So Who Is The Foundation Center?

Photos courtesy of www.FoundationCenter.org

In a recent post I referred to the Foundation Center as a good place to look for some long term foundation donors. I have received enough questions about it to write a quick post about it. There are a lot of links , a lot of topics to cover. I am going to try to keep it concise and clear.

Before we go into all this, in case you are already overwhelmed , grab a cup of tea and enjoy this read to get you back on track. Then come back and check out these resources.

What Is the Foundation Center?

It is a national non profit organization established in 1956, headquartered in New York City, located at 79 Fifth Avenue/16th Street, New York, NY, 10003-3076
Tel: 212-620-4230
Their link: foundationcenter.org/newyork.
It connects grantmakers and their info with those seeking funding.

It has local branches around the U.S., and even in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and South Korea, and serves people around the world. Click here to see funds disbursed globally. (Inspiring! Worth a quick look).

The office I visited was in….

…. Washington, DC, found at 1627 K Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, DC 20006-1708
Phone: 202-331-1400
Their link: foundationcenter.org/washington
Definitely worth a visit.

Who do they help?
WOW! EVERYONE! Individual Grantseekers, Nonprofit Grantseekers, Grantmakers, International Visitors, People with Disabilities, Children/Youth, Reporters and the Media.

What do they offer?

The Foundation Center offers Reference Guides and topical guides. They offer training on Foundations and Fundraising/ Proposal Writing/ Nonprofit Management, all of which, if you can afford, are marvelous to have these trainings. Next they have enormous well organized resources and excellent tools to look through all this. Lastly they offer training courses online as well as in classrooms and webinars. Whew! here’s the link to all the free webinars you can register for and attend. (get ready, there’s plenty of topics… voluminous!)

What does it cost?

Again, there are so many services offered to so many audiences, it would be boring to list them all here. Below are some examples of what they can do. Tell you this they do a lot.

Here is a comprehensive list of places you can walk in for free and search their libraries on site. Click here.

There is a (I must admit very convenient) online service which can run the user anywhere from $19/mo to $175/mo to a variety of levels of access to this up to database. Their service can apparently be used free of charge when you visit them at any Center locations. Want to get a taste and try it on? Click here for first visit trial.

Do they help individuals seeking foundation funds? Yep.

They do help individual grantseekers, with some free trainings, some free resources and some resources for sale. Tell you this they really know their stuff. The place to start on their site for individuals is here, click here. What makes them more helpful than just a database is they offer for individuals (usually beginners) an online course for $19 – and you have access to the training modules for 6 months. It is called Grantseeking Basics for Individuals Online Training Course.

Do they help nonprofits? Yes.

Yes, not unlike individuals seeking grants, they work with nonprofits who have not, as well as have gotten, funded in the past through grants or foundations. Also as with the individual, they offer a $39 online course for the nonprofit grantseekers basics. among others trainings and help.

They are also a great resource of free! info. For example, if you want to compare up to five foundations’ giving over a period of years, you can click here and see the results instantly. Great resource, go take a look. Especially for those who have applied for grants before.

What’s the link to get access to the Foundation Center online service?

www.foundationcenter.org
You can take a tour and perform a virtual search to see how it works.

Say I want more than just a list of foundations I can contact. Say I want some help.. do they have people that help?

They have what they call their Associates Program. For $995/year or $695 for 6 months, they offer an expert research team with immediate access to the Foundation Center’s up to date info on the location and focus you have, throughout their extensive resources.

Their claim : “Our team of experts deliver the research findings you need — however complex — at a fraction of the cost you’d pay a fundraising consultant”. I must say, from what I have experienced, getting focused info makes the biggest difference as to whether or not you get your grant. Getting up to date info is just as important. An expert researcher can cost you up to $180/hour and will definitely not have the low down/training/practice the Foundation Center staff has.

Who do they successfully serve?

All sorts of folk. Click here to see what group you might belong to and what they can offer you.

What do they offer their women audience?

Actually quite a bit. There are books they recommend as well as a handful of links. The audiences these links address are fairly specific. Should I reprint their page here? No, not without their permission and that can take a while. They suggest the Foundation Grants to Individuals, $75 (available July ; to pre-order call (800) 424-9836).Click here for the book resources they recommend and the links they redirect you to.

Got a quick question and want to live chat with someone at the Foundation Center? Click here.

To see an example of the type of funds disbursed, say of the Ford Foundations, by U.S. state… or for another topic, click here. (Wow! Actually interesting to look at).

Here’s my impression: most of us just do no have funds to get funds, yet in the real world it takes money to make money. These guys are certainly the real deal. I sit here thinking of the various pursuits I am involved in, and the Foundation Center’s services are on the very top of my wish list. But there are resources that cost a lot less, and are just once. This is the one I like, and it includes government grants as well.

You take good care and enjoy your day. Got to go.

Overwhelmed YET?!? Grab that cup of tea and enjoy this article to get you back on track.

Want to nominate a Mom friend of yours the Best Mom of the Year Award? She gets this 5 minute video with her name as the winner of the year. Click here.

See you soon.