Private Funding / Foundations
Foundations provide funding, in the form of grants, to other organizations.
Most are private foundations. These nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations have their own funding and are managed by their own trustees. They provide funding to serve the common good, and most fund only 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Family foundations, corporate foundations, and operating foundations fall into this category.
Follow these pointers when working with foundations:
- Conduct Research: Find out which foundations fund projects similar to yours, and target those foundations only. You can learn more about private foundations by reviewing the data they submit to the Internal Revenue Service.
- Establish Relationships: Get to know grants officers. Cultivate them and build a working relationship. Before you prepare a grant application, meet with them and ask for feedback on your ideas. Then structure your application according to their input.
- Plan Ahead: The grant-making process is a slow one, so use grants to meet long-term needs. Expect to wait several months or more for a response to your proposal. Set up a timeline with deadlines for grant applications. The timeline will ease the grant-writing process and, after the first couple of years, will enable you to project income from multi-year grants.
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