Eye on FDO

FDO Update Alerts

Today's the first of the month, which means that FDO Update Alerts are e-mailed to Professional subscribers who have opted-in for this monthly service. FDO Update Alerts contain summaries of additions and updates to our grantmaker database during the previous month in five categories: new grantmakers; high growth grantmakers; contact information changes; fields of interest/types of support changes; and leadership changes. To receive FDO Update Alerts, click the Visit Update Central link on the left side of the FDO Home Screen and then enter and submit your e-mail address.

These monthly alerts are useful because they remind Professional subscribers to visit FDO's Update Central to build customized reports for more detail on each month's additions and updates. Update Reports can be customized by state or states in any one of three categories: new grantmakers; high growth grantmakers; and grantmakers with recent changes. Many of our Professional subscribers use these reports to identify new funders and stay current on developments in their state.

FDO Update Alerts shouldn't be confused with FDO Alerts, another exclusive benefit at the Professional subscription level. While FDO Update Alerts are delivered monthly and contain simple summaries of additions and updates to our grantmaker database, FDO Alerts are funder-specific, delivered when updates occur, and contain detailed 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. There's no better way for a grantseeker to keep tabs on current prospects and past donors. To sign up to receive alerts for a grantmaker, click the Add to My Alerts check box located in the Tools section of any grantmaker profile.

More Stats

Last week, I provided my periodic FDO Professional statistical update. As always, the details included the current number of records in our Search Grantmakers database—98,346. I've also been meaning to provide a breakdown of these funders by grantmaker type. Here's that, plus some background information on two of these funder types:

• 73,726 independent foundations
• 12,084 public charities
• 7,791 operating foundations
• 2,569 company-sponsored foundations
• 1,296 corporate giving programs
• 880 community foundations

While you'll find records for all types of foundations at the Basic, Plus, and Premium subscription levels, profiles on public charities and corporate giving programs are found only at the Platinum and Professional tiers. These unique philanthropic vehicles represent a significant source of private institutional funding beyond that of the traditional foundation. Here are the Foundation Center's definitions for each:

In general, a public charity is an organization that is tax-exempt under code section 501(c)(3) and is classified by the IRS as a public charity and not a private foundation. Public charities generally derive their funding or support primarily from the general public in carrying out their social, educational, religious, or other charitable activities serving the common welfare. Some public charities engage in grantmaking activities, although most engage in direct service or other tax-exempt activities. Public charities are eligible for maximum income tax-deductible contributions from the public and are not subject to the same rules and restrictions as private foundations. Some are also referred to as "public foundations" or "publicly supported organizations" and might use the term "foundation" in their names. Only those public charities that engage in grantmaking are included in Foundation Directory Online.

A corporate giving program is a grantmaking program established and administered within a for-profit business organization. Corporate giving programs do not have a separate endowment and their annual grant totals are generally more directly related to current profits. They are not subject to the same reporting requirements as private foundations. Some companies make charitable contributions through both a corporate giving program and a company-sponsored foundation.

By the way, if you're wondering why I didn't list "family foundations" in the list above, it's because we group them together with independent foundations. But if you're searching specifically for this private foundation subset, try entering "family foundation" in the Keyword Search field on the Search Grantmakers Screen in conjunction with your other search criteria. The words "family foundation" will appear in the Additional Descriptor field of a grantmaker profile if a foundation has disclosed that its funds are derived from members of a single family.

Statistical Update

Here's the latest FDO Professional statistical update:

• 98,346 grantmakers
• 495,598 trustees, officers, and donors 
• 1,744,134 grants
• 3,486 companies
• 584,740 keyword-searchable 990s

Here's the latest FDO Professional statistical update:

• 98,346 grantmakers
• 495,598 trustees, officers, and donors 
• 1,744,134 grants
• 3,486 companies
• 584,740 keyword-searchable 990s

Taxonomy Tip

I've mentioned before that the Foundation Center utilizes a standardized taxonomy when indexing, for example, the giving interests of grantmakers and the purpose of grants. This taxonomy is the backbone that enables subscribers to retrieve extremely targeted lists of results. But frequently, users will contact me to make a valid point: with a taxonomy consisting of over 1,100 terms, how does one know which term is being used for a particular area of interest? For example, if you're looking for support for a job-related program, how would you know that this area of interest falls under "Employment" in our taxonomy? Here's a simple tip that I think can help:

When you're stumped, use the Keyword Search field. Let's say you're looking for a grant for a pre-school curriculum program. If you enter "pre-school" in the Keyword Search field on the Search Grantmakers Screen, you'll retrieve a list of grantmaker records containing "pre-school" anywhere in the text of their profiles. Next, open up a few of the records and take a look at the Fields of Interest section. Chances are good that "Education, early childhood education" will be listed. That's the taxonomy term that we assign to funders that support organizations working in the area of pre-school curriculum. You might need to review a few records before you detect a trend that indicates the correct term for your area of interest. Then, you can go back to the Search Grantmakers Screen and select "Education, early childhood education" from the Fields of Interest index and retrieve a targeted list of all grantmakers identified by our editorial staff as supporters of early childhood education-related programs.

If you're a Plus subscriber or higher, I also encourage you to use the Search Grants database in the same way. With over 1.7 million grant descriptions, you'll find plenty of examples showing what taxonomy term is being used for any area of interest.

