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Nonprofit Resource Center
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
The Nonprofit Resource Center can help you …
• Provide resources for starting a nonprofit organization
• Learn the basics of grant seeking and grant making
• Gather information about grant proposals
and proposal writing
• Find detailed profiles for foundations
and corporate givers
• Explore additional topics related to philanthropy, volunteerism, and fundraising
New Titles
Titles are added to the collection throughout the year. Follow the Nonprofit Resource Center blog and watch for the collection updates posted when new items are added to the collection and are available for checkout. Books are available for checkout on a wide range of topics including nonprofit organizations, proposal writing and fundraising.
See a sampling of the most recent arrivals!
Suggest A Title
Purchase suggestions are always welcome. Every attempt is made to be responsive to patron requests. Please send your request by e-mail to reference@onlib.org. Be sure to put NRC in the subject line so your email will be correctly directed to the Nonprofit Resource Center Supervisor.
Reference Collection
The grants materials in this collection are targeted primarily to nonprofit organizations that qualify under IRS code 501c(3) to receive private foundation grants, including schools, neighborhood organizations, service agencies and government agencies and whose purposes are charitable, educational, scientific, religious, literary or cultural. Some foundation grants can be awarded to individuals as scholarships or for artistic endeavors.
Information on grants, scholarships or other individual funding for education, and start-up, for-profit business funding is located in other parts of the library's collections and is not included in the Nonprofit Resource Center.
As a Foundation Center Cooperating Collection, the Nonprofit Resource Center provides access to a core collection of Foundation Center publications as well as a variety of supplementary materials useful to grantseekers.
As a Foundation Center Cooperating Collection, the Nonprofit Resource Center provides access to a core collection of Foundation Center publications as well as a variety of supplementary materials useful to grant seekers.
See the Grants FAQs for information on grants, scholarships or other individual funding for education, and start-up, for-profit business funding. Additional materials on these topics are located in other parts of the library's collections and are not included in the Nonprofit Resource Center.
Online Databases
The Foundation Center databases are licensed for use only as part of the Nonprofit Resource Center and therefore limited to access at the Central Library.
Foundation Directory Online Professional
The nation’s leading online resource for funding research – useful for finding new funders, target your proposals – advance your mission – over 98,000 US foundations and corporate donors and 1.6 million recent grants.
Foundation Grants to Individuals Online
Detailed descriptions of more than 6,500 foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers and other individual grantseekers. The foundations listed in this subset are also included in the Foundation Directory Online database.
Print Reference Resources
After the Grant: the nonprofit’s guide to good stewardship
America's Nonprofit Sector, 3rd ed. [coming soon]
Board Member's Book: Making A Difference in Voluntary Organizations
Practical advice on a variety of topics, including the different responsibilities of board members, volunteers, and staff; how to find, develop, and reward good board members; ways to recruit, encourage, and evaluate the executive director; and effective strategies for fundraising and financial planning and more.
The Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing, 5th ed.
[copies available to check out]
Detailed instructions on preparing successful proposals including pre-proposal planning tips, components of the proposal, and guidance from grantmakers. Incorporating the results of 40 interviews with grantmakers across the nation, the Guide reveals their priorities in reviewing submissions and provides insight into what makes a winning proposal.
Spanish edition of Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing
The Foundation Directory
and The Foundation Directory, Part 2
Contains:
The Foundation Directory covers the 10,000 largest U.S. foundations with assets of $2 million or more or total grants of at least $200,000. Key facts on major funders include their fields of interest, contact information, financials, names of decision-makers, and nearly 60,000 sample grants. Convenient indexes help you quickly locate your best leads.
Part 2 covers the next 10,000 largest foundations with assets between $1-$2 million. Broaden your prospects with key facts on America's most generous mid-size funders. The latest edition includes over 40,000 sample grants.
Use for Finding:
Detailed information on giving interests and restrictions, application guidelines, names of officers and directors and selected grants (when available).
Foundation Fundamentals: A Guide For Grantseekers
[copies are available to check out]
A guide to the foundation field and the funding research process. Describes the tools, resources, and services available from the Foundation Center and from other sources to help grantseekers develop prospect lists. Newest edition focuses mainly on web resources to help users new to the field take advantage of cutting-edge technologies in their research.
Foundation Grants to Individuals
Contains:
Information on foundations that award grants directly to individual students, artists, researchers, and other individual grant seekers.
Use for Finding:
Educational support – scholarships, fellowships, loans, and internships
Students and graduates of specific schools, arts and cultural support
Awards, prizes, and grants by nomination, research and professional support
Foundations Today Series
Contains:
Unique collection of facts and figures on private and community foundations and their giving contained within the following three individual titles:
Foundation Giving Trends: Update on Funding Priorities: Examines last year’s grantmaking patterns of a sample of more than 1,000 larger U.S. foundations, and compares current giving priorities with trends since 1990
Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook: Provides a first look at estimates of foundation giving for the current year and final statistics on actual giving and assets for last year. It also presents new top 100 foundation lists.
Foundation Yearbook: Facts and Figures on Private and Community Foundations: Documents the growth in number, giving, and assets of all active U.S. foundations over a 30 year period.
The Grantseeker’s Guide to Winning Proposals
[copies are available to check out]
Samples of actual proposals submitted by nonprofit organizations to receive grants. Arranged by the nature of the proposal; for programming, special projects, evaluation, renovating facilities, staffing, start ups and program development.
Guide to Funding for International and Foreign Programs
Includes more than 1,900 descriptions of grantmakers that support international relief, conferences, disaster assistance, human rights, civil liberties, community development, education, and more. Also includes more than 9,300 sample grants.
National Directory of Corporate Giving
Contains:
Features the most comprehensive information available on thousands of corporate charitable activities, including direct corporate giving (non-foundation) programs and company-sponsored foundations. Iincludes samples of more than 9,000 grants.
Use for Finding:
Detailed information on companies and their giving interests and restrictions, application guidelines, and names of program administrators
Contains news, trends, and people that are shaping the field of philanthropy, key contacts at nonprofit support organizations, and the sector's top books, magazines, and blogs.
The Foundation Center is an independent, nonprofit service organization. It was established in 1956 to foster public understanding of institutional philanthropy by collecting, organizing, analyzing and disseminating information on foundations, corporate giving and related subjects. It is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy and is dedicated to serving grant seekers, grant makers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.
One of the ways the Foundation Center fulfills its mission is through the network of Cooperating Collections.
Last updated: January 13, 2012