The document provides information on accessing and using the Foundation Directory Online database available at the Olean Public Library. It allows users to search for foundations and companies, grants, and grantmakers. Key features include searching by name, location, fields of interest, and other filters. Users can obtain contact and funding priority information on grantmakers. The database is updated weekly with new data.

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Available at the Olean Public Library
134 N. 2nd St
Olean, NY 14760

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Nation’s leading online funding research tool
Developed by a national nonprofit service organization
that was founded over 50 years ago.
Gives one the ability to keyword search for funders.
Ability to map a funder’s grants across the US and the
world.

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May only be accessed in the library.
May access on the library computers or by using your
laptop and connecting to the library Wi-Fi.
Access the library website at oleanlibrary.org
o Click on Reference tab
o Select “Online Resources”
o Click on “Log In” link below Foundation Directory Online listing

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Contains approximately 110,000 profiles of private
foundations, grant making public charities, and corporate
giving programs.
Can search on area of grant makers interest (e.g.
“homeless”)
Also can search on geographical area grant maker gives
to (e.g. “New York State,” “Cattaraugus County)
Can combine several options to make a more pinpointed
list of results
Can also exclude grant makers not accepting
applications

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Open the Grantmaker Name Index by clicking on the
“View Index” link located beneath its search field title on
the “Search Grantmakers” screen.

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At the top of the Index Pane, click the letter of the
Grantmaker's name to display all the Grantmakers with
that letter.

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Scroll down to find the index entry for the name of the
Grantmaker you are looking for. Click on it to
automatically insert it into the “Grantmaker Name”
search field.

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Click search (at the bottom of the page). The
Grantmaker Search Results screen appears and
displays the Grantmaker record matching your search
criteria.

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Click on the name of the Grantmaker to open the record
display screen and view the record.

10. Email to yourself
or a colleague,
print, or save to a
flash drive

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Open the “Fields of Interest” Index by clicking on the
“View Index” link located beneath its search field title on
the “Search Grantmakers” screen.

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At the top of the Index Pane, click the letter of your field
of interest to display all terms beginning with that letter
(you may find some other terms to search in addition to
the first one you thought of).
Look how
many
different
terms there
are for
mental health

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Scroll down to find the entry for the term or terms you
are searching for. Click on the terms to automatically
insert it into the “Fields of Interest” search field. (It will
automatically put an “or” between the terms.)

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Open the Geographic Focus Index by clicking on the
“View Index” link located beneath its search field title on
the screen.

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Scroll down and find the index entry for your state (e.g.. “New York).
Click on it to automatically insert it into the “Geographic Focus” field.
(You can select more than one. The database would then search for
NY or the other state.)

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Click “Search”. The Grantmaker Search Results Screen
appears and displays a list of grant maker records
matching your search criteria.

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Click on a grant maker name to open the Grantmaker
Record Display Screen and view the record. Save, print,
or e-mail the record.

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County, City, Metro Area, Congressional District, and
ZIP Code are fields for where the grant maker is located
– this is the location of the “headquarters” of the grant
makers. (e.g. there are 14 foundations in Cattaraugus
County.)
Types of Support is an indexed list of the types of
projects funded (e.g. annual campaigns, building
renovation, etc.)
Trustees, Officers, Donors is another indexed list of
people or corporations that fund or sit on the board of the
grant making foundations. (e.g. Microsoft or Bill Gates)
Type of Grant maker may be used to find a specific
type of grant maker (e.g. NGO, Public Charity, etc.)

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addition to the indexed search boxes, there is
a drop down box where one can select Total
Giving, Total Assets, or Establishment Year.
To the right of the box one is able to add values
or dates from and to.
 There is also a Keyword Search box and a
check box which, if checked, will exclude grant
makers not accepting applications.

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Similar to searching grantmakers.
Able to search by name of corporation, location of
corporation, business type (using SIC classification),
officers/directors, subsidiaries, total sales,
establishment year, & keyword.
Company details page list the company profile, people
involved with the company, 10-K tab (takes you to the
EDGAR page with the annual reports for the company),
and grant makers (the philanthropic organizations
associated with the company)

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Similar to searching for grantmakers
1.7 million grants
Search for grants by a specific grant maker
Identify grants available to a specific geographic area:
state, city, metro area, congressional district, zip
code.
o Metro area: Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY
o Catt. Co’s Congressional District: 23rd

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Recipient type – able to identify grants that went to
groups dealing with certain subjects (e.g. to provide
housing or historic preservation).
Subjects – what subjects the grant deals with (ALS
research, libraries)
Types of Support is an indexed list of the types of
projects funded (e.g. annual campaigns, building
renovation, etc.)
Grant Amount or Years Awarded can also be searched
for in the drop down box.
Grant details record also has a tab for information on the
grantmaker.

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Keyword search scans the IRS document for the terms,
the other search fields scan Foundations Directory
Online entries.
In Keyword search field one can use “AND,” “OR,” “AND
NOT,” and “NEAR/n” (where the n is replaced with an
actual number).
o “a NEAR/30 b” means return results that contain word “a” and
word “b” within 30 words of each other.

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Allows you to search across 9 Foundation Center
Databases.
Search results are sorted by relevance. Exact phrase
matches will be higher in the list.
Enclose a phrase in quotation marks to search an exact
phase. (“adult literacy”)
Able to narrow results to just specific databases by
clicking on the left side under “Narrow Your Results” or
by entering a phrase in the “Search Within Results” at
the top of the page.

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Asterisk (*) is a “truncation” symbol
o cell* finds cell, cells, cellular, cellulite, etc.
o Use it to find both singular and plural phrases (e.g. child* finds
child and children.)
o Finds possible Canadian or British spellings of a word (e.g.
theat* will find theater and theatre.)
o If you can not remember how to spell something (e.g. Azer* will
find Azerbaijan)
o The downfall of truncation is you may get irrelevant results.

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To establish relationships between search words use
Boolean operators in all caps.
o AND – means both words must appear in the results
o OR – means one of the words you entered must appear, but not
both
o NOT – means words or phases placed after will be excluded
o NEAR/n – will search for words near each other with the “n”
being the number of words separating the two words or phrases.

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Data comes from the IRS forms 990 and 990-PF, grantmakers
websites, annual reports, printed application, and the
philanthropic press.
New and updated grantmaker, company, and grant data
appears weekly. New grantmaker related news, job
opportunities, RFPs, publications, and articles appear daily.
New IRS Forms 990 & 990-PF are posted when they become
available from the IRS.
All grants listed in the database are worth at least $1,000.
An IRS Form 990 is filled out by community foundations and
other public charities. The 990-PF is filled out only by private
foundations.
Grants from the federal or state governments are not listed.