2. The Foundation Center
Our Mission:
To strengthen the social sector by advancing
knowledge about philanthropy in the U.S. and
around the world.
3. The Foundation Center
• Collect, organize, and communicate
information on U.S. philanthropy
• Conduct and facilitate research on trends
in the field
• Provide education and training in the
grantseeking process
• Ensure public access to information and
services through various vehicles
6. Direct Support
• Foundation Grants to Individuals Online lists
over 9,000 grantmakers that give directly to
individuals
• Only 1 in every 11 grantmakers gives directly
to individuals
Foundation –$ Individual
7. Direct Support, cont’d
To be considered charitable, grants to individuals
must fall under one of the following categories:
1. Scholarship or fellowship for study at an
educational institution
2. Designed to achieve a specific objective or
improve one’s skills in an artistic, scientific,
or teaching capacity
3. Prize or award given for the achievement of
exempt charitable purposes
8. Direct Support, cont’d
To be considered charitable, grants to individuals
must fall under one of the following categories:
1. Scholarship or fellowship for study at an
educational institution
2. Designed to achieve a specific objective or
Film projects improve one’s skills in an artistic, scientific,
or teaching capacity
3. Prize or award given for the achievement of
exempt charitable purposes
9. Indirect Support
• Re-granting organizations
Foundation –$ Nonprofit Individuals
Ex. Arts Councils, Creative Capital
• Fiscal sponsorship
10. Fiscal Sponsorship
• For artists / projects
• 501(c)(3) organizations act as fiscal
sponsors/agents
• Fees / contracts
• Ownership?
• Research potential funders using
Foundation Directory Online
12. Researching Funders
Look for grantmakers that:
• Fund the arts, artists, or artists’ projects
• Fund individual artists through fiscal
sponsorship
• Fund in particular subject areas but not
overtly in the arts
13. Researching Funders, cont’d
Look for grantmakers that:
• Fund artists in your medium or genre
• Have stated interest or demonstrated history
in funding in your geographic location
• Give grant amounts similar to what you need
• Provide the type of support you are
looking for
14. Foundation Center Resources
Free Training:
http://grantspace.org/Classroom
•Grantseeking Basics for Individuals in
the Arts
•Getting Start with Foundation Grants to
Individuals Online
•Guide to Funding Research
15. Foundation Center Resources, cont’d
• GrantSpace.org:
– Knowledge base articles
– Sample documents
– Ask Us: www.grantspace.org/Ask-Us
• Cooperating Collections
– Find one near you: www.grantspace.org/Find-Us
Since some of you haven’t heard of us before, let me briefly give you an idea of who we are. The Foundation Center, founded in 1956, is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S. philanthropy. Despite our name we are not a grantmaking organization (nor are we a grantmaker umbrella organization like the Council on Foundations). We are, however, the nation’s leading authority on institutional philanthropy and are dedicated to serving grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.
We accomplish our mission in a variety of ways. We: collect, organize, and communicate information on U.S. philanthropy conduct and facilitate research on trends in the field provide education and training on the grantseeking process ensure public access to information and services through our World Wide Web site, print and electronic publications, five library/learning centers, and a national network of Cooperating Collections. I’ll talk about some of these things in more detail later in the presentation.
The Foundation Center’s Training Programs In the private arena , grants come from a variety of sources. Foundation: a nonprofit corporation with a principal purpose of making grants to unrelated organizations or to individuals for scientific, educational, cultural, religious, or other charitable purposes. There are over 81,000 private foundations. Most foundations make grants only to nonprofit organizations; some also make grants to individuals. Ultimate beneficiaries of many foundation grants in the arts are individuals, but because of restrictive IRS regulations many foundations give grants to nonprofits and the nonprofits in turn give grants to individual artists. The Center has identified approximately 7,300 foundations (with total giving to individuals of at least $2,000) that provide grants directly to individuals. Just as an example of what I’m talking about: The Pollock-Krasner Fdn makes merit and need-based grants to talented painters and sculptors to further their artistic pursuits. [ Give local examples : The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation of New York provides grants to painter, sculptors, and printmakers with at least 20 years in a mature phase of their art.}] While foundations make up the core of the Foundation Center’s information, they are just one of many private sources of grants for individual artists. Nonprofit organizations -- often times use funds received from foundations-- “regranting” organizations [Give local examples] Artspace in Raleigh, NC, has a summer artist-in-residence program for established visual artists and a regional emerging artist residency program. Such groups as rotary clubs, civic and religious organizations may raise money from their constituencies which in turn they use to support individual endeavors. The salmagundi Club in New York City , for example, offers an artists fellowship from funds raised from its membership that provides emergency aid to professional visual artists and their families. Corporations often treat support to individual artists as business expenses or they may offer “in-kind” support instead of cash, e.g. use of studio space. In addition, some corporations have grant programs for individual artists, such as the Capezio/Ballet Makres Dance Fdn, which runs the Capezio Award for individuals who contribute to the field of dance. Another source of support is individual donors. There are still wealthy patrons of the arts who may be interested in supporting specific projects or even fostering an artist’s career; historically this is how many individuals in the arts were able to survive and flourish, and it was pretty much the only way (other than church support) until the nineteenth century. Of course, now as then, these individual donors are not numerous, and finding and cultivating a relationship with them requires a lot of effort. Since funding sources are highly diverse – your best chance of getting funding will be to cast as wide a net as possible to include all sources where you might possibly qualify. Now that we understand where the money’s coming from, let’s talk next about what form that support may take.
The Foundation Center’s Training Programs When researching grantmakers, consider several important issues. Does the organization give directly to individuals in the arts? Direct funding is less complicated logistically, so explore that option first. Remember that most grantmakers do not fund individuals directly, so be certain that you will be eligible to apply. Does the organization fund individual artists through fiscal sponsorship? As we’ve seen, many artists receive funding in this way, so determine whether local nonprofit arts organizations have a fiscal sponsorship program or have agreed to serve as fiscal sponsors in the past. Remember to split your project into as many facets as possible. You may find a grantmaker who is interested in one facet that may have no connection to the arts. Let’s think about our hypothetical project in which we want to create a photo-journalism project for elementary school children to tell the story of the civil rights movement from the point of view of the people involved. There may be funders who will be interested because they focus on children and youth, or elementary school education, or civil rights issues. None of these subjects is overtly related to the arts, but each may attract a grantmaker that ordinarily would not fund projects in the arts. In many cases the subject area may be more important than the medium, from the funder’s point of view.
The Foundation Center’s Training Programs Remember what we said your goal is: to establish as many points of intersection as possible between your unique attributes and the typical project the funder supports. Looking at this slide, you can see that this is the flipside of your funding profile worksheet---now you can apply the categories to your research. Also think about whether the amount of the grant corresponds to your need? Awards, grants, and prizes can range from a few hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars, and you want to find funders who give support in the range that you need.
