Eye on FDO

Haven't Tried Power Search Yet?

Well, what are you waiting for?

We've been testing FDO Professional Power Search in "beta" for a month now, and we've gotten some fantastic feedback from the survey. There have been plenty of compliments, but also plenty of useful suggestions for making it even better. We welcome all these comments, and I want to take this opportunity to encourage those of you who haven't yet checked it out to do so today.

For a limited time, Power Search is available to FDO users at all subscription levels. After you log in, just click the "Preview the new FDO" link, then try out a search. Enter a keyword or phrase in the search field and you'll see results from nine Foundation Center databases:

• Grantmakers
• Companies
• Grants
• 990s
• RFPs
• News from PND
• Jobs
• PubHub reports
• Nonprofit literature

From your results list, you can begin narrowing your search using the guided search tools on the left-hand menu. Drill down to a specific database, then further refine your results with FDO index terms (everything from grantmaker or recipient geographic location to fields of interest to grant amount ranges and much more). You can also take step back by removing a search term without having to go back and start your search over.

Once you've tried it out, be sure to tell us what you think in the Power Search survey, accessible via a link at the top of the search and results screens.

New Guided Tours

New this week for Foundation Directory Online: Guided tours with audio narration!

These new tours help recent subscribers get acquainted with FDO's search terms and features, but veteran users should also check them out to see about recent enhancements and pick up some tips for their funding searches.

I encourage everyone to try one out. There are tours for each of the four Professional-level databases: Grantmakers, Companies, Grants, and 990s. Even if you've been using FDO for years, you might find a new wrinkle to help you make your searches more effective. And if you're new to FDO, they're the perfect place to start.

http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/fdoguidedtour/

Introducing Professional Power Search!

The future is here. It's Professional Power Search and it's one of the most significant new Foundation Directory Online enhancements to date. With Power Search, Professional subscribers can search across nine Foundation Center databases at once to identify more opportunities than ever before!

Power Search is an essential tool for anyone researching a potential donor, looking for new prospects in a particular subject area, or seeking more information on any issue of importance. Why? Because it puts the full power of the Foundation Center in your hands. You'll see a summary of all matches from anywhere within our vast knowledge base on the field of philanthropy. That includes FDO's grantmakers, companies, grants, and 990s databases, as well as our unique databases of philanthropy news, RFPs, nonprofit jobs, foundation publications, and nonprofit literature. One search, multiplied by nine databases, equals powerful results!

But that's not all. The new FDO also enables all subscribers to fine-tune their prospect lists with instant recaps of matches—by key data fields—for every search. With this intuitive new feature, you can quickly and easily refine your search by the exact subset of results you're most interested in.

For a limited time, all of these great new features are available to all subscribers as a "beta." Just click the "preview the new FDO" link on the FDO Home Screen to test-drive the grantseeker's ultimate power tool. And be sure to tell us what you think by completing our quick, seven-question survey.

Coming Soon...

...a whole new way to search FDO and find what you're looking for. Read my next blog post, next week, for details!

Economic Crisis Information

Wondering how the current economic crisis is affecting your current prospects and past donors? FDO's grantmaker profiles now include "forecasts" to this effect, when available, within a new Economic Crisis Information section. This data has been compiled from the public announcements made by grantmakers about how they plan to respond to the recession. The Economic Crisis Information section can be found near the top of a grantmaker profile, below the At A Glance section.

New Search Fields for All Subscribers!

Are you ready for this year's first round of new enhancements? Well, here's the scoop: now you can search for grantmakers, companies, and grants by congressional district and grants by grantmaker state! In all, this increases the number of search fields in FDO from 49 to 53. Whether you're a grantseeker looking for funding prospects, a grantmaker looking for funding partners, or a researcher studying the field, we think this added flexibility will help inform your work in new ways.

Exporting Tool Enhancement

I have great news for those of you who use FDO's exporting tool: your spreadsheet file will now contain complete contact and address information when you export data from a grantmaker search results list. In all, up to nine new data fields will appear in addition to the original five, grantmaker name, city, state, total giving, and total assets.

As with the funder-specific alert service that we added to FDO earlier in the week, this enhancement was also a frequent subscriber request. In the interest of serving you better, we're pleased to oblige.

Announcing FDO Alerts!

Today, we debuted an exciting new service for FDO Professional subscribers. Now you can sign up to receive alerts on the grantmakers of your choice! FDO Alerts are delivered via e-mail and contain information on profile and status changes; details on newly posted grants; links to new 990 filings; and links to newly posted news articles, job openings, RFP announcements, and publications. Look for the "Add to My Alerts" option in the Tools section of any grantmaker profile.

The addition of a funder-specific alert service has been a popular request for some time now; the results of our last two FDO user surveys clearly show this. We're happy to make this wish a reality and we're sure that FDO Alerts will help you stay current like never before. To let us know what you think, click the Comments link below.

New! Congressional District Mapping

FDO's interactive mapping tool just got even better. Today, we added a new geographic display option for state maps that enables FDO Professional subscribers to map a funder's grants by U.S. congressional district! As with our three other state-level geographic display options—county, city, and ZIP code—you can continue drilling down to view a list of recipients specific to a particular congressional district, a list of grants specific to a particular recipient, and finally an individual grant record.

The ability to map grants by congressional district provides yet another way for you to clarify your understanding of a funder's giving and is sure to be especially useful if you're a grantmaker, policymaker, or philanthropic researcher. I hope you like it! To share your thoughts, click the Comments link below.

New! Mapping and Charting

I'm excited to announce that we've added two new tools for FDO Professional subscribers. Now you can map and chart the distribution of a funder's recently awarded grants!

Our interactive mapping tool enables you to view grant dollars on a U.S. or world map and drill down to see disbursements by county, city, or ZIP code. Our interactive charting tool enables you to view a bar chart breakdown of grants by recipient type or primary subject and drill down to second and third levels of detail. Look for the new Map Grants and Chart Grants tabs at the top of FDO's grantmaker records.

These new features will help you focus your fundraising strategy like never before and I hope you're as enthusiastic about them as I am. To share your thoughts with us, click the "Tell Us What You Think" link at the top of any mapping or charting screen or click the Comments link below.