Money is in tight supply these days, but you don’t need me to tell you that. Still, if you’re a manager of a nonprofit enterprise or an individual seeking financial assistance, there exist thousands of philanthropic organizations whose mission is to give away money to needy and worthy individuals and causes. Today we revisit a special collection at Phoenixville Public Library offering access to sources of available grant money.
I last wrote about our Foundation Center reference collection more than 3 ½ years ago. Since that time, the Phoenixville Public Library has been named a Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center. What exactly does this mean and how can you benefit from it?
Well, the Foundation Center is the nation’s leading authority on philanthropy. Founded in 1956 and headquartered in New York City, their mission is “to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S. philanthropy”. The Foundation Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants. Its resources are distributed through a network of more than 340 Cooperating Collections.
As a Cooperating Collection, Phoenixville Library provides a core collection of Foundation Center publications and online databases and a variety of supplementary materials in areas useful to both nonprofit and individual grantseekers. These resources describe thousands of foundations, corporate giving programs, and government assistance programs, and offer guidance on grantwriting and fundraising.
The Foundation Directory Online Professional and Foundation Grants to Individuals Online databases are the cornerstones of the Foundation Center collection. The Foundation Directory Online Professional provides detailed information on over 92,000 foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities, and over 1.3 million recently awarded grants. Access is also provided to over 441,000 recently filed IRS Forms 990 and 990PF.
Information on grantmakers in The Foundation Directory Online Professional includes fields of interest; geographic focus; types of support; limitations; application information; officers, directors, and trustees; financial data; and a listing of recent grants. Searches in any of the above areas and more can be performed to bring up a listing of grantmakers which can be e-mailed, printed, or saved.
Foundation Grants to Individuals Online describes more than 6,200 foundations and public charity programs that give grants of at least $2,000 to individuals for a variety of purposes, including scholarships, fellowships, internships, professorships, program development, arts and cultural projects, research, and general welfare (including medical assistance). Searches by fields of interest, geographic focus, types of support, and more may be performed. Full contact information is provided for each grantmaker.
Both Foundation Center databases are available for in-Library use only. See Reference or Computer Center staff for login assistance.
Our Foundation Center Cooperating Collection also provides a selection of books, newsletters, and newspapers of interest to nonprofit and individual grantseekers. Titles include the print editions of The Foundation Directory and Foundation Grants to Individuals, The Directory of Pennsylvania Foundations (profiling over 1,600 foundations in the Commonwealth), Government Assistance Almanac (describing over 1,600 federal programs offering financial and nonfinancial assistance to individuals), Corporate Giving Directory (profiling over 1,000 companies making contributions to nonprofit organizations), The Chronicle of Philanthropy bimonthly newspaper, and guides to writing grant proposals.
On Monday, May 5 at 10:00 AM, the Library will host an Open House for area nonprofit organizations showcasing the resources of our Foundation Center Cooperating Collection. Look for more information in the “Events” section of our Website, www.phoenixvillelibrary.org, or contact me at 610-933-3013, Ext. 32.