Not All Foundations Have Websites: How To Find Their Hidden Grants

Instrumentl’s Foundation Discovery is one of the quickest ways to uncover funders who may not have websites or public funding announcements.

When you search for grants within Instrumentl’s database, you’ll have two different kinds of matches results pop up: Opportunity Matches and Funder Matches.

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Here’s a quick rundown of the difference between the two tabs:

Opportunity Matches are active grant opportunities that align with your search criteria. These are active RFPs or funding announcements that are currently available for your organization to apply for.

Funder Matches, on the other hand, are foundations that align with your search criteria but don’t necessarily have any active opportunities posted. This could be because:

• They don’t have a website
• They are invite only
• The don’t have any opportunities currently posted

Nevertheless, these Funder Matches do have a history of awarding grants within your area of focus and geographic location—making them definitely worth checking out.

This is actually one of the main things that sets Instrumentl apart from other grant search tools on the market—we will connect you with these hidden funders who don’t have websites or who might be invite-only.
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Foundations are required to file 990 reports with the IRS, and Instrumentl gathers and analyzes this information. So, even if a foundation doesn’t have a website or is invite-only, we can still show you if they have given in your field of work or geographic area. That way, you can still be matched with funders who have awarded funds to nonprofits like yours but are essentially “hidden” from the public view.

And because these funders are harder to find, their awards are also less competitive, making them a great opportunity for nonprofits.

Once you’ve reviewed your Funder Matches within Instrumentl, you can decide if you want to filter the results to include invite-only funders.

Invite-only funders are grantmakers who only accept grant applications from organizations that have been invited to apply for their grants. This means invite-only funders do not accept unsolicited applications and do not have open grant cycles.

For example, The Harder Foundation, a private family foundation that focuses on environmental and conservation efforts, specifically states on their website that they only accept invite-only applications and do not accept unsolicited inquiries or proposals:

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There are pros and cons to working with invite-only funders. First let’s discuss the pros:

• Reduced competition because they are not open applications.
• Specialized focus areas that often align with your nonprofit’s mission and goals.
• They can become long-term partnerships that extend beyond the life of the grant.
• They are a stable funding source and could open up capacity building opportunities.
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The main con to invite-only funders is simply finding them and being invited to apply. Securing an invitation can be challenging, particularly for smaller or newer nonprofits with limited funder connections.

Now, you can attend networking events and conferences, which is a great way to build relationships with invite-only funders. But, this takes time and sometimes money for conference fees and travel.

This is why Instrumentl’s Foundation Discovery tool will automatically match you with invite-only funders—you’ll just need to decide if you want to filter them out or not.

Just click “Filter” on your Matches page and then you can click to have invite-only funders included or excluded in your results.

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Once Instrumentl compiles your list of Funder Matches, you may notice that you have a list of hundreds of potential results. As much as you might like to, you can’t pursue them all!

This is where our Advanced Funder Insights come into play.

When you click on one of your Funder Matches, you’ll have immediate access to this funder’s Openness to New Grantees, Giving by NTEE Code, Past Grantees, and more—all in one place.

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All of this information is pulled directly from the funder’s 990 and distilled into easy-to-read snapshots. This should make it easy for you to evaluate the funder’s giving history and determine whether they are a good fit for your organization and its funding needs.

These 990 reports include invaluable insights, such as:

• Average giving
• Number of grants awarded
• Organizations previously funded
• Geographic focus
• Openness to new grantees
• Causes supported by NTEE code

For example, in the snapshot below, you can see that this foundation primarily awards grants to organizations in California and that their median grant size is $4,734.

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All of these Advanced Insights should make it easy for you to narrow down your matches to the best fit funders.

Once you’ve gone through your funder matches and evaluated them thoroughly, you can save the ones that catch your attention and you are interested in learning more about (based on your analysis from step 3) to your Tracker!

Saving these funders to your Tracker allows you to easily revisit them and keep them organized all in one place!

Since these are funders who aren’t necessarily offering grants right now, you can save their status as “Researching” within your Tracker. This allows your team to manage your grant search progress effectively.

What’s great about saving potential funders to your Tracker is you can also leave notes to your team about why you saved the funder and any key insights and considerations about them.

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The Grant Tracker serves as a reliable and efficient tool for managing your pool of saved funders.

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Each funder that is saved in your Tracker can have its status updated as you progress through the application process. To update a status, simply click on the funder within your Tracker.

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If you end up working with the funder, you can select the appropriate status dropdown on the right. You can choose from various status options, including “Researching,” “Planned,” and “Submitted.”

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This feature makes it easy to stay organized and manage all of your funding opportunities in one centralized location.

Instrumentl’s Foundation Discovery tool will ensure you are intelligently matched with good-fit foundations that are more difficult to find on your own, whether because they’re invite-only, don’t have websites, or don’t have any active opportunities publicly posted.

Here’s why this tool is so helpful for grant seekers:

Unlock Hidden Opportunities With Ease

Like we’ve explained throughout this article, there are many foundations that either don’t have websites or don’t advertise their grants through conventional channels, like grant databases.

This is why taking advantage of Instrumentl’s Foundation Discovery tool is key to unlocking these hidden opportunities.

Instrumentl’s Advanced Funder Insights can also help you with your initial outreach by providing you with:

• The funder’s contact information.
• The names of key people within the foundation and on their board.
• Who their past grantees are and how much they have received.

You will soon realize how doing funder research in this way can expose you to less competitive grants that are aligned with your nonprofit’s mission, goals, and services.

Make Finding Good-Fit Funders the First Step

Many nonprofit professionals find a grant first and then research the funder. However, finding the funder first can also be an effective strategy.

Even if a funder doesn’t currently have open grant opportunities, they may still be a good fit for your organization. Building relationships and establishing partnerships with them is a great way to set yourself up for success once they do offer funding opportunities.

As Amy Mauser, the Co-Founder of Team Kat & Mouse explains:
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“You're looking to build connections. Fundraising is of course about relationships. Even in the grant world, fundraising is about relationships.”

Investing in relationship building with good-fit funders should be one of your organization’s top priorities.

Start Securing Exclusive Funding Opportunities

By using the “Funder Matches” tool in Instrumentl, you will increase your chances of coming across invite-only funding.

Just because you haven’t been invited to apply yet doesn’t mean you won’t be down the road. We’ve put together a helpful guide filled with best practices and strategies for securing these exclusive opportunities.

Cultivating these connections can open doors to incredible partnerships. Just remember to understand your own nonprofit’s mission and impact so that you can unlock invite-only opportunities that align with your cause.

Instrumentl’s Foundation Discovery tool makes it easy to uncover hidden grant opportunities. Whether they are invite-only funders or funders who don’t have websites, Instrumentl can connect you with foundations that give to nonprofits just like yours.

And with our Advanced Funder Insights, you’ll save your entire team from sifting through hundreds of funders who don’t align with your organization’s mission, goals, and funding needs. Set up a free Instrumentl trial for 14 days—no credit card required!