Securing Funding For Your Project

As an SGF project you are responsible for seeking and securing the funding necessary to operate. Because of the volume and variety of our project needs, and in order to keep our administrative costs low and support services streamlined, SGF does not directly fundraise for our projects and generally does not promote specific project funding needs. (Rather we rely on project representatives to seek out funding; our internal team will then do a final review of grant applications and proposals that your project applies for, as outlined here. You can find much of the general SGF information needed for grant applications here in the Members Portal.) It is recommended to consider multiple funding sources to meet your project needs, including calls and campaigns for individual donations, as well as applying for grants from foundations. Once you have funds available your project may consider employing or contracting someone to focus on fundraising for your project. Please keep in mind that SGF does not accept government grant funding, as explained here.

There are numerous educational resources available with tips for fundraising, as well as links to grant makers/foundations who support different areas. Below is a list of some we find useful, though we also recommend projects do targeted research based on either their area of focus or population served. Some of the best ways to find new funding sources is to find out what foundations fund organizations with a similar mission and size to yours. If you know folks that are funded by a foundation you're interested in you can ask if they'll make an introduction to their program officer or if the foundation will entertain a letter of interest (LOI) from your project.(If you find a resource of particular value, please share with us at [e-mail].):

• National Council of Nonprofits - Fundraising ; they offer general info as well as links to state associations with opportunities to network with nonprofits in your state

• Candid (platform which merged The Foundation Center with Guidestar). Candid offers courses for aspiring grantwriters, and access to their amazing Funder Directory Online, which details what has been funded by which donors. Through their directory you can search for funding opportunities in many different ways. You can even look up the foundations that are funding organizations with a similar mission to your project's work. Note that unfortunately projects are not able to access the nonprofit subscription rate (as SGF can only have one account, which is not shareable) however many libraries offer free access. You can search your area to find a location providing free access here.

• Chronicle of Philanthropy - a very reputable resource for funders and fundraisers.

• Nonprofit Quarterly - great general resource for non profiteers - they work with wonderful leaders in the field to put together helpful information about the sector.

Consider searching for books within the field of fundraising/development - many professionals like to seek insight from folks who are ACFRE certified