Using Foundations Directory Online Professional

Foundations Directory Online

ProfessionalAvailable at the Olean Public Library

134 N. 2nd StOlean, NY 14760

What is Foundation Directory Online?

Nation’s leading online funding research tool Developed by a national nonprofit service

organization that was founded over 50 years ago. Gives one the ability to keyword search for

funders. Ability to map a funder’s grants across the US

and the world.

Access to Foundation Directory

May only be accessed in the library. May access on the library computers or by using

your laptop and connecting to the library Wi-Fi. Access the library website at oleanlibrary.org

o Click on Reference tabo Select “Online Resources”o Click on “Log In” link below Foundation Directory Online

listing

Search Grantmakers (people who give out money)

Contains approximately 110,000 profiles of private foundations, grant making public charities, and corporate giving programs.

Can search on area of grant makers interest (e.g. “homeless”)

Also can search on geographical area grant maker gives to (e.g. “New York State,” “Cattaraugus County)

Can combine several options to make a more pinpointed list of results

Can also exclude grant makers not accepting applications

Searching Grantmaker by Name

Open the Grantmaker Name Index by clicking on the “View Index” link located beneath its search field title on the “Search Grantmakers” screen.

Searching Grantmaker By Name

At the top of the Index Pane, click the letter of the Grantmaker's name to display all the Grantmakers with that letter.


Scroll down to find the index entry for the name of the Grantmaker you are looking for. Click on it to automatically insert it into the “Grantmaker Name” search field.


Click search (at the bottom of the page). The Grantmaker Search Results screen appears and displays the Grantmaker record matching your search criteria.


Click on the name of the Grantmaker to open the record display screen and view the record.

How Do I Save a Record?

Email to yourself or a

colleague, print, or save to a flash drive

Search for Grantmakers by Fields of Interest and Geographic Focus

Open the “Fields of Interest” Index by clicking on the “View Index” link located beneath its search field title on the “Search Grantmakers” screen.


At the top of the Index Pane, click the letter of your field of interest to display all terms beginning with that letter (you may find some other terms to search in addition to the first one you thought of).

Look how many

different terms there

are for mental health


Scroll down to find the entry for the term or terms you are searching for. Click on the terms to automatically insert it into the “Fields of Interest” search field. (It will automatically put an “or” between the terms.)


Open the Geographic Focus Index by clicking on the “View Index” link located beneath its search field title on the screen.


Scroll down and find the index entry for your state (e.g.. “New York). Click on it to automatically insert it into the “Geographic Focus” field. (You can select more than one. The database would then search for NY or the other state.)


Click “Search”. The Grantmaker Search Results Screen appears and displays a list of grant maker records matching your search criteria.


Click on a grant maker name to open the Grantmaker Record Display Screen and view the record. Save, print, or e-mail the record.

Additional Fields to Search

County, City, Metro Area, Congressional District, and ZIP Code are fields for where the grant maker is located – this is the location of the “headquarters” of the grant makers. (e.g. there are 14 foundations in Cattaraugus County.)

Types of Support is an indexed list of the types of projects funded (e.g. annual campaigns, building renovation, etc.)

Trustees, Officers, Donors is another indexed list of people or corporations that fund or sit on the board of the grant making foundations. (e.g. Microsoft or Bill Gates)

Type of Grant maker may be used to find a specific type of grant maker (e.g. NGO, Public Charity, etc.)

Additional Fields to Search

In addition to the indexed search boxes, there is a drop down box where one can select Total Giving, Total Assets, or Establishment Year. To the right of the box one is able to add values or dates from and to.

There is also a Keyword Search box and a check box which, if checked, will exclude grant makers not accepting applications.

Searching Companies

Similar to searching grantmakers. Able to search by name of corporation,

location of corporation, business type (using SIC classification), officers/directors, subsidiaries, total sales, establishment year, & keyword.

Company details page list the company profile, people involved with the company, 10-K tab (takes you to the EDGAR page with the annual reports for the company), and grant makers (the philanthropic organizations associated with the company)

Searching Grants Similar to searching for grantmakers 1.7 million grants Search for grants by a specific grant maker Identify grants available to a specific geographic

area: state, city, metro area, congressional district, zip code.o Metro area: Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NYo Catt. Co’s Congressional District: 23rd

Searching Grants cont.…

Recipient type – able to identify grants that went to groups dealing with certain subjects (e.g. to provide housing or historic preservation).

Subjects – what subjects the grant deals with (ALS research, libraries)

Types of Support is an indexed list of the types of projects funded (e.g. annual campaigns, building renovation, etc.)

Grant Amount or Years Awarded can also be searched for in the drop down box.

Grant details record also has a tab for information on the grantmaker.

Searching 990s Keyword search scans the IRS document for the

terms, the other search fields scan Foundations Directory Online entries.

In Keyword search field one can use “AND,” “OR,” “AND NOT,” and “NEAR/n” (where the n is replaced with an actual number). o “a NEAR/30 b” means return results that contain word

“a” and word “b” within 30 words of each other.

Power Search Allows you to search across 9 Foundation Center

Databases. Search results are sorted by relevance. Exact

phrase matches will be higher in the list. Enclose a phrase in quotation marks to search an

exact phase. (“adult literacy”) Able to narrow results to just specific databases

by clicking on the left side under “Narrow Your Results” or by entering a phrase in the “Search Within Results” at the top of the page.

Search Tips Asterisk (*) is a “truncation” symbol

o cell* finds cell, cells, cellular, cellulite, etc. o Use it to find both singular and plural phrases (e.g.

child* finds child and children.)o Finds possible Canadian or British spellings of a word

(e.g. theat* will find theater and theatre.)o If you can not remember how to spell something (e.g.

Azer* will find Azerbaijan)o The downfall of truncation is you may get irrelevant

results.

Search Tips cont. To establish relationships between search words

use Boolean operators in all caps.

o AND – means both words must appear in the resultso OR – means one of the words you entered must appear,

but not botho NOT – means words or phases placed after will be

excludedo NEAR/n – will search for words near each other with the

“n” being the number of words separating the two words or phrases.

FAQs Data comes from the IRS forms 990 and 990-PF,

grantmakers websites, annual reports, printed application, and the philanthropic press.

New and updated grantmaker, company, and grant data appears weekly. New grantmaker related news, job opportunities, RFPs, publications, and articles appear daily. New IRS Forms 990 & 990-PF are posted when they become available from the IRS.

All grants listed in the database are worth at least $1,000. An IRS Form 990 is filled out by community foundations

and other public charities. The 990-PF is filled out only by private foundations.

Grants from the federal or state governments are not listed.

Education

Using Foundations Directory Online Professional