Sector Research: The Foundation Center

A key resource to use when researching foundations is the Foundation Center. The center maintains a comprehensive database on U.S. grant makers and their grants, called The Foundation Directory Online, with over 91,000 U.S. foundations and corporate donors, 1.2 million recent grants, and more than 400,000 key decision-makers. The directory allows subscribers to search for grant makers based on eight different search fields including location, fields of interest, geographic focus, type of grant maker, and name. A tutorial explains how to conduct searches and, more importantly, narrow your searches (e.g., for microenterprise grant makers).

Each foundation in the directory has a Grant Maker Profile, providing contact information and funding specifics along with such searchable fields as the type of grant maker, fields of interest for funding, and type of support available.

The Foundation Center Online Directory as well as the research available on the Foundation Center's website, divides foundations into these four categories:

• Independent Foundations. An independent organization established to aid social, education, religious, or other charitable activities. Most "family foundations" fall in this category and in fact, make up over 50% of all independent foundations.
• Company Sponsored Foundations (also referred to as Corporate Foundations). An independent organization with close ties to the corporation providing the funds. Some companies have corporate direct giving programs instead of a foundation, some have both.
• Operating Foundations. An organization that uses its resources to conduct research or provide a direct service, some also award grants, but this is not their primary purpose. This type of grant maker is common in the health field.
• Community Foundations. A type of public foundation that raises funds from sources to support their grant making activities. They serve a specific geographical area and their assets come from multiple donors. They function like private foundations.