I've mentioned before that the Foundation Center utilizes a standardized taxonomy when indexing, for example, the giving interests of grantmakers and the purpose of grants. This taxonomy is the backbone that enables subscribers to retrieve extremely targeted lists of results. But frequently, users will contact me to make a valid point: with a taxonomy consisting of over 1,100 terms, how does one know which term is being used for a particular area of interest? For example, if you're looking for support for a job-related program, how would you know that this area of interest falls under "Employment" in our taxonomy? Here's a simple tip that I think can help:

When you're stumped, use the Keyword Search field. Let's say you're looking for a grant for a pre-school curriculum program. If you enter "pre-school" in the Keyword Search field on the Search Grantmakers Screen, you'll retrieve a list of grantmaker records containing "pre-school" anywhere in the text of their profiles. Next, open up a few of the records and take a look at the Fields of Interest section. Chances are good that "Education, early childhood education" will be listed. That's the taxonomy term that we assign to funders that support organizations working in the area of pre-school curriculum. You might need to review a few records before you detect a trend that indicates the correct term for your area of interest. Then, you can go back to the Search Grantmakers Screen and select "Education, early childhood education" from the Fields of Interest index and retrieve a targeted list of all grantmakers identified by our editorial staff as supporters of early childhood education-related programs.

If you're a Plus subscriber or higher, I also encourage you to use the Search Grants database in the same way. With over 1.7 million grant descriptions, you'll find plenty of examples showing what taxonomy term is being used for any area of interest.

Adobe Reader 9.0

For those Professional subscribers who have upgraded to Adobe Reader 9.0, or are planning to, please note that the highlighting feature is turned off by default in this version. This means that when using FDO's Search 990s tool, the keywords that you search for won't be highlighted in the 990 documents that match your criteria nor will Adobe Reader automatically jump to the first instance of your keyword. Here's how to enable the highlighting feature in Adobe Reader 9.0:

1. Open up a 990 in FDO and right-click anywhere on the document
2. Select Page Display Preferences
3. Under Categories, select Search
4. Click the check box for Enable search highlights from external highlight server
5. Click the OK button

If you need help enabling this important Adobe Reader feature, feel free to give us a call at (800) 424-9836.

Guided Tours

Our Foundation Directory Online guided tours are getting a new look...and a new sound! When you visit FDO's guided tours page, you'll see a link to a new version of our Search Grantmakers guided tour that contains audio narration. Soon, we'll also be updating our three other guided tours: Search Companies, Search Grants, and Search 990s. In the meantime, we're still providing access to our four point-and-click classic versions.

As I've mentioned in the past, these are the same tours that potential subscribers use to preview FDO. But the guided tours are also great for current subscribers. They can be used by new subscribers looking for an introduction to FDO's functionality and features or by veteran users in need of a refresher course.

Online Librarian

As a Foundation Directory Online subscriber, you're no doubt aware of FDO's comprehensive Help file and FAQ section. When you have a question about content, functionality, or anything else relating to FDO, these are the resources to turn to. But for more general questions about the philanthropic field and nonprofit sector, I encourage you to take advantage of the Foundation Center's much-acclaimed Online Librarian service. Our top-notch team of reference experts can assist you by answering your everyday questions about foundations, philanthropy, and fundraising research. You can submit your questions via e-mail or initiate a live chat...and best of all, it's free of charge!

Trustees, Officers, and Donors

Today, a few words about FDO's Trustees, Officers, and Donors index. Did you know that this index, accessible from the Search Grantmakers Screen, currently contains almost half a million names at the Professional level? Let's think about the possibilities... Maybe you want to search for grantmakers associated with each of your organization's board members or volunteers. What a great way to introduce yourself (or be introduced) to a new prospect! Or perhaps you want to identify the foundations that your individual donors are affiliated with. Might those grantmakers also be willing to support your programs?

When searching for grantmakers in this way, be sure to select names from the index rather than typing them directly into the Trustees, Officers, and Donors search field. Otherwise, if you don't know the exact way the name of the person you're trying to find appears in the index, your search will be unsuccessful. For example, if a name is listed in the index as "Doe, John Q.," typing "John Doe" into the search field won't retrieve the grantmaker record you're looking for—the "Q." must be included. To open the Trustees, Officers, and Donors index, click on the View Index link located beneath the search field title.

Have you used this index in other ways to find new sources of support? Click the Comments link below and let us know.

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to "Danger," the winner of our Foundation Directory Online Grantseeker's Best Friend Photo Contest. More than 600 ballots were cast and over 100 of you chose this photo as one of your top five favorites. Danger's photo was submitted to us by Cathy Chang of the Climate Project in Nashville, Tennessee. Danger is a Maltese/Yorkshire Terrier mix and, according to Cathy, he's the Climate Project's "office puppy." As the winner of our contest, Cathy and the Climate Project will receive a free, one-month extension of their current FDO subscription.

Thanks to everyone who submitted photos and participated in the voting. You helped make our contest a stunning success!

2009 Grants

As I search FDO Professional today for grants authorized in 2009 [Search Grants Screen: Year Authorized = From: 2009], I find 5,969 individual awards. Many of these grants were reported to us electronically by grantmakers that recognize the fact that currency is extremely important to grantseekers. Without the cooperation of these eReporters, many of these recently awarded grants would remain unknown until tax returns were filed, processed by the IRS, and released to the public. Currently, 256 grantmakers are participating in our eGrant Reporting Program, submitting grants lists to us on a regular basis: quarterly, annually, even monthly.