Private foundations

Grantmakers.io focuses exclusively on Form 990-PF, the tax filing used by private foundations. If a foundation files a different tax form, they will not be included in search results and will not have a profile on Grantmakers.io. For example, community foundations and operating foundations file Form 990 (not Form 990-PF), so they will not appear on Grantmakers.io.

Great for quick research and initial prospecting

Grantmakers.io was originally built to help a friend find information on a specific funding prospect previously identified. Profiles Search was the first search tool created and is optimized to quickly find a funder's profile (if one exists).

The Grants Search tool was developed to allow fundraisers to do basic prospecting by exploring which foundations have donated to similar grantees in the past.

IRS controls the frequency of updates

The IRS publishes updates on a roughly monthly cadence. Grantmakers.io, in turn, uses automated scripts to fetch, parse, and publish these updates. Updates are typically live on Grantmakers.io within a week of being published by the IRS.

When using the Grant Search tool for basic prospecting, be mindful of the delay from the time a foundation makes a grant to the time it makes its way through the tax filing and IRS publication process. "New" grants that appear in Grant Search results were likely actually funded 9-18+ months before first appearing in results.

Foundations control the content

The information a foundation enters when filing their return appears exactly as entered on the return. Most of the time foundations catch misspellings and mistakes before filing their returns, but don't be surprised if you come across the occasional piece of data that simply looks odd.

You can certainly reach out to the foundation to give them a heads up on any errors you find, but the only way a foundation can adjust their filing content is to file a full amendment to their return. This might come at significant expense. For this reason, Grantmakers.io has a "Community Intelligence" section on each profile to provide context behind suggested edits and adjustments.

Another thing to keep in mind is grantee names can be whatever the foundation wants to list. There is no IRS requirement to use the actual legal name for the grantees, and no requirement to distinguish between national HQ recipients and their local/regional organizations. Be sure to use the filter tools to select the names most relevant to your search, and be mindful that misspellings do indeed exist.

Your insight drives improvements

If you're new to Grantmakers.io, welcome! I love surprising new visitors by implementing suggestions within hours whenever possible, so if you have any thoughts or ideas on how the site can be improved to help other non-profit professionals, I'd love to connect.