Funding Opportunities
Identifying Funding Sources
You have access to many tools to search for funding opportunities, but your first steps in a search require more thinking than working through databases of funders.
Key questions for you to think about include:
- What is the need you are trying to address?
- Who is your audience? Is there anything about your audience that might be a "hook" for a funder? Age, income levels, urban or rural environment, specific geographic regions, certain professions--there are many things that can excite a funding agency.
- How much money do you need to execute your plan?
- Is the potential request amount consistent with the number of people served and the duration and intensity of how you will serve them?
- What sort of organization might be interested in helping address the need? Is this exclusively a local issue or an opportunity for broader impact? Are there state or federal organizations that deal with these issues?
- Do you know of similar programs that have received funding? What were their sources?
Sample searches and interpretation hints
Links
The following recommended sites are a great way to become familiar with available funding opportunities and are good places to search for opportunities that match your strengths.
Community of Science (COS)
http://fundingopps2.cos.com/
COS lists federal and foundation funding opportunities across all disciplines. It lists approximately 400,000 funding opportunities worth over $33 billion and is updated daily. You can also receive weekly e-mail alerts concerning your target areas.
Grants Resource Center
http://www.aascu.org/grc/gs
This site--with handbooks, powerful research tools, etc.--is maintained by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
The Foundation Center
http://fdncenter.org/funders/grantmaker/gws_priv/priv1.html
This site provides information on private sources of money. It is useful for specialized searches.
Federal Grants
http://www.grants.gov/ForApplicants
This site provides all the solicitations (requests for proposals) for all federal agencies. Opportunities are listed by agency, but the site includes a search engine. It is a critical tool for downloading solicitations, but not optimal for environmental scanning.
Federal Business Opportunities
http://www.fedbizopps.gov/
FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry for federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. Commercial vendors seeking federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor, and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire federal contracting community.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
http://www.cfda.gov/
The online Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance gives you access to a database of all federal programs available to institutions of higher education as well as state and local governments; domestic public, quasipublic, and other private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions; specialized groups; and individuals. The catalog includes a lot of information in an easy-to-review format, including eligibility, funding range, application and award procedures, contact information, review criteria, program objectives, related programs, and examples of funded projects.
The Pennsylvania Bulletin
http://www.pabulletin.com/
The Pennsylvania Bulletin Online includes statewide and local court rules; the governor's proclamations and executive orders; actions by the General Assembly; rulemakings by state agencies; proposed rulemakings by state agencies; and state agency notices. The online version, because of the search engine, is slightly more user-friendly than the paper version, but not much. It is, however, a useful tool if you want to keep abreast of state funding and contract opportunities.
Pennsylvania Department of General Services: Procurement
http://www.dgs.state.pa.us/procurement/site/default.asp
This Department of General Services search page allows you to search for bid opportunities by various agencies of the Commonwealth or by keyword. It also has an alert system.
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Page last modified on Thursday, February 23, 2006