301, Indianapolis, IN 46202, (800) 962-6692, www.philanthropy.iupui.edu. The Fundraising School offers college credit for its courses, as well as a certificate in Fund Raising Management for those completing the required courses. It has excellent two-to-five day courses on proposal writing and related topics with a money-back guarantee! Partial scholarships are offered for organizations with annual budgets under $1,000,000. Courses are offered at a number of different locations around the country. Check the web site for current offerings.

The Grantsmanship Center, 1125 W. Sixth St., Fifth Floor, P.O. Box 17220, Los Angeles, CA 90017, (213) 482-9860, www.tgci.com.
The Center specializes in providing practical training in grantsmanship. Their courses are offered all over the country. TGC offers free, continuing support to its training program graduates.

Association of Fundraising Professionals, 1101 King St., Suite 700, Alexandria, VA 22314, (703) 684-0410, www.afpnet.org.
The national office of AFP offers several survey courses for fundraising professionals and a large annual conference, but of greater interest to grantseekers are the one-and two-day workshops sponsored locally by the 157 chapters of AFP throughout the US, Mexico and
Canada. For example, the annual New York Fundraising Day, sponsored by the Greater New York Chapter, offers a whole track on Foundation Giving and another on Research. Check the Events Calendar (under About AFP), which lists events by month, and if you don't see anything listed in your neighborhood, find the nearest chapter on the website and get in touch directly!

National Council of Nonprofit Associations, 1030 15th Street, NW, #870, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 962-0322, www.ncna.org.
NCNA provides a state-by-state listing of member state associations, such as the Nonprofit Resource Center in Atlanta, GA, providing nonprofit support services. Many of these associations have training programs in grantsmanship and proposal writing. To find the state association nearest you, call NCNA or click the "State Associations" button on their web site.

Other Useful Web Sites

We have tried to choose some of the best sites out there from among the plethora of sites available. The sites below are ones that we think will be around for awhile, offer free or very low cost resources, and are well managed and frequently updated.

www.communityfoundationlocator.org, maintained by the Council on Foundations, provides a map which you can click on to find community foundations near you.

www.fundraisinginfo.com is a commercial site which charges a fee to locate foundation, corporation, and individual prospects in Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, central Florida, Greater Houston, Texas, western North Carolina, and Sacramento and northern California.

www.fundsnetservices.com, Fundsnet Online Services is a commercial site created in 1996 for the purpose of providing nonprofit organizations with information on financial resources available on the internet. There are lots of good articles on proposal writing and grantseeking, as well as lists, with links, of national, community, regional, and state funders.

http://fdncenter.org, the Foundation Center's site, is without a doubt the premier web site for foundation research and how-to information. The web site allows you to search for individual foundations by name, state, or city, and also permits a "sector" search by key word. There are links to thousands of foundations web sites and form 990-PFs, lists of books, free online tutorials, and much, much more.

www.foundations.org, a service of the Northern California Community Foundation, has a list, with links, of over 100 foundations, many of them corporate.

www.GrantsDirect.com is a commercial site which charges a fee to locate foundations in Maryland and the District of Columbia. It has a great page of "Resources" and a good article on "Research 101".

www.GrantSmart.org is an informational web site operated by Canyon Research that provides free on-line tax information about each of the over 60,000 private foundations that file IRS Form 990-PF. The searchable database allows you to search by name of foundation, location, or zip code.

www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Memorial/grantshp, the Grants Information Center at the University of Wisconsin, while especially useful for Wisconsin grantseekers, is a treasure trove of information on grants and grantseeking. It includes a list of searchable databases which can be used to locate grants in specific program areas.

www.proposalwriter.com, the site of Deborah Kluge, and independent consultant, has a wealth of good information and links on writing grant requests to foundations and government agencies.

www.richardmale.com. This Fundraising Consultant site has some excellent advice on foundation fundraising. Click on “Grants and Proposals” to see a number of very readable and practical “how to” articles.

www.tgci.com, The Grantsmanship Center, has a collection of good articles on proposal writing from past issues of their magazine available on their web site. From the home page, select "TGCI Magazine" and then "Proposal Writing/Grantseeking." Here you'll find articles and advice on topics such as using hard and soft data in proposals, the strengths and weaknesses of standardized proposal formats, integrating outcome evaluation into the program planning process, and how much to pay a consultant for writing proposals. Another great feature is a locator for community foundations. Just enter your state, and you will get a list of all nearby community foundations, with links to many of them.