Foundations

What Foundations shows

Foundations, in the Find menu, lists private foundations and what they've funded, from the tax returns they file with the IRS (Form 990-PF). It covers private foundations based in California, and foundations in other states that have given to California organizations. Foundations is part of the Professional plan.

Keep two things in mind:

• Tax returns are public 12 to 18 months after the year they cover, so this is a record of past giving, not a list of open grants.
• Unverified means no one has checked the foundation's website details yet. Verified means someone has. Verified foundations are listed first.

Search and fit

Type part of a foundation's name and choose Search. Pick a county in the County menu to see only foundations based there, or Based outside California for the out-of-state ones; All foundations shows every one. Tick Accepts unsolicited applications to see only foundations that say they take applications, and Hide individual-only funders to leave out those that only give scholarships and awards to people. Tick Hide invitation-only funders to leave out foundations that only fund organizations they invite (see Invitation-only foundations). Tick Only ones I'm tracking to see just the foundations you've given a status.

Pick a client in the Client menu to see each foundation's likely fit for that client, best fit first. Fit is Strong, Possible or Weak, based on how much the foundation gives to the client's focus areas, where it gives, how its usual award compares with the client's preferred award size, and how open it is to new grantees. A client needs program areas in its Eligibility profile to get a fit.

A foundation's page

Choose a foundation's name to open its page. Not every foundation lists its grants in a filing we can read; when one doesn't, its page says so.

• Likely fit for the client you picked, and why.
• Giving: typical award, usual range, largest grant, average a year and the share of new grantees.
• How to apply: what the foundation says to send, its deadlines and restrictions, as written in its own filing.
• What it funds and Where it gives.
• Recent grants: the organizations it funded. Similar ones to your client are marked.
• Past grantees: every organization it paid in the years on file, largest total first, with how many grants and in which years. Choose one to see each grant and what it was for, or search by name, city or purpose.

Grants to people, such as scholarships, are listed apart and not counted in the giving figures.

Keep track of a foundation

Each foundation's page also keeps your own record of it, the way you keep a client's. Only people in your account see it.

• Where it stands: Researching, Reached out, In conversation, Applied, Funded or Not a fit. Choose one to start tracking the foundation; its card in Foundations shows it. For an invitation-only foundation the steps are Researching, Intro requested, Invited, Applied, Funded or Declined. Undo appears for a few seconds after a change, and Stop tracking clears it.
• Next follow-up: the day to get back in touch. It also shows on the foundation's card, on the Calendar and in Alerts from two weeks before. The daily email reminds you a week before, the day before and on the day. To stop the reminders, choose Edit, then Clear date.
• Program officers: the people you talk to there, with title, email and phone. They also show on the Program officers page.
• Notes about the relationship.
• Activity: log a note, call, email or meeting with its date. Each status change is added for you, so you can see how the relationship has moved.
• Documents: letters of inquiry, guidelines or anything else you keep for this funder. Drop files on the panel or choose Add files.

Program officers

Program officers, in the top bar, lists everyone you know at a foundation, with their title, email, phone, the foundation they work at and where your relationship with that foundation stands. Everyone in your account sees the same list.

• Choose Add program officer, search for the foundation and pick it from the list, then fill in their name and anything else you know.
• Type in Search to find someone by name, title or foundation.
• Choose a foundation's name to open its page. Choose Edit to change someone's details, or Remove to take them off (Undo appears for a few seconds).

It's the same list as Program officers on each foundation's page, so a person you add in one place shows in the other.

What a card says about the foundation

Under its name, each foundation card has a short description of the foundation, with a small line above it that says where the words came from:

• From the foundation's website: the foundation's own description of itself, from its homepage or About page. Choose the line to open that page. We read each website again about once a month.
• From its IRS filing: what the foundation wrote about its own work on its tax return, when it has no website we could read.
• From a review of its website: the focus we noted when we last looked at its website.
• From its IRS filings: a summary of the grants it has made, when it describes itself nowhere else.

Before you apply, check the foundation's own website or filing for its current priorities.

Track or start an application

Each foundation card has two buttons:

• Track starts keeping a record of the foundation, set to Researching. It then shows under Only ones I'm tracking. Change where it stands on the foundation's page.
• Start application adds it to Grants, with your other grants, as a foundation grant for a client, and opens a new proposal for it in Writing. With more than one client, pick the client first. Clients that already have it get a link to their grant instead.

The foundation's page has Start application too.

On an invitation-only foundation, How to get introduced takes the place of Start application until you mark it Invited.

Invitation-only foundations

Some foundations pick the organizations they fund and don't take applications from organizations they haven't asked. Their tax filing says so, or their own guidelines or website do. Their cards say Invitation only.

1. Choose How to get introduced on the card. The foundation's page opens at a short explanation, the board and staff named in its tax filing, and its website and contact if it lists them.
2. Choose Request an introduction and answer a few questions: whether someone on the board knows someone there, an organization the foundation already funds can introduce you, or nobody knows them yet; then who, and how.
3. Choose Make the letter. A letter opens in Writing with your organization's details filled in. Replace the parts in [brackets] before it goes out. The foundation is marked Intro requested.
4. When the foundation invites you to apply, mark it Invited. Start application comes back.

When a foundation's filing doesn't say whether it takes applications, its card keeps Start application. Check its guidelines or website before you apply. For more, read When a funder says no unsolicited proposals.