How to Find and Apply for Private Foundation Grants

Private foundations grants may be available for personal use, business use and for community projects. Every private foundation is unique and is dedicated to specific causes, such as education, science, children, the environment. When researching private foundations for grant money, it's important to keep in mind the foundation's mission.

Use these tips to help you find and apply for private foundation grant money.

Instructions

1. Research the foundation's requirements and purpose before inquiring for grant money. Determine if your projects are a match with those of the foundation. Generally, private foundation grants are very project specific. Find out the deadline for grant proposals and a contact person name to mail in your request.

2. 

   Prepare a Letter of inquiry and submit to the private foundation. Most private foundations ask for a Letter of Inquiry before accepting a proposal for grants. This letter should demonstrate how your project fits with the foundations program. Be clear on how much money you are seeking and how these funds will be spent in detail.

   If your project is approved, the foundation will request a grant proposal for further consideration.

3. Find information on private foundations

   Visit the IRS website and search for publication 78 to find a list of charitable private organizations. This is a searchable database listing information on organizations with charitable status. Using this list you can identify many private foundations, many of these give out grants.

4. Locate individual corporations to find out about their non profit foundations. Search online to find companies websites and links to their private foundations. Look for the corporate foundations of companies such as, Microsoft, UPS, Walmart, Exxon, Lilly, Ford and many others. Most of the large US corporations run not for profit private foundations.

5. Go to the Foundation Center.org internet site to find resources and information on private foundations and grants. This site is an organization that educate and helps grant seekers with seminars and technical resources.

6. 

   Look for associations of Private Foundations

   Visit the Council on foundations.org. This is an association of private foundations made of community, corporate and family grant givers. There are many other national networks of private foundations that you can find by searching for "associations of private foundations".