SUU subscribes to the Foundation Directory Online Professional (FDO) database. The FDO database includes information about the largest 10,000 public and private foundations in the U.S. The database provides basic information for each foundation including: contact information, giving priorities, geographic concentration, dollar amount of average awards, and how to apply for a grant.
FDO also provides full text access from more than 250,000 IRS 990 forms, 80,000 detailed funder profiles, half a million recently awarded grants, RFPs, key staff affiliations, publications, news and job postings.
NOTE: Our contract with the Foundation Center limits campus access to computer workstations in the Gerald R. Sherratt Library.
Search the Foundation Direction Online:
Comprehensive information on private foundation funding, corporate giving programs, and grant-making public charities. (Restricted: accessible from Sherratt Library computers only)
Below you'll find a link to Foundation Directory online with brief video tours including FDO Tour, Search Functionality, Power Search, Visualization Tools, and Search Grants, and a PDF guide created by the Foundation Center for using the Foundation Directory Online. (All pages are copyrighted by the Foundation Center and are not to be altered.)
The Foundation Center's Guide to Proposal Writing by
In the sixth edition of our essential Guide, author Jane C. Geever provides detailed instructions on preparing successful grant proposals. Incorporating the results of 40 interviews with grantmakers across the nation, the Guide reveals their priorities in reviewing submissions and provides insight into what makes a winning proposal. The Guide outlines the entire proposal-writing process: Pre-Proposal Planning Tips-This helps you decide when your nonprofit is ready to raise funds and determine how to best define your project. Components of the Proposal-Review actual cover letters, project descriptions, budgets, and examples of important follow-up communications with prospective donors. Guidance from Grantmakers-Interviews highlight new trends in grantmaking: preferred proposal formats, funder cultivation strategies, tips on re-submitting a rejected request, and on how to capture and sustain a grantmaker's interest. To illustrate key points, excerpts from successful grant proposals are inserted throughout the Guide. And a complete model proposal is included in the appendix. An updated bibliography features selected resources on proposal development, including web and print sources. Three new chapters are added to address the impact of online innovations on the grantmaking process, and to provide additional insights and tips on the funders' "due diligence" proposal review process. Established in 1956, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants-a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, educations, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthrophy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 450 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundation, and educational institution nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230. Book jacket.
Foundation Grants to Individuals by
Ideal for libraries and financial aid offices, the latest print edition features over 9,600 entries with current information for individual grantseekers--Foundation Name, Address, Contact, Program Description, Grant Amount, Application Guidelines, and more. Foundations are organized alphabetically, by state.
Grantseeker's Guide to Winning Proposals by
Published for development officers, nonprofit board members, fundraising consultants, and others in pursuit of grants from U.S. foundations, this guide provides real-world proposals that resulted in funding for a variety of needs, including general operating support, program development, staff salaries, and program evaluation. The featured proposals request anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000 in funding and were approved by international grantmakers such as the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, large regional funders such as the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, corporate donors such as the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, and local funders (including family foundations).
990 Tax Forms
EIN (Employer Identification Number)
EIN is the number assigned to each foundation and public charity by the Internal Revenue Service. If you know the Employer Identification Number of the grantmaker you want to look up, enter it in the EIN box. The EIN should be entered in the search field without a hyphen.
IssueLab
​Foundation Center service providing access to case studies, evaluations, white papers and issue briefs.
NAICS
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.
Search techniques
There are three Boolean operators that can be incorporated into a search:AND, OR, and NOT. Each of these can be used in the Name, City, Zip, and EIN fields (although not all three of them will be useful in every field).
Wildcards can be used to search for variations on words. An asterisk (*)allows you to find words with variations on several letters at the beginning or end of a word. For example, Am* in the Name field will bring up American Equine Foundation, the Al-Ameen Foundation, the God Bless America fund, etc. A question mark (?) allows you to find variations on a single letter and is most useful if you are uncertain of the spelling of a word. For example, minn?apolis allows you to find Minneapolis, even if you are uncertain if the second vowel is an e or an i.