Eye on FDO

FDO Indexes

Among the many key features that distinguish FDO from other funding research tools on the market are its indexes. When data is carefully indexed, it's immeasurably easier to find exactly what you're looking for. So, today, a few important words about FDO's indexes and how they make targeted searching possible.

The Foundation Center's editorial staff analyzes and indexes a great deal of data. For example, grantmakers are assigned any of almost 1,100 terms identifying their giving interests; grants are assigned any of almost 1,100 terms identifying their purpose. When this standardized terminology is employed in a field-specific search, you can retrieve an extremely targeted list of results.

Here's an example: a grantseeker searching for support for a welfare-to-work program might enter "jobs" in the Keyword Search field on the Search Grantmakers Screen. The results list will include grantmaker records containing the word "jobs" anywhere in the text of their profiles, including those with profiles that might state that support isn't provided for "jobs." See where I'm going here? 

On the other hand, a grantseeker selecting "employment" from the Fields of Interest Index will retrieve a list of all grantmakers identified by our editorial staff as supporters of employment-related programs, regardless of whether the word "jobs" is used to describe this giving interest or not. That's the power of FDO's indexes!

Accessing FDO's indexes is easy. Open an index by clicking on a View Index link located beneath a search field title. Clicking on an index entry automatically inserts it into the corresponding search field.

Economic Crisis Grants

The Foundation Center is actively collecting data from a variety of sources on grants made in support of those affected by the current economic crisis. As part of this effort, we've added a new "Economic crisis" index entry for the Subjects search field in FDO's Search Grants database. Subscribers to our Plus, Premium, Platinum, and Professional plans can use this search term to identify these recently awarded grants related to the downturn. Each grant record will include details on the recipient receiving the grant, the grantmaker awarding the grant, the amount and duration of the grant, and the purpose of the grant, include food assistance, employment services, health care, and housing and shelter.

Are you aware of an economic crisis-related grant that's not in FDO? Send an e-mail to mr@foundationcenter.org and let us know.

Funding for Arts Month

October is Funding for Arts Month at the Foundation Center!

As I search FDO Professional today for grantmakers with a known giving interest in arts [Search Grantmakers Screen: Fields of Interest = Arts], I find 15,665 funders. A search for grants awarded in support of arts [Search Grants Screen: Subjects = Arts] retrieves 131,474 individual awards. Obviously, you'd want to narrow these extremely broad searches down by adding additional criteria to find support that meets your particular needs.

Interested in learning more about using FDO to find funding for arts-related programs? We're offering a special arts-focused Introduction to Finding Funders webinar on October 21. Please visit the Webinars section of our web site for full details and registration information.

Search Companies Database

In my last post, I explained the difference between Foundation Directory Online and one of our other online subscription services, Corporate Giving Online. One of the features shared by CGO and top-tier FDO Professional is our Search Companies database and I promised in last week's post to explain the unique benefits of this database and outline a couple of searches that are popular with users. So, here goes...

Our Search Companies database enables you to search across the corporate information of over 3,500 sponsoring companies. This is a database of corporate information, not corporate grantmaker information; corporate grantmaker profiles can be found in FDO's Search Grantmakers database. So, what's the point of searching across corporate information? It enables you to identify corporate grantmakers based on the nature of the companies that sponsor them.

Let's imagine that we're looking for support for a nonprofit organization located in the state of New York. As I search FDO today for companies with business operations (i.e., subsidiaries, divisions, plants, offices, and joint ventures) located in New York [Search Companies Screen: Subsidiary State/Country = New York], I find 267 of them. The Grantmaker(s) tab at the top of each company record provides access to the profile(s) of the corporate grantmaker(s) through which each company gives. Since many companies give in areas of company operations, some of these grantmakers could be prospects for an organization located in New York. I could also search for companies with headquarters in New York, or in a particular city, or with business operations in a particular city or country.   

Next, let's imagine that we're looking for support for a nonprofit women's organization. As I search FDO today for companies that manufacture cosmetics [Search Companies Screen: Business Type (SIC) = Soaps, cleaners, and toiletries], I find 37 of them. Again, I can access the profiles(s) of the corporate grantmaker(s) through which each company gives by clicking the Grantmaker(s) tab at the top of each company record. The logic here is simple: the nature of a company's business might suggest an area of support. This approach works equally well when seeking non-monetary product donations. For instance, a nonprofit health organization looking for donations of pharmaceuticals might want to identify companies that manufacture them and then determine whether their respective grantmaking programs do in fact provide in-kind support.

2008 Grants

As I search FDO Professional today for grants authorized in 2008 [Search Grants Screen: Year Authorized = From: 2008], I find 10,313 individual awards. Wondering how this is possible, considering most foundations haven't even filed their 2008 990s yet?

It's possible because the Foundation Center doesn't rely solely on the IRS Form 990-PF to update the data in our Search Grants database. Our editorial team scours the Internet to collect data on recently awarded grants and many grantmakers even report their grants to us electronically. We understand that currency is important to grantseekers and we work hard to ensure that you can base your fundraising decisions on the most recent data available.

Funding for the Environment Month

June is Funding for the Environment Month at the Foundation Center!

As I search FDO Professional today for grantmakers with a known giving interest in the environment [Search Grantmakers Screen: Fields of Interest = Environment], I find 4,807 funders. A search for grants awarded in support of the environment [Search Grants Screen: Subjects = Environment] retrieves 63,487 individual awards. Of course, you can easily narrow these searches down to target particular areas of environment-related funding; just select a more specific search term from the applicable FDO index.

Interested in learning more about using FDO to find funding for environment-related programs? We're offering a special environment-focused Introduction to Foundation Directory Online course this month at our New York and San Francisco library/learning centers.

International Grantseekers

I was thinking today about the recent events in Myanmar (cyclone) and China (earthquake) and this made me think about how I'm occasionally asked whether FDO is useful to international grantseekers. Indeed, it is.

On the Search Grantmakers Screen, the Fields of Interest index includes the names of specific countries that grantmakers have a known giving interest in and the Geographic Focus index includes the terms "International" and "National; international" to locate grantmakers that award grants outside the U.S.

On the Search Grants Screen, accessible to Plus, Premium, Platinum, and Professional subscribers, the Recipient State/Country search field can be used to search for grants awarded to recipients located in a particular country and the Recipient City index includes the names of non-U.S. cities where grants have been awarded.

Professional subscribers can even use the Subsidiary State/Country search field on the Search Companies Screen to search for sponsoring companies with business operations located in a particular country. The profiles of the grantmakers associated with these companies can then be accessed to determine whether grants are indeed made in areas of company operations.