CHAPTER 4
SOME IDEAS ABOUT THE RESEARCH YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IF YOU WANT TO GO AFTER THEIR BUCKS WITH ANY HOPE OF SUCCESS

The purpose of the research process is to target potential funding sources that appear to most appropriately fit your specific needs. This can be thought of as a process of elimination, in which you start big and focus down to those prospective funders with whom you can establish common ground.

If you’re serious about looking for resources, we suspect that you’ll end up spending more time doing research in the Nonprofit Resource Library than you ever anticipated. We also suspect it will be time well spent, since the single most prevalent reason that proposals for funding fail is because they request money for something outside the prospective funder’s guidelines.

According to the California Community Foundation, some proposals sent to them indicate little more than the would-be applicant’s assumption that the Foundation has some money to spend. It takes more than that to get a grantmaker’s money. It’s true that funders can be hard to pin down sometimes, that their guidelines change or are subject to varied interpretation on their part, but it’s equally true that applicants “ain’t doin’ their homework,” as one federal bureaucrat once said.

Following are six items to consider in narrowing down your possibilities. Each is an important facet of making a judgment about whether to approach a grantmaker. All of them, together with the right answers to the questions raised, should move you closer to common ground.

1. What fields of interest does the funder appear to support through its grantmaking? This could refer to specific target populations as well as programs. Are the fields of interest narrowly or broadly defined? Are they consistent over a number of years in retrospect? Is there a fit between their interests and your pursuits?
   
   
2. Does their grantmaking have geographic limitations? Do they abide by these limitations or make an occasional exception? This factor should not be ignored. Most funders impose some type of geographical imprint on their spending, and if you are not located in the requisite spot, you won’t get their money. For example, the California Community Foundation consistently receives proposals from organizations all over the world, even though its grantmaking is geographically restricted.
   
   
3. Is there a fit in terms of the type of support your organization is seeking — seed funding, capital or equipment grants, general operating funds and so on — and what they are willing to fund?
   
   
4. Are you the type of recipient they like to fund? This relates not only to the type of organization yours is, such as a hospital, performing arts group or the Boy Scouts, but may also include whether or not you receive a substantial amount of government or United Way funding, either of which could be a plus or minus depending on who you are approaching.
   
   
5. Is the amount of your request within their comfort zone for grants? Virtually all funders have such a comfort zone or dollar range within which most of their grants fall. If you need more than they appear willing to fund, what are the implications? Will you need more than one funder? A smaller program on your part?
   
   
6. Are you aware of the protocol for applying? Are you sending them what they require when they require it? If the prospective funder has a required format, you have to adhere to it. Remember, many funders have specific deadlines for receipt of proposals. If you miss them, you’ll also miss any money that might have been forthcoming.
   
   

Many of the research publications cited in this handbook will either provide you with answers to the questions just posed or lead you to other resources to get answers (these might be additional documents or people). You’ll need the answers before you can make an intelligent decision about approaching a prospective funder. Here are a few more comments about research strategies:

• Much of your work will involve cross-referencing publications. You’re not going to find a single, all-encompassing publication with all the answers.
  
  
• You will often find that the introductions to resource publications will provide you with excellent overview information, including solid annotated bibliographies. So do yourself a favor and take the time to read the introductions to the following, each of which will be referenced elsewhere in this document: Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, Foundation Directory and the National Directory of Corporate Giving. As in all matters, information is strength, and in funding research, acquiring this type of information will strengthen your research tactics.
  
  
• Consider local funding sources first. It makes good sense, for instance, to approach local foundations before or in addition to larger, less geographically restricted foundations not necessarily located in the metropolitan Los Angeles area.
  
  
• If going after general operating funds, you will probably need to approach more than one prospective funding source to underwrite needed costs for a project or your organization, especially if costs are substantial.
  
  
• If you have a particularly difficult type of support to fulfill, such as deficit reduction or an emergency loan, you’re going to find slim pickings out there. There just aren’t a lot of “Funders for Foundering Nonprofits” among us. Take heart, though—some foundations will consider deficit reduction. Take a look at the Index of Types of Support in the FC Search database and the Foundation 1000, profiled in CHAPTER 8, and you’ll see a category for deficit funding.
  
  
• Don’t limit yourself when defining your funding needs. Come up with as many descriptive terms for your organization or program as possible to use when consulting research publications. Only when you get to the point of approaching a prospective funder with a proposal will it make sense to narrow your focus.
  
  
• Research is a great job for some volunteers. We constantly hear about organizations not knowing how to involve volunteers effectively and about volunteers not being well utilized by nonprofits. This is an opportunity to change things for the better. The Grantseeking Basics class offered by the Center for Nonprofit Management is a great way to get volunteers oriented to the grantseeking research process. Schedule and online registration are located at http://www.cnmsocal.org/library/.
  
  
• Develop a clear, strong approach to your organization’s needs (based on a clear, strong awareness of community or participant or client needs) so that those working with you can undertake research as suggested above.
  
  
• Keep a paper trail or good, clear notes so that you don’t duplicate work, and so that you know where you found your information and can update it as needed.