Where to Find Grants: Part 4: RFP Bulletin

Go to http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/fundingsources/rfp.html and click on the word “Newsletters” toward the end of the first paragraph. Then use the online form to sign up for the RFP Bulletin and any other free newsletters of interest to you.

Philanthropy News Digest’s (PND) RFP Bulletin is sent out via email every Friday afternoon. It typically contains 10-20 of the most recently-released, well-publicized, privately-funded grant opportunities. It has recently been revised and is now presented by topic area for more convenient browsing. This is a tremendous resource offered at zero cost by The Foundation Center—the major leader in the world of private grants information. Of course, the newsletter contains links for more information in addition to a title line (caution: the exact grant program title is not always contained here), brief summary, and posted and deadline dates.

As with the CHHCS and Grant Wrangler alerts, the RFP Bulletin provides you with an excellent means for staying abreast of some of the more widely known grant opportunities as they become available. Quick note, though, the RFP Bulletin will provide you with grants from a wide range of topic areas. Hence, some weeks you may find several physical activity or health-related gems, but other weeks there may be none at all.

If you’d prefer not to submit your email address, the RFP Bulletin is also accessible online at http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/. I would encourage you to take some time to explore foundationcenter.org because The Foundation Center offers a very wide range of services—some free, some fee-based.

The Foundation Directory Online (http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/fundingsources/fdo.html) is the largest database of private (that’s foundation and corporate) funders, with information on more than 98,000 funders. It is a fee-based service, though. Unfortunately, the cheapest levels, which limit access to just the 10,000 largest donors in the nation, do not tend to drill down enough to meet the needs of most schools or smaller local organizations. Those organizations often require the more costly, higher-level subscriptions in order to access a broader listing of funders, but then the cost may become unaffordable depending on the organization’s budget. If you have the funds to subscribe, AND staff members willing and able to use the subscription regularly, however, it is a tremendously rich database.

Training is among the other services and products The Foundation Center offers. While there are a range of fee-based options, the Center also offers a FREE Proposal Writing Short Course which you can access here: http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/index.html. The content is aimed at writing strong private funder proposals. It’s important to note that while there are often major similarities between the way private and government grant proposals are written, there are also significant differences. Hence, not all of the information in the course may be transferrable to government proposals, and some key elements needed for writing government proposals may not be included. That being said, The Foundation Center is both highly and widely regarded for its expertise in the private funding arena, and I am certain this course is worth you time if you’re looking for some writing tips.

If you’ve had experience with The Foundation Center and/or used its resources in the past, please share under Comments! Your insight is very valuable to us! :o